Funny Because It's True

Funny Because It's True: How The Onion Created Modern American News Satire by Christine Wenc

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Funny Because it’s True
How the Onion Created Modern American News Satire.
By Christine Weng.

Original Staff member Christine Weng takes a broad history of the original fake newspaper…

You Are Dumb.

The Onion is a comedy institution, straight out of Madison Wisconsin.

“Naked Man Only One Uncomfortable with His Body.”

It’s comprehensive, with interviews of many, many contributors, going all the way back before the beginning in 1988…

And ultimately the journey is fraught with the issues that all artists face once the product is taken and commodified and run by people who don’t make things but only commodify them.

“Study Finds Getting Smacked Right in the Mouth with a Goddamn Tree Branch Really Sucks.”

And how it moved from a small print operation in Madison to New York just in time for 9-11 and comedy landmines (explored in a wonderful YouTube documentary called “Too Soon: Comedy after 9-11). The way The Onion navigated that is nothing short of exceptional.

“Hijackers Surprised to Find Selves in Hell.”

“Us Vows to Defeat Whoever it is We Are at War With.”

This is comprehensive without being exhausting. And in the end, we wonder what the role of fun fake news is in an era where reality doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
Great read.





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