SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Here's some headlines for you.
"Kitten Thinks Of Nothing But Murder All Day Long," Everyone Involved In Pizza's Preparation, Delivery, Purchase Extremely High," "Defiant Milosevic Eats Big, Sloppy Sandwich During Trial."
Those are just three headlines from maybe millions to choose from that at one point or another have graced the front page of the satirical news outlet, The Onion, America's finest news source, as it has long called itself, and also a leading pioneer in modern news satire. Its headlines, as you can probably tell by now, are often a range of absurd spin on real news or goofy jokes or sly subversiveness. The Onion has been around for nearly 40 years now, but where did it come from, and how did it become so influential? That is the story that author Christine Wenc, who was a member of The Onion's original staff, writes in her new book, "Funny Because It's True: How The Onion Created Modern News Satire." Christine, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
CHRISTINE WENC: Thank you so much for having me.
DETROW: Before we get into the history, can I ask what some of your favorite Onion headlines from over the years are?
WENC: One of my favorites, I think, is "Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Race Of Skeleton People." I have a penchant for the silly ones. I like the raccoon headlines, too, but there are some good political ones also.
DETROW: I was talking to Stephen Thompson, who works here now and worked for The Onion for a long time. And he said he loves the ones that can kind of write an entire story in one line, like "Winner Didn't Even Know It Was A Pie-Eating Contest."
WENC: (Laughter) Right. Yeah, that's a really good one. Yeah.
DETROW: And The Onion now is something people consume on social media. It's a website. It's a video platform. It's a bunch of multimedia things. In the beginning, it was really just a tiny newspaper - newsletter almost - in Madison, Wisconsin.
WENC: Yeah, it was basically a form of the alt-weekly, which was, you know, really having a resurgence around that time, I think. It was probably, you know, eight to 30 pages long - something like that - most of the time, supported by advertisements. And the rest was all made up, pretty much.
DETROW: And the book really gets to the fact - I mean, this is really, in many ways, a love letter to Madison, Wisconsin, where The Onion was founded.
WENC: Yeah.
DETROW: Can you tell us about what made that place so special during the years we're talking about here, when The Onion gets up and running?
WENC: When I think about that question, a lot of it is weirdly around economics. It was cheap to live in Madison. You could get by on a minimum wage job and still have time for projects and a social life. And, you know, rent was cheap, you know? So it was really a place where young people had the kind of space to try new stuff.
DETROW: What's the best way you would describe the sense of humor of the early group of writers? Was it an ironic place? Was it goofy humor? Like, what was going for laps in those pitch meetings?
WENC: At the time, there weren't really - it was more loose than pitch meetings, even. You know, it's like - it's a Gen X thing, so there's lots of irony and multilayeredness (ph). There were local improv comedians writing. You know, there were folks of that ilk, you know, kind of hanging around the office. So shows like "David Letterman" were really popular then. So there was a more absurdist kind of tabloidy (ph) vibe, I think, at the beginning. And later it turned into the more straight AP style that people think of The Onion for today.
DETROW: Yeah, I guess, for older listeners, a Letterman sense of humor from the '80s - you know exactly what we're talking about.
WENC: Exactly, yeah.
DETROW: You write in your book about the early years when people working at the paper kind of realized, you know what, we can have a political point of view. We're going to express it when it makes sense to, and we're going to have it kind of work its way into our humor. What was the touchpoint for that?
WENC: Well, editor Rob Siegel, at the time, he remembered an abortion bumper sticker debate that they were going to put. And their impulse was to post two different sides of the abortion debate on the front cover. But then he thought, well, no, let's just pick a side here. And at that point, The Onion, you know, sort of picked up the mantle of fighting Bob La Follette - right? - and became often, I think, a progressive voice and kind of - they're in favor of the area men and area women. You know, they support them, even though they sometimes make fun of them. And that's important for The Onion's kind of political point of view.
DETROW: I'm glad you worked Area Man into this interview.
WENC: Yeah.
DETROW: It was important.
WENC: I had to do that, yeah.
DETROW: One moment in particular - and I am of the age that I remember physically seeing this issue and just the tension-breaking laughter that it brought me in a very tense moment. This is the first Onion to be published after 9/11. I'm going to read just a few of the headlines.
(Reading) "U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We're At War With," "American Life Turns Into Bad Jerry Bruckheimer Movie," "Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American Flag Cake," "Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell."
This is, ironically, right as the creative staff had moved to New York City. This would have been the first issue they were putting out as a New York-based publication, no matter what. Then 9/11 happens. No one knows when and what is appropriate to make jokes. The Onion staff thinks it over. Pick up the story there and tell me how this iconic issue comes together.
WENC: You know, they write about things that they're thinking about themselves. That's what I learned in, like, the million interviews I did. And of course, they had just gone through this situation in New York City, along with all the other New Yorkers. And they were very apprehensive about the response that it was going to get. And luckily, it actually made people feel very much better. And it gave people a lot of relief and their first laugh and really took a stand and went out there - like, before other people did - and kind of made it OK to be funny again. And I think a lot of comedy people, in particular, like, really, really respect them for that.
DETROW: And that really was a moment that elevated The Onion's brand, right?
WENC: Yeah. Yeah, their readership apparently doubled in response to that, and they got a lot of attention, for sure.
DETROW: A serious topic like that leads to just the constant onslaught of very serious news that our news cycles have put themselves into in recent years, and the fact that, you know, misinformation, I think, plays such a key part in some of the stories that are consuming all of us. You wrote that this is part of the reason why you wanted to write this history of The Onion, that the very intense news of today and the question about truth ironically made you think of this satirical newspaper.
WENC: It did, yeah. And the kind of conclusion I've reached on that is that The Onion is good fake news, right?
DETROW: Yeah.
WENC: The Onion is trying to make the world a better place. I mean, that's ultimately the position of satire, even at its most cutting and sardonic. That's what satire wants to do. It wants to help. It's trying to point out what's wrong. The bad fake news is trying to wreck the whole idea of truth and shared reality and sow chaos and all of that stuff. And it's a very, very different mission than what The Onion is doing.
DETROW: That is Christine Wenc, author of "Funny Because It's True: How The Onion Created Modern News Satire." Christine, I feel like I should tell you before we go that the sports team from my area is superior to the sports team from your area.
WENC: (Laughter) Thanks, Scott.
DETROW: Thanks for talking.
WENC: Thank you.
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