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110-510: The Onion is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 29, 1988, in Madison, Wisconsin . The Onion began publishing online in early 1996. In 2007, they began publishing satirical news audio and video online as

220-529: A paywall model, requiring a $ 2.95 monthly/$ 29.95 annual charge from non-U.S. visitors who wish to read more than about five stories within 30 days. "We are testing a meter internationally as readers in those markets are already used to paying directly for some (other) content, particularly in the UK where we have many readers", said the company's CTO Michael Greer. In September 2011, it was announced that The Onion would move its entire editorial operation to Chicago by

330-460: A pilot and the first two episodes in post-production, Dikkers said, "I think what sets us apart is we've intentionally formed a tightly knit group of funny performers. A lot of these other shows are created by 50-year-olds, written by 40-year-olds and performed by 35-year-olds". In 1995, Dave and Jeff Haupt sold their shares of Cisco Systems and they cut a deal with then-publisher Peter Haise for rights to The Onion name for 10 years in exchange for

440-425: A 2003 CNN profile of The Onion , Schafer stated with regards to the company and the purchase, " The Onion ' s strong point was never accounting, financial management, or business. Buying it was a bit of a shot in the dark, but we felt we could get a handle on it." Also in 2003, editor Robert Siegel quit his day-to-day role at The Onion to focus on writing screenplays full-time. "After the 14,000th headline I felt

550-519: A 2014 interview with comedy publication Splitsider . "It was just sort of a decision that I decided, two years out of college, that I didn't like where I was going in my life, and I wanted to do something that I cared about more, so I ended up just sending stuff in to The Onion ." Additionally, in March 2012 more insight into the internal issues surrounding the Chicago move—including an attempt made by

660-512: A collaboration between writers of The Onion and 3-D character studio Protozoa. The titular "Virtual Bill" character was a quasi-realistic CGI version of Bill Clinton created by studio Protozoa who introduced music videos and told jokes written by the staff of The Onion . The voice of Virtual Bill was provided by then-editor Dikkers. After the initial premiere, Virtual Bill returned to MTV on December 17, 1998, with another TV special and an interactive web special produced by Pulse that ported

770-417: A far more obviously extreme and unrealistic tale, involving interplanetary exploration, war among alien life forms, and life inside a 200 mile long whale back in the terrestrial ocean, all intended to make obvious the fallacies of books like Indica and The Odyssey . Medieval Arabic poetry included the satiric genre hija . Satire was introduced into Arabic prose literature by the author Al-Jahiz in

880-442: A financial adviser for a possible sale. Additionally, in a memo addressing potential sale rumors provided to Walt Mossberg's tech site Re/code Onion CEO Steve Hannah states, "We have had follow-up conversations with numerous parties in recent months. Our advisors will continue to have those conversations and, hopefully, they will lead to the right outcome." In June 2015 Steve Hannah—the publication's CEO since 2004— stepped down from

990-759: A firm newly created by former Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson, which revived the print edition in August that year. The Onion ' s articles cover real and fictional current events, parodying the tone and format of traditional news organizations with stories, editorials, and street interviews using a traditional news website layout and an editorial voice modeled after that of the Associated Press . The publication's humor often depends on presenting mundane, everyday events as newsworthy, surreal, or alarming, such as "Rotation Of Earth Plunges Entire North American Continent Into Darkness". In 1999, comedian Bob Odenkirk praised

1100-409: A first-look agreement to develop scripts and features with The Onion . "As lifelong New Yorkers, we're proud to welcome The Onion to our city with this first-look deal", said Harvey Weinstein. "With their witty, sophisticated humor, they will undoubtedly soon be the toast of the town", Weinstein added. On September 27, 2001, The Onion debuted its New York City print edition with an issue focused on

1210-413: A little even as you chuckle. Laughter is not an essential component of satire; in fact, there are types of satire that are not meant to be "funny" at all. Conversely, not all humour, even on such topics as politics, religion or art is necessarily "satirical", even when it uses the satirical tools of irony, parody, and burlesque . Even light-hearted satire has a serious "after-taste": the organizers of

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1320-636: A means of expression and an outlet for common people to express their anger against authoritarian entities. A popular custom in Northern India of "Bura na mano Holi hai" continues, in which comedians on the stage mock local people of importance (who are usually brought in as special guests). Weekly Alibi Weekly Alibi , commonly referred to as The Alibi , was a free weekly news, arts, culture, and entertainment newspaper and website in Albuquerque, New Mexico . The main features were

1430-581: A one-time $ 25,000 licensing fee to open a franchise in Denver, Colorado. The publication also licensed The Onion' s content for between $ 200 and $ 500 a week. According to the Haupts, the staff in the paper's Chicago office were known to smoke marijuana while watching Cubs games on television. But the Haupts and their partner, Dave Rogers, assembled a more business-focused staff. While other editions of The Onion ran pages of stories there weren’t enough ads to support,

