‘Silicon Valley’ star Zach Woods: ‘Philadelphia’s kind of a racist city’ that ‘throws batteries at Santa Claus’
Artie Lange made headlines over the weekend with his recent slam of the Eagles and Philly sports fans in general, but now a similar dig has come from a more unexpected source: "Silicon Valley" star and Trenton native Zach Woods.
Artie Lange made headlines over the weekend with his recent slam of the Eagles and Philly sports fans in general, but now a similar dig has come from a more unexpected source: Silicon Valley star and Trenton native Zach Woods.
Woods, who was born in Trenton but grew up in Yardley, stopped by Marc Maron's WTF podcast for this week's episode, and it wasn't long before things went anti-Philadelphia. And in the worst, most cliched way possible: Santa Claus, batteries, and our "dark, post-industrial vibe."
The segment begins at about the 17-minute mark:
Maron: Philly — I like Philadelphia.
Woods: Yeah, I never got into it, weirdly. I don't know what it was. I always found it a little depressing.
Maron: It is depressing. I think Pennsylvania in general is a little dark. I went to Pittsburgh, I was in Philly. It's heavy, man.
Woods: It feels like a state it's on the downslope of its existence. Its best days are behind it.
Maron: Maybe. The renovation [in Philadelphia] downtown and stuff has sort of worked. It feels vital. But it just feels like there's a dark, post-industrial vibe.
Woods: Right. It's also [that] Philadelphia's kind of a racist city and their sports – and I'm not a big sports guy – but I remember when I was growing up and Santa Claus would skate onto the ice around Christmas time at Flyers games, people would throw batteries at Santa Claus.
Maron: That's not racist, it's just weird anti-Santa s---. That's just f---ed up.
Woods: It's so weird because you could throw drinks or things they have at the stadium, but batteries are premeditated. Like, you have to bring a battery from home.
Maron: Why batteries — why specifically at Santa?
Woods: It's a complicated combination of elements. Maybe it's just like, 'Well, there's an embodiment of pure childhood joy.'
Maron: Destroy it.
Woods: Destroy it like it was destroyed in us.
Maron, for his part, does have a point, and he even offers a little support by commending Philly's ongoing renovations. Woods, however, seems content in breaking our hearts with played-out media tropes we've long-since outgrown. For the most part, anyway.
And, what's more, they're not even the right stereotypes. Santa had snowballs — not batteries — thrown at him during an Eagles (not Flyers) game in the late 1960s. The battery incident Woods is mixing up here happened to JD Drew in the 90s during a Phillies game.
Check out Woods' episode of WTF here.