Maxim-izing His Potential

When he's on deadline, Charles Coxe '97 works around the clock to put the finishing touches on his section of the trendy men's magazine Maxim. As an associate editor in charge of the Circus Maximus section, Coxe would say that he slaves from 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. for a pittance while Maxim's publisher, Felix Dennis, profits from his toil.

But please, don't pity Charles. Living in a world of — as the magazine boasts — sex, beer, gadgets and sports isn't all bad. He's been able to make a living just being himself: a funny guy who likes women, sports — especially ice hockey — and playing video games. He'll repeatedly tell you that the money and the hours are bad, but nevertheless, he loves his job.

Coxe's love of hockey is at least partly responsible for his success at Maxim. Coxe joined the staff of the nascent magazine as an editorial assistant with administrative duties during production of the third issue. At about that time, Maxim had hired prominent sportswriter Stan Fishler to write a piece about the 10 greatest hockey fights of all time.

Maxim was young, and according to Coxe, Fishler produced a sloppy piece with only an introductory paragraph and a list. Needless to say, the higher-ups at Maxim were not pleased.

On his second day on the job, Coxe volunteered to do the article himself. And things only got better from there. As editors-in-chief came and left through what Coxe refers to as Maxim's "revolving door" of editors, Coxe rose though the ranks. "I was always begging for work, staying until two in the morning and asking for more responsibility," Coxe said of his earlier days. "I hate being thought of as someone who's not working hard."

It's no wonder Bryan Walsh '01 — who worked for Maxim this summer and continues to contribute — calls Coxe the "hardest working guy at Maxim." Coxe has even been recognized as employee-of-the-year by Dennis Publishing, Maxim's publisher.

A magazine as popular as Maxim demands a lot of time. Coxe never works fewer than 60 hours a week, and often it's close to 100 hours a week.

Walsh said a significant portion of Coxe's busy day is spent at his "disaster area" of a desk, playing "Quake II." Coxe notes, in his own defense, that during the week before production, he and the other staffers feel they need a break around 6 or 6:30 p.m. So they play video games. Coxe added that he has recently moved on to a new game called "Unreal."

Walsh added that though Coxe may appear to be a mess, he "gets everything done in the most disorganized fashion, and he does it well."

More than anything, Coxe really loves his coworkers. "It's not the money that keeps us here," he said. "I adore the people I work with, not the people I work for."

But he's not just a workaholic. He actually enjoys his job. Taking a serious tone of voice, if only for a brief moment, Coxe said, "When someone tells me I wrote something that made someone laugh, it's the most rewarding."

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Coxe always thought he would be a writer, but he expected to be writing on a scholarly level. At Princeton, he was a history major with an interest in creative writing.

Professor William Howarth remembers having a "friendly relationship" with Coxe, whom he described as "smart, funny and friendly." Coxe, who said Howarth was one of his favorite professors, took two classes about the environment with him.

"He had a great sense of humor. He was an amusing guy," Howarth said of Coxe. "He worked hard and produced. He had things to contribute in class."

As editor of Circus Maximus, Coxe decides what the section is going to look like. "The editor determines the content," Coxe said, admitting,"a lot of the stuff in here I do just to amuse myself."

As he says this, he flips through a recent issue for an example, reading a few lines and laughing because they do not make any sense whatsoever. The constant background chatter of his staff often grabs Coxe's attention, and he periodically stops talking and asks, "What the hell are you guys saying about me?"

But Walsh said Coxe is well liked at Maxim. "They all bond once they get there," said Walsh of the Maxim staff.

Despite his carefree attitude, Coxe has tremendous responsibility to shoulder. He explained that the editing process involves endless rewriting. The end result, Coxe said, greatly resembles his own work. Writers "try too hard" to add humor to their pieces, and they "come up with misogynistic, needlessly offensive" material, he explained.

And Coxe does not want to alienate any segment of his readership. Maxim often receives letters from women who pick up their boyfriends' copies, and end up actually enjoying the magazine. "Humor has wide-range compatibility," Coxe said, explaining Maxim's appeal. Maxim passed the 2-million mark in circulation last month, but Coxe said now the figure is probably closer to 2.5.

Has Coxe met any of the gorgeous women who — scantily clad and seductively posed — adorn Maxim's covers? Unfortunately for him, not many. But Coxe did note that the actress who played the foreign exchange student Nadia in "American Pie" came to the Maxim Christmas party.

Each installment of Circus Maximus features a section devoted to a woman that male readers probably recognize but do not know much about. Coxe has met most of these rising stars.

Somehow, Coxe manages to make time for a girlfriend too. After four years apart while he was at Princeton, Coxe reunited with his high-school sweetheart. They have been back together for one and a half years — the kind of lasting relationship you wouldn't expect from someone who writes for a magazine that urges men to impress women by lying and training monkeys to be butlers.