1540-725: A person is beautiful on the inside", Siegel said, "looks don't really matter". Beginning in the fall of 2000 to early 2001, the company relocated its editorial offices from Madison, Wisconsin, to a renovated warehouse in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan (New York City) to raise The Onion ' s profile, expand the publication from being simply a humor newspaper into a full production company, as well as develop editorial content in other media—including books, television and movies—and engage more directly with Internet companies as far as advertising revenue goes. In February 2001, Miramax Films head Harvey Weinstein announced they had reached

1650-523: A pilot for a news parody titled Deadline: Now for the Fox Network. While the 15-minute pilot, which was completed in 1997, was never picked up as a series for production, its creation led to steady writing work for Karlin and other former Onion staffers, such as writing some episodes of Space Ghost Coast to Coast on the Cartoon Network . In the wake of Karlin's departure, Siegel assumed

1760-581: A potential sale of The Onion to media conglomerate Viacom began appearing in various news outlets during July 2006 with The New York Times: DealBook expanding on the discussion by stating, "While a source tells DealBook that such a deal has indeed been discussed, it is in very early stages and may never happen." In April 2007, The Onion launched the Onion News Network , a parody of "the visual style and breathless reporting of 24-hour cable news networks like CNN ." In 2008 Carol Kolb became

1870-487: A print circulation of 549,000; it was distributed for free in several cities. The same year, it launched a YouTube channel, which was structured as a parody of modern American television news programs. In June 2006, it was also announced that Siegel had been tapped by Miramax Films to write the screenplay for a comedy titled "Homeland Insecurity" which was slated to be about a pair of Arab-Americans who are mistaken for terrorists while traveling to Texas. Additionally, rumors of

1980-492: A profile of Dikkers, in which it stated that "Dikkers still lives in Madison, spending about five hours a week on Jim's Journal and the rest of the time as co-owner of a satirical newspaper called The Onion ". In a 1994 interview with U. Magazine , Dikkers discussed Onion, Inc.'s plans to create a new sketch comedy show called The Comedy Castaways , which they were in the process of pitching to NBC , Fox , and HBO . With

2090-429: A prominent example from ancient Greece , philosopher Plato , when asked by a friend for a book to understand Athenian society, referred him to the plays of Aristophanes . Historically, satire has satisfied the popular need to debunk and ridicule the leading figures in politics, economy, religion and other prominent realms of power . Satire confronts public discourse and the collective imaginary , playing as

2200-625: A prominent role in Indian and Hindi literature , and is counted as one of the " ras " of literature in ancient books. With the commencement of printing of books in local language in the nineteenth century and especially after India's freedom, this grew. Many of the works of Tulsi Das , Kabir , Munshi Premchand , village minstrels, Hari katha singers, poets, Dalit singers and current day stand up Indian comedians incorporate satire, usually ridiculing authoritarians, fundamentalists and incompetent people in power. In India, it has usually been used as

2310-511: A public opinion counterweight to power (be it political, economic, religious, symbolic, or otherwise), by challenging leaders and authorities. For instance, it forces administrations to clarify, amend or establish their policies. Satire's job is to expose problems and contradictions, and it is not obligated to solve them. Karl Kraus set in the history of satire a prominent example of a satirist role as confronting public discourse. For its nature and social role, satire has enjoyed in many societies

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2420-401: A special based on Our Dumb Century . Despite nearly two years of work spent on conceiving and producing Our Dumb Century , the writers received only bonuses of a few thousand dollars, despite the fact that the two-book publishing deal netted The Onion $ 450,000. In April 2000, DreamWorks Studios optioned two stories from the satirical newspaper, "Canadian Girlfriend Unsubstantiated"—which

2530-399: A special freedom license to mock prominent individuals and institutions. The satiric impulse, and its ritualized expressions, carry out the function of resolving social tension. Institutions like the ritual clowns , by giving expression to the antisocial tendencies , represent a safety valve which re-establishes equilibrium and health in the collective imaginary , which are jeopardized by

2640-497: A week-long series of Chinese-related articles and features throughout the publication's website and print editions. On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, the publication's editor ( Joe Randazzo ) clarified the issue on National Public Radio 's All Things Considered , stating: "I'm sure there are many Chinese conglomerates out there that would love to buy The Onion . We are, in fact, still a solvent independently owned American company." In August 2011, The Onion ' s website began testing

2750-418: A year earlier, "it jumped out at me as something completely original and great, and I really wanted to use it on the show". Although four fake news segments anchored by Stephen Colbert were recorded, only one of the segments actually aired. In 1996, when it was still only a print newspaper, an Onion article titled "Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia" was widely disseminated online without attribution, spurring

