Phil Edwards (Photo courtesy Phil Edwards)
From his Museum District home, Phil Edwards ponders life’s great questions, such as: “Why do monks have those bowl haircuts?” and “Who took the first road trip?” and “How did #$@!% became shorthand for cursing?”
The personable videographer’s eccentric, well-researched cultural explorations, on topics like these and more, have reached millions of online viewers.
For Richmonders, there’s something familiar about them.
“It’s Eastery-eggy, I guess, looking for Richmond in the background,” says Edwards, 36, who files one or two monthly video reports as an “ephemera correspondent” for the Washington, D.C.-based media website Vox.com, where he’s been since 2015. His 10-minute explainers range from the history of Ouija boards to how the U.S. drinking age became 21 (turns out it started with Michael Jackson — who knew?). “I pitch the idea, write it, voice it, animate it, edit and shoot it myself,” he says. “I was always into history and culture, but I never could’ve anticipated this job.”
Why So Many Suburbs Look the Same
Most of the time, the self-described homebody works on animating and prepping scripts at his home studio, but in one online report, he’s seen cruising through the Fan District while recounting the riches-to-rags story of carmaker John DeLorean. In another, about the history of suburban cul-de-sacs, he’s roaming around Midlothian’s Hallsley subdivision. “I did a story about Canada geese, and that came about by getting annoyed at the geese when I would be running in Byrd Park.”
Originally from Salem in Southwest Virginia, Edwards and his wife, Kristina, a dance teacher, have lived in the city for a year. They have a toddler son whose tiny feet have made appearances on Dad’s vids.
“We loved it here from the very first visit,” Edwards says, adding that Richmond’s varied surroundings provide excellent backdrops for work. “If I want to be out in the world, I can find what I want.”
