When I first started blogging back in 2005, a curious group made an appearance on the DC Blog circuit. Playaz Ball is a shockingly offensive group of men from Atlanta, who take great pleasure in providing entertainment in the form of often confusing and usually hilarious (and expertly photo-shopped) antics.

I was contacted by the alter-ego of supposed ringleader "Phil", who wanted to share the story behind the Playaz. Phil himself disavowed all correspondence and added "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"

Whether writing for the love of Kenny Rogers, the cure for bird flu, the Playaz Business Model and correspondence or the Pope’s visit; the Playaz have their hands in a little bit of everything.

Larissa: What are the Playaz all about, how was the idea formed?

Phil: The characters were formed before the blog was even an idea. The infamous "Christmas cards", that so many of you have received, were the original inspiration for the characters. We wanted to make a Christmas card that was so absurd - a combination of Bing Crosby (the clothes) and David Crosby (the drugs and mustache), I guess. Once we did that, I wondered what would happen if we put this on the internet? I didn’t even know what a blog was at the time.

So I stumbled across "blogspot", posted a picture of Phil and emailed the link to the rest of the Playaz. Again, just for our own amusement. Then we were curious to see how people would react to these peculiar looking gentlemen when they stumbled across the site - and thus its "purpose": to amuse and confuse people. I saw a reaction to our website a couple of years ago on a message board that read "it’s hilarious, and fairly well written. I just haven’t figured out the point of it." And that’s pretty much Playaz Ball in a nutshell.

It just so happened that I clicked on the "Next" tab at the top of blogspot, and it took my to the (now defunct) "Blackberry Debutantes" which led to the "Cleveland Park Men’s Club" blog and more. The thing about that blog was the comments…the comments were generally funny and so I decided to insert "Phil" into the mix — making a constant barrage of reactionary comments to what other people were saying, in that "out of touch with reality yet authoritative" tone that Phil takes and people kind of took to it, and that’s how we made that DC connection.

"…blogging is kind of narcissistic by nature, and Playaz are the most narcissistic characters of all…"

But delving a bit deeper, Playaz Ball is really a sort of satire on blogs in general - blogging is kind of narcissistic by nature, and Playaz are the most narcissistic characters of all - they feel their world is more important than anyone else’s, and their stories reflect that, despite how ridiculous or unbelievable they are. In fact, and coincidentally, Playaz Ball is sort of like what the CPMC was, but on steroids and more pompous.

The name came about from the yearly trek the five of us make to Charleston each year. Tac would always document the trip and make a DVD, so he asked "what should I title it?" and I decided "Playaz Ball" would be the complete opposite of what you’d call a golfing trip of five white dudes going to Charleston.

Larissa: Can you give me a quick overview of who the Playaz are?

Phil: Longtime readers know there are hidden links in the banner on the site that give each Playaz’ bio. Outside of the blog, the Playaz have all known each other for a majority of their lives. I’ve known Bon since I was 3.

Larissa: What is your most memorable Playaz moment?

Phil: Hmmm…tough question. I don’t think I can name a single event or post. I think it’s generally be able to know that there are certain reaches of the internet that we’ve reached that I’d never have imagined…and that’s not to say we’ve accomplished anything at all…just the fact that we’ve somehow intertwined ourselves in the DC area - for all I know, Dick Cheney has read Playaz Ball at least once.

I mean, there’s so many friends I’ve made whom I’ve never even met through this blog…from DC to Ireland. It’s been a really interesting experience.
Actually, I think I love the comments more than anything else. I often go back and read old posts just for the comments. They’re hilarious. We don’t have many readers, but we’ve got some great ones.

Larissa: What do the Playaz wives think of the blog?

Phil: If they’re honest, they’ll admit it’s great. Publicly they roll their eyes and just pray it never comes back to humiliate us when one of us is running for public office or something (a possibility).

Larissa: What inspires the Playaz?

Phil: I’ve told people many times - there’s an awful lot of truth woven into the fabric of Playaz Ball. It’s obvious I’m a fan of the Onion, because many stories are written in that vein. For the actual ideas themselves, it just comes from knowing the Playaz inside and out - by this point, they’re fully evolved, so when a story comes up in the news, sometimes you can immediately tell "this has Playaz’ involvement written all over it". Otherwise, it’s just whatever pops to mind on a given day - how do any of us come up with this stuff?

Larissa: What’s next for the Playaz?

Phil: I’m not really sure. Personally, I think the Playaz are heading to their sunset. It all depends on how much further I want to go, but I think the tales have just about all been told.