2860-421: Is a genre of the visual , literary , and performing arts , usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction , in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or shaming the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose

2970-424: Is a satire in hexameter verses, was a literary genre of wholly Roman origin ( satura tota nostra est ). He was aware of and commented on Greek satire, but at the time did not label it as such, although today the origin of satire is considered to be Aristophanes' Old Comedy . The first critic to use the term satire in the modern broader sense was Apuleius . To Quintilian, the satire was a strict literary form, but

3080-415: Is an apotropaic rite in which the sin-eater (also called filth-eater), by ingesting the food provided, takes "upon himself the sins of the departed". Satire about death overlaps with black humor and gallows humor . Another classification by topics is the distinction between political satire, religious satire and satire of manners. Political satire is sometimes called topical satire, satire of manners

3190-601: Is an enclave in which satire can be introduced into mass media , challenging mainstream discourse. Comedy roasts , mock festivals, and stand-up comedians in nightclubs and concerts are the modern forms of ancient satiric rituals. One of the earliest examples of what might be called satire, The Satire of the Trades , is in Egyptian writing from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The text's apparent readers are students, tired of studying. It argues that their lot as scribes

3300-406: Is not only useful, but far superior to that of the ordinary man. Scholars such as Helck think that the context was meant to be serious. The Papyrus Anastasi I (late 2nd millennium BC) contains a satirical letter which first praises the virtues of its recipient, but then mocks the reader's meagre knowledge and achievements. The Greeks had no word for what later would be called "satire", although

3410-410: Is obviously always going to draw talent from wherever it is", Dikkers said. "In Madison, people used to just come in off the street [...] and we'd give them a shot. The Onion has always thrived on the youngest, greenest people." In August 2012, it was announced that a group of former The Onion writers had teamed up with Adult Swim to create comedy content on a website called Thing X . According to

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3520-521: Is often constructive social criticism , using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. A prominent feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm —"in satire, irony is militant ", according to literary critic Northrop Frye — but parody , burlesque , exaggeration , juxtaposition , comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural)

3630-453: Is often pessimistic, characterized by the use of irony, sarcasm, moral indignation and personal invective, with less emphasis on humor. Strongly polarized political satire can often be classified as Juvenalian. A Juvenal satirist's goal is generally to provoke some sort of political or societal change because he sees his opponent or object as evil or harmful. A Juvenal satirist mocks "societal structure, power, and civilization" by exaggerating

3740-465: Is sometimes called satire of everyday life, and religious satire is sometimes called philosophical satire. Comedy of manners , sometimes also called satire of manners, criticizes mode of life of common people; political satire aims at behavior, manners of politicians, and vices of political systems. Historically, comedy of manners, which first appeared in British theater in 1620, has uncritically accepted

3850-552: Is the reactionary side of the comic ; it limits itself to a shallow parody of physical appearance. The side-effect of teasing is that it humanizes and draws sympathy for the powerful individual towards which it is directed. Satire instead uses the comic to go against power and its oppressions, has a subversive character, and a moral dimension which draws judgement against its targets. Fo formulated an operational criterion to tell real satire from sfottò , saying that real satire arouses an outraged and violent reaction, and that

3960-582: Is the first to define this concept of Yuyan. During the Qin and Han dynasty, however, the concept of yuyan mostly died out through their heavy persecution of dissent and literary circles, especially by Qin Shi Huang and Han Wudi . The first Roman to discuss satire critically was Quintilian , who invented the term to describe the writings of Gaius Lucilius . The two most prominent and influential ancient Roman satirists are Horace and Juvenal , who wrote during

4070-589: The Onion News Network . In 2013, The Onion stopped publishing its print edition and launched Onion Labs, an advertising agency. The Onion was then acquired three times, first by Univision in 2016, which later merged The Onion and its several other publications into those of Gizmodo Media Group . This unit was sold in 2019 to Great Hill Partners, forming a new company named G/O Media . G/O Media then sold The Onion in April 2024 to Global Tetrahedron,

4180-628: The Early Middle Ages , examples of satire were the songs by Goliards or vagants now best known as an anthology called Carmina Burana and made famous as texts of a composition by the 20th-century composer Carl Orff . Satirical poetry is believed to have been popular, although little has survived. With the advent of the High Middle Ages and the birth of modern vernacular literature in the 12th century, it began to be used again, most notably by Chaucer . The disrespectful manner

4290-572: The Ig Nobel Prize describe this as "first make people laugh, and then make them think". Satire and irony in some cases have been regarded as the most effective source to understand a society, the oldest form of social study. They provide the keenest insights into a group's collective psyche , reveal its deepest values and tastes, and the society's structures of power. Some authors have regarded satire as superior to non-comic and non-artistic disciplines like history or anthropology . In

