Yes, that’s a Fergie’s Pub billboard on I-95, spoofing personal injury attorneys

Fergus Carey is more than just Philly’s most famous Irish barman. The Dublin-born publican with a shock of white hair — who co-owns The Jim, The Goat Rittenhouse, and a soon-to-open Celtic bar at the former Mac’s Tavern in Old City, as well as his iconic namesake Sansom Street pub that opened in 1994 — knows how to build and sustain an authentic, homey vibe.

He’s a gentleman of many hats, sure. Arts patron. Music man. Civic do gooder. Tour guide. Actor. Keeper of the Craic.

But Fergie, as he’s better known, is definitely not a personal injury attorney. But you might think he was after a first glance at the towering new billboard on I-95, which features Carey and his business partner, Jim McNamara. Advertising Fergie’s Pub, the satirical sign spoofs the glut of personal injury ads that have overtaken I-95 in recent years.

“Injured,” reads the sign, depicting a scowling, pointing McNamara and Carey donning their ambulance-chasing best. “Do not call these guys. They’re not even lawyers. They actually own a bar!”

(The sign does contain one-probable truth: “Never passed a bar,” it reads, pointing to Carey, who can often be seen pedaling a swath through Center City on an Indego bike.)

The sign, like many great Fergie-ideas, began with a laugh. Carey lives in Fishtown amid the rising shadows of the personal injury ads that have wallpapered bus stops in recent years. (“And Leonard Hill makes an even 30,” Philly Mag scribe Tom McGrath memorably wrote last year, tallying the signs up.)

He and McNamara were posing for a photo last year, when the idea struck Carey.

“Jim and I were both in jackets and shirts and I said, ‘Oh, here, take our photo, point,’” Carey said.

The ad first ran in the Metro, when Carey found billboard prices too expensive. But then an old customer, who had lived nearby Fergie’s, and now worked as a broker for billboard ads, rang.

“He said, ‘I can make this real,’” Carey remembered, adding that he did not want to publicize the price.

On March 2, the billboard became real — and an instant hit on social media.

“Everybody finds it hilarious,” Carey laughed.

And like every great Fergie idea, the billboard may be only the beginning of something bigger. Like the ubiquitous lawyer ads, perhaps you’ll be seeing more of your favorite Irish barman on the sides of buses and on spoof-y commercials soon.

“Because everybody loves it, we’ll see,” he said. “It started off as a joke. But it might turn into a campaign. Like, ‘I hate Steven Singer.’”

In the meantime, he’s focused on opening his new Old City spot, which will be called “Monto” after one of Carey’s favorite famous Irish folk tunes — a little ditty by the Dubliners about a famous red light district — and serve sandwiches and Irish pub fare prepared by N.A. Poe, the proprietor of Poe’s Sandwich Joint.

As for the sign, maybe it’ll stay up for a little while longer now, he said.

It’s all good craic, he said, the Irish term for fun.

“We just had a good laugh,” he said.