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Funny Because It's True
Funny Because It's True: How The Onion Created Modern American News Satire | Christine Wenc
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Discover the real truth behind the original fake news with this in-depth history of beloved humor publication, The Onion. In 1988, a band of University of WisconsinMadison undergrads and dropouts began publishing a free weekly newspaper with no editorial stance other than You Are Dumb. Just wanting to make a few bucks, they wound up becoming the bedrock of modern satire over the course of twenty years, changing the way we consume both our comedy and our news. The Onion served as a hilarious and brutally perceptive satire of the absurdity and horrors of late twentieth-century American life and grew into a global phenomenon. Now, for the first time, the full history of the publication is told by one of its original staffers, author and historian Christine Wenc. Through dozens of interviews, Wenc charts The Onions rise, its position as one of the first online humor sites, and the way it influenced television programs like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Funny Because Its True peels back the layers to reveal how a group of young misfits from flyover country unintentionally created a cultural phenomenon.
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Andrea313
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The Onion was practically my religion in high school and college. My friends and I awaited a new edition every week and went over them again and again searching out every single joke, from the filthy and puerile to the dark and twisted, and pored over every single sobering, clever, or flat-out unhinged line in between. Wenc's history was a great walk down memory lane, but more importantly... 👇👇👇

Andrea313 ...it was a disconcerting look at all the ways in which our media landscape has forever been altered and has ultimately failed us. It also charts The Onion's ups and downs among ever-changing ownership and the clash of generations of artistic/editorial staff and business staff. I highly recommend giving it a read, and in the meantime, enjoy some of my favorite moments in the graphic and in the comments below. Feel free to drop your own. ✌️ 2w
Andrea313 The gold standard: the headline that runs every time there's a mass shooting in this stupid, fucking country (38 times in 10 years, as of 2024): 'No Way to Prevent This' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens https://theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-184897... 2w
Andrea313 On a lighter note, absurdism, I love you: Prague's Kafka International Named 'Most Alienating Airport': https://youtu.be/gEyFH-a-XoQ?si=YM1uhi90HSDTUvzQ 2w
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Andrea313 The video stuff hasn't typically been my favorite but this one will live forever: Missing Teen's Friends Plead For Her Release, Gossip About Classmates: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=srUsG9nHKo8 2w
Andrea313 Lastly, its impossible to overstate how incredibly The Onion responded to 9/11. Reading this in real time is something I'll always remember; every headline and article was pitch-perfect: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/tXl2WGDr_0PWWSWMA7FQjg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlc... 2w
Leftcoastzen 😂👏 2w
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