4400-743: The Renaissance were Giovanni Boccaccio and François Rabelais . Other examples of Renaissance satire include Till Eulenspiegel , Reynard the Fox , Sebastian Brant 's Narrenschiff (1494), Erasmus 's Moriae Encomium (1509), Thomas More 's Utopia (1516), and Carajicomedia (1519). The Elizabethan (i.e. 16th-century English) writers thought of satire as related to the notoriously rude, coarse and sharp satyr play. Elizabethan "satire" (typically in pamphlet form) therefore contains more straightforward abuse than subtle irony. The French Huguenot Isaac Casaubon pointed out in 1605 that satire in

4510-571: The Resaleh-ye Delgosha , as well as Akhlaq al-Ashraf ("Ethics of the Aristocracy") and the famous humorous fable Masnavi Mush-O-Gorbeh (Mouse and Cat), which was a political satire. His non-satirical serious classical verses have also been regarded as very well written, in league with the other great works of Persian literature . Between 1905 and 1911, Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi and other Iranian writers wrote notable satires. In

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4620-643: The September 11 attacks . The popularity, and critical praise, of the issue resulted in The Onion ' s website's online traffic nearly doubling in the weeks following the attacks. In November 2002, a humorous op-ed piece in The Onion that was satirically bylined by filmmaker Michael Bay titled "Those Chechen Rebels Stole My Idea" was removed from the site without explanation. Entertainment industry trade magazine Variety theorized, "It's not clear if Bay—a frequent object of The Onion ' s satire—requested

4730-667: The Sharia " and later Arabic poets in turn using the term "Farazdaq-like" as a form of political satire. The terms " comedy " and "satire" became synonymous after Aristotle 's Poetics was translated into Arabic in the medieval Islamic world , where it was elaborated upon by Islamic philosophers and writers, such as Abu Bischr, his pupil Al-Farabi , Avicenna , and Averroes . Due to cultural differences, they disassociated comedy from Greek dramatic representation and instead identified it with Arabic poetic themes and forms, such as hija (satirical poetry). They viewed comedy as simply

4840-496: The head writer of the Onion News Network with the role of the publication's editor being taken over by writer Joe Randazzo . Randazzo first became a writer for The Onion in 2006 and—in his role as an editor—became the first editor of the publication that had no connection to The Onion during the publication's initial Madison, Wisconsin, era. In April 2009, The Onion was awarded a 2008 Peabody Award noting that

4950-523: The repressive aspects of society . The state of political satire in a given society reflects the tolerance or intolerance that characterizes it, and the state of civil liberties and human rights . Under totalitarian regimes any criticism of a political system, and especially satire, is suppressed. A typical example is the Soviet Union where the dissidents , such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov were under strong pressure from

5060-685: The "art of reprehension", and made no reference to light and cheerful events, or troubled beginnings and happy endings, associated with classical Greek comedy. After the Latin translations of the 12th century , the term "comedy" thus gained a new semantic meaning in Medieval literature . Ubayd Zakani introduced satire in Persian literature during the 14th century. His work is noted for its satire and obscene verses, often political or bawdy, and often cited in debates involving homosexual practices. He wrote

5170-446: The 1980s when the publication featured headlines such as, "Depressed? Try Liposuction on that Pesky Head." In July 2009, various news outlets began reporting rumors of an impending sale of The Onion with further details of the sale to be made on Monday, July 20, 2009. The purported sale was revealed as fictional Publisher Emeritus T. Herman Zweibel stating he'd sold the publication to a Chinese company—Yu Wan Mei Corporation—resulting in

5280-422: The 3D data into a web compatible format using Pulse's proprietary plug-in. In January 1999, when Jon Stewart became the host of The Daily Show he tapped former Onion writer/editor Karlin to be head writer of the newly restructured show. "He had heard about this group of Onion people in L.A. and, in a weird way, I was the de facto ringleader of our group in L.A. I came to New York. Jon and I connected. It

5390-450: The 9th century. While dealing with serious topics in what are now known as anthropology , sociology and psychology , he introduced a satirical approach, "based on the premise that, however serious the subject under review, it could be made more interesting and thus achieve greater effect, if only one leavened the lump of solemnity by the insertion of a few amusing anecdotes or by the throwing out of some witty or paradoxical observations. He

5500-551: The Department of Justice and then, like, University of Wisconsin. So it's a combination of students and pretty impressive people. I get the feeling that the print version is read by people hanging out in bars". In the fall of 1996, Ben Karlin, who had been a writer/editor for the publication since graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1993, moved to Los Angeles and joined other former Onion staff members to create

