In Popular Culture
The Phanatic appeared in the closing credits of the film Rocky Balboa (2006).
The Phanatic appeared on the episode of the television show Jon and Kate Plus 8 titled "Baseball Game with Daddy", where Jon took Cara and all 3 boys to a Phillies game.
The Phanatic's head disappeared during the Phillies' "Final Pieces" charity sale and auction in 2004. Tom Burgoyne had taken off the costume for a break and found the head missing when he returned. One week later, someone anonymously called a local radio station claiming that he found the head and would bring it to the radio station. Police arrested and charged Bernard Bechtel with felony theft after he brought the $3,000 head to the station.
In March 2009, the Phanatic appeared on The Simpsons in the episode Gone Maggie Gone, greeting a party of nuns disembarking from a ship at the future site of Philadelphia. In the Simpsons episode Dancin' Homer, there is a mascot that looks similar to the Phanatic, the Capital City Goofball.
In November 2009, the Phanatic was part of a bit on the Late Show with David Letterman called "Get to Know the Phillie Phanatic."
In 2010, the Phanatic appeared in a "This is SportsCenter" promotional advertisement with Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees
The Phanatic was mimicked in an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" called "The World Series Defense." In the episode, Charlie's "Green Man" challenges that the "Phrenetic" (as it is referred to in the episode) should not be the only mascot for the Phillies. He is promptly put in his place by the "Phrenetic." In an interview with Angelo Cataldi, Tom Burgoyne revealed that Major League Baseball declined to allow the Phanatic to be used in the episode.
On January 26, 2012, the Phanatic (credited to Tom Burgoyne) appeared as itself on an episode of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock called "The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell".
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