5610-613: The Haupts cut content to avoid losses. It was a deal many at The Onion , eventually regretted. There were blowups when the Haupts refused to run especially biting headlines or when they made changes to the paper’s layout. "We might have been selling humor, but the business behind it was always very serious to us. The rest of The Onion was a complete disaster." In the spring of 1996, Ben Karlin and Dikkers collaborated with Robert Smigel and Dana Carvey to create four short Onion news segments for The Dana Carvey Show . Smigel said that after being introduced to The Onion by Bob Odenkirk

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5720-679: The IT person, for $ 16,000 ($ 19,000 according to some sources). After the sale, Keck and Johnson separately became publishers of similar alternative weeklies : Keck of The Stranger in Seattle, Washington, and Johnson of the Weekly Alibi in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Haise left The Onion after 15 years and eventually opened a custom framing shop in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Dikkers, who joined

5830-519: The Latin satura; but "satirize", "satiric", etc., are of Greek origin. By about the 4th century AD the writer of satires came to be known as satyricus; St. Jerome, for example, was called by one of his enemies 'a satirist in prose' ('satyricus scriptor in prosa'). Subsequent orthographic modifications obscured the Latin origin of the word satire: satura becomes satyra, and in England, by the 16th century, it

5940-472: The Roman fashion was something altogether more civilised. Casaubon discovered and published Quintilian's writing and presented the original meaning of the term (satira, not satyr), and the sense of wittiness (reflecting the "dishfull of fruits") became more important again. Seventeenth-century English satire once again aimed at the "amendment of vices" ( Dryden ). In the 1590s a new wave of verse satire broke with

6050-436: The Roman satirist Horace (65–8 BCE), playfully criticizes some social vice through gentle, mild, and light-hearted humour. Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) wrote Satires to gently ridicule the dominant opinions and "philosophical beliefs of ancient Rome and Greece". Rather than writing in harsh or accusing tones, he addressed issues with humor and clever mockery. Horatian satire follows this same pattern of "gently [ridiculing]

6160-433: The absurdities and follies of human beings". It directs wit, exaggeration, and self-deprecating humour toward what it identifies as folly, rather than evil. Horatian satire's sympathetic tone is common in modern society. A Horatian satirist's goal is to heal the situation with smiles, rather than by anger. Horatian satire is a gentle reminder to take life less seriously and evokes a wry smile. Juvenalian satire, named for

6270-450: The aim of humanizing his image. Types of satire can also be classified according to the topics it deals with. From the earliest times, at least since the plays of Aristophanes , the primary topics of literary satire have been politics , religion and sex . This is partly because these are the most pressing problems that affect anybody living in a society, and partly because these topics are usually taboo . Among these, politics in

6380-437: The bankruptcy court pending a review of the bidding process. "People always ask questions about where the name The Onion came from," said former President Sean Mills in an interview with Wikinews ; "and, when I recently asked Tim Keck, who was one of the founders, he told me... Literally that his uncle said he should call it The Onion when he saw him and Chris Johnson eating an onion sandwich. They had literally just cut up

6490-416: The broader sense is considered the pre-eminent topic of satire. Satire which targets the clergy is a type of political satire , while religious satire is that which targets religious beliefs . Satire on sex may overlap with blue comedy , off-color humor and dick jokes . Scatology has a long literary association with satire, as it is a classical mode of the grotesque , the grotesque body and

6600-420: The category of "Humor". On March 23, 1999, The Onion ' s first fully original book, Our Dumb Century was released. The book featured mocked-up newspaper front pages from the entire 20th century, presented under the premise that the publication had been continuously in print since before 1900. In the wake of the book's success, networks such as HBO and NBC were in talks to bring The Onion to TV with

6710-425: The comedy website Splitsider , " The Onion writers had nothing else going on, and AdultSwim.com wanted to take advantage of that. But only because they smelled a business opportunity. Adult Swim is just looking at it from a business standpoint." In June 2013, it was announced that Thing X would be shutting down with some staff moving over to parent website adultswim.com on June 18, 2013. In February 2013 The Onion

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6820-458: The creation of The Onion ' s official website (theonion.com) so they could properly claim credit for content that was being passed around online forums such as Usenet and various mailing lists. The publication received expanded global recognition as a result of the website as well. In a 2002 interview, then-editor in chief Rob Siegel said, "If you look at the breakdown of people who read The Onion online, it's like Microsoft, Dell Computers,

6930-502: The details stating, "We were overstaffed for the non-media-agency part of the business. We have less demand for a ton of new content for a brand. There's demand, but we just overestimated what the demand is." In January 2016, Univision Communications purchased a 40% stake in Onion, Inc. "As an independent media company, we've always been forced to run a tight financial ship, which has made us smart and lean, but not always ready to invest in

7040-522: The early days of the Roman Empire . Other important satirists in ancient Latin are Gaius Lucilius and Persius . Satire in their work is much wider than in the modern sense of the word, including fantastic and highly coloured humorous writing with little or no real mocking intent. When Horace criticized Augustus , he used veiled ironic terms. In contrast, Pliny reports that the 6th-century-BC poet Hipponax wrote satirae that were so cruel that

7150-487: The early modern period. The dutch translation Van den vos Reynaerde is considered a major medieval dutch literary work. In the dutch version De Vries argues that the animal characters represent barons who conspired against the Count of Flanders. Direct social commentary via satire returned in the 16th century, when texts such as the works of François Rabelais tackled more serious issues. Two major satirists of Europe in

7260-423: The expression lanx satura literally means "a full dish of various kinds of fruits". The use of the word lanx in this phrase, however, is disputed by B.L. Ullman. The word satura as used by Quintilian , however, was used to denote only Roman verse satire, a strict genre that imposed hexameter form, a narrower genre than what would be later intended as satire . Quintilian famously said that satura, that

7370-516: The fashion was brought to an abrupt stop by censorship. Another satiric genre to emerge around this time was the satirical almanac , with François Rabelais 's work Pantagrueline Prognostication (1532), which mocked astrological predictions. The strategies François utilized within this work were employed by later satirical almanacs, such as the Poor Robin series that spanned the 17th to 19th centuries. Satire ( Kataksh or Vyang ) has played

7480-412: The film industry for some time", said Kyle Ryan, vice president of Onion Studios. "With the help of Serious Business and Lionsgate, we'll make room on our award shelf for some Oscars. To the basement you go, Pulitzers." Serious Business is a production company run by former UTA Online co-founder Jason U. Nadler, @midnight co-creator Jon Zimelis and writer/producer Alex Blagg. Satire Satire

7590-505: The finished "Tenth Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" to involve animation as well as musical singalongs. In June 2000, writers and editors of The Onion participated in Comedy Central panel discussion moderated by Jeff Greenfield titled "The State of The Onion " during the "Toyota Comedy Festival 2000". In July 2000, The Onion ' s editor Robert Siegel was named one of People magazine 's most eligible bachelors. "If

7700-600: The government. While satire of everyday life in the USSR was allowed, the most prominent satirist being Arkady Raikin , political satire existed in the form of anecdotes that made fun of Soviet political leaders, especially Brezhnev , famous for his narrow-mindedness and love for awards and decorations. Satire is a diverse genre which is complex to classify and define, with a wide range of satiric "modes". Satirical literature can commonly be categorized as either Horatian, Juvenalian, or Menippean . Horatian satire, named for

7810-729: The great new ideas that we come up with," Mr. McAvoy said in a memo to staff. "I'm excited to see what we can do with Univision behind us." This brings The Onion into the Fusion Media Group arm of Univision, the same media family as the Gizmodo collection of sites (Kotaku, Lifehacker, Deadspin, etc.), which also has led to a consolidated media management platform and aligned content presentation styles with these sister sites. In January 2017, The Onion partnered with Lionsgate Films and production company Serious Business to develop multiple film projects. "We've plotted our takeover of

7920-483: The itch to use a different part of my brain", he said. "You can go mad thinking in headline form." In the wake of his departure, long-time staff writer Carol Kolb assumed the publication's duties as editor of the publication. In 2005, The Onion moved its New York City offices from its initial Chelsea location to downtown on Broadway in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan (New York City). In 2006, The Onion had reached

8030-598: The larger community the self identifies with. The audience's understanding of the context of reflexive humour is important for its receptivity and success. Satire is found not only in written literary forms. In preliterate cultures it manifests itself in ritual and folk forms, as well as in trickster tales and oral poetry . It appears also in graphic arts, music, sculpture, dance, cartoon strips , and graffiti . Examples are Dada sculptures, Pop Art works, music of Gilbert and Sullivan and Erik Satie , punk and rock music . In modern media culture , stand-up comedy

8140-725: The more they try to stop you, the better is the job you are doing. Fo contends that, historically, people in positions of power have welcomed and encouraged good-humoured buffoonery, while modern day people in positions of power have tried to censor, ostracize and repress satire. Teasing ( sfottò ) is an ancient form of simple buffoonery , a form of comedy without satire's subversive edge. Teasing includes light and affectionate parody, good-humoured mockery, simple one-dimensional poking fun, and benign spoofs. Teasing typically consists of an impersonation of someone monkeying around with his exterior attributes, tics , physical blemishes, voice and mannerisms, quirks, way of dressing and walking, and/or

8250-438: The most plausible explanation is that The Onion was mocking a campus newsletter called The Union . The Onion was founded as a weekly print newspaper for satirical news in 1988 in Madison, Wisconsin , by University of Wisconsin students Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson. In 1989, Keck and Johnson sold the paper to Scott Dikkers , who had been contributing cartoons; Peter Haise, a lead advertising rep; and Jonathan Hart Eddy,

8360-430: The move." In 2003, The Onion was purchased by David Schafer, who had previously managed the $ 2.5 billion investment fund, from previous long-time owners Peter Haise and Scott Dikkers. The sale was a process that had been in the works since July 2001 and according to a memo from then-owner Haise, "[Schafer] understands our quirky company and knows that we need some time to get to a higher level of operations and sales." In

8470-549: The newspaper was a bi-weekly newspaper called NuCity , but changed its name due to a similar Chicago newspaper entitled Newcity . The newspaper and website were members of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia as well as the National Newspaper Association . The Weekly Alibi is closed; its last edition was published in late August, 2020. This article about a New Mexico newspaper

8580-410: The offended hanged themselves. In the 2nd century AD, Lucian wrote True History , a book satirizing the clearly unrealistic travelogues/adventures written by Ctesias , Iambulus , and Homer . He states that he was surprised they expected people to believe their lies, and stating that he, like them, has no actual knowledge or experience, but shall now tell lies as if he did. He goes on to describe

8690-474: The onion and put it on bread." According to former editorial manager, Chet Clem, their food budget was so low when they started the paper that they were down to white bread and onions. This account was disputed by an editor of The Onion , Cole Bolton, during an event at the University of Chicago . Bolton called Mills's account "the dumbest explanation" and asserted that it is likely wrong. According to Bolton,

8800-410: The other. Max Eastman defined the spectrum of satire in terms of "degrees of biting", as ranging from satire proper at the hot-end, and "kidding" at the violet-end; Eastman adopted the term kidding to denote what is just satirical in form, but is not really firing at the target. Nobel laureate satirical playwright Dario Fo pointed out the difference between satire and teasing ( sfottò ). Teasing

8910-477: The phrases he typically repeats. By contrast, teasing never touches on the core issue, never makes a serious criticism judging the target with irony ; it never harms the target's conduct, ideology and position of power; it never undermines the perception of his morality and cultural dimension. Sfottò directed towards a powerful individual makes him appear more human and draws sympathy towards him. Hermann Göring propagated jests and jokes against himself, with

9020-541: The position with the new CEO role passed onto current president of the organization, Mike McAvoy. On September 21, 2015, StarWipe —a spinoff sister site of The A.V. Club centered on celebrity culture—was launched. It was closed on June 17, 2016. In October 2015, CEO Mike McAvoy announced a restructuring of the organization, layoffs as well as a series of management changes. "But even though we've done well, we have not been able to keep pace with our ambitious goals for Onion Inc." Kurt Mueller—the company's COO—elaborated on

9130-511: The publication as "the best comedy writing in the country". The Onion previously ran The A.V. Club , a non-satirical entertainment and pop culture publication founded in 1993 that contains interviews and reviews of newly released media and other weekly features, and ClickHole , a satirical website founded in 2014 which parodies clickbait websites. ClickHole was acquired by Cards Against Humanity in February 2020 while The A.V. Club

9240-604: The publication of Hall 's Virgidemiarum , six books of verse satires targeting everything from literary fads to corrupt noblemen. Although Donne had already circulated satires in manuscript, Hall's was the first real attempt in English at verse satire on the Juvenalian model. The success of his work combined with a national mood of disillusion in the last years of Elizabeth's reign triggered an avalanche of satire—much of it less conscious of classical models than Hall's — until

9350-438: The publication provides "...ersatz news that has a worrisome ring of truth." In November 2009, The Onion released Our Front Pages: 21 Years of Greatness, Virtue, and Moral Rectitude From America's Finest News Source which was notable in not only compiling dozens of front pages from the publication's history as a news parody but also showcasing front pages from the publication's early, more casual campus humor focused era during

9460-476: The publication's duties as editor of the publication. Sometime after The Onion appeared online in 1996, the publication was threatened with a lawsuit from Janet Jackson because of the article "Dying Boy Gets Wish: To Pork Janet Jackson". "We were very nearly sued out of existence by Janet Jackson", said Siegel, adding that in the past he was forbidden to talk about the legal matter and the celebrity involved. On January 27, 1998, MTV premiered Virtual Bill ,

9570-563: The publication's website. The final print edition was published on December 13, 2013. In 2013, The Onion received an email from Michael Cohen claiming that an article published about Donald Trump was defamation , and demanded that it be removed with an apology. In June 2014, The Onion launched the spinoff website ClickHole , which satirizes and parodies so-called " clickbait " websites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy that capitalize on viral content to drive traffic. In November 2014, Bloomberg News reported that The Onion had hired

9680-499: The satiric grotesque. Shit plays a fundamental role in satire because it symbolizes death , the turd being "the ultimate dead object". The satirical comparison of individuals or institutions with human excrement , exposes their "inherent inertness, corruption and dead-likeness". The ritual clowns of clown societies , like among the Pueblo Indians , have ceremonies with filth-eating . In other cultures, sin-eating

9790-489: The social code of the upper classes. Comedy in general accepts the rules of the social game, while satire subverts them. Another analysis of satire is the spectrum of his possible tones : wit , ridicule , irony , sarcasm , cynicism , the sardonic and invective . The type of humour that deals with creating laughter at the expense of the person telling the joke is called reflexive humour. Reflexive humour can take place at dual levels of directing humour at self or at

9900-700: The staff as a cartoonist, said he was de facto editor by the third issue and became The Onion ' s longest-serving editor in chief (1988–1999, 2005–2008). In its earlier years, The Onion was successful in a number of university locations (e.g., University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign ). The publication primarily consisted of a mix of Dikkers's cartoons, Spy magazine-like satire, and short fiction. The bottom three inches were reserved as ad space for coupons that were typically purchased by local, student-centered or inexpensive establishments, such as eateries and video rental stores. The June 16, 1993, issue of The Daily Iowan ran

10010-529: The staff in Chicago. With the publication's core editorial staff now based in Chicago, in March 2012 Cole Bolton—a Brown University graduate of business economics, former associate economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and research associate at Harvard Business School —was named the new editor-in-chief of The Onion . "I was never in an improv group, never in a sketch group, never wrote for an Onion parody in college", said Bolton in

10120-442: The summer of 2012. The news of the move left many of the writers—who moved with the publication from Madison to New York City in 2000—"blindsided", putting them in a position to decide whether to uproot themselves from New York City and follow the publication to Chicago, which was already home to the company's corporate headquarters. At a comedy show on September 27, 2011, then editor Joe Randazzo announced that he would not be joining

10230-481: The term soon escaped from the original narrow definition. Robert Elliott writes: As soon as a noun enters the domain of metaphor, as one modern scholar has pointed out, it clamours for extension; and satura (which had had no verbal, adverbial, or adjectival forms) was immediately broadened by appropriation from the Greek word for "satyr" (satyros) and its derivatives. The odd result is that the English "satire" comes from

10340-567: The terms cynicism and parody were used. Modern critics call the Greek playwright Aristophanes one of the best known early satirists: his plays are known for their critical political and societal commentary , particularly for the political satire by which he criticized the powerful Cleon (as in The Knights ). He is also notable for the persecution he underwent. Aristophanes' plays turned upon images of filth and disease. His bawdy style

10450-427: The very things the satirist wishes to question. Satire is found in many artistic forms of expression, including internet memes, literature, plays, commentary, music , film and television shows, and media such as lyrics. The word satire comes from the Latin word satur and the subsequent phrase lanx satura . Satur meant "full", but the juxtaposition with lanx shifted the meaning to "miscellany or medley":

10560-543: The way it is called in Chinese, goes back at least to Confucius , being mentioned in the Book of Odes (Shijing 詩經). It meant "to criticize by means of an ode". In the pre-Qin era it was also common for schools of thought to clarify their views through the use of short explanatory anecdotes, also called yuyan (寓言), translated as "entrusted words". These yuyan usually were brimming with satirical content. The Daoist text Zhuangzi

10670-493: The website's award-winning news section, featuring cultural commentary by August March; the calendar listings; reviews and guides to arts; art criticism; entertainment news; music interviews; and film reviews by noted film critic/Managing Editor Devin O'Leary. Its "Chowtown" restaurant guide and its "Best of Burque " award issues, which covered everything from "Best Community Action Group" and "Best All-You-Can-Eat" to "Best Gay Bar" were popular features of Weekly Alibi. Originally

10780-461: The words or position of his opponent in order to jeopardize their opponent's reputation and/or power. Jonathan Swift has been established as an author who "borrowed heavily from Juvenal's techniques in [his critique] of contemporary English society". In the history of theatre there has always been a conflict between engagement and disengagement on politics and relevant issue, between satire and grotesque on one side, and jest with teasing on

10890-406: The work Reynard the Fox , written by Willem die Madoc maecte, and its translations were a popular work that satirized the class system at the time. Representing the various classes as certain anthropomorphic animals. As example, the lion in the story represents the nobility, which is portrayed as being weak and without character, but very greedy. Versions of Reynard the Fox were also popular well into

11000-598: The writers to find a new owner—are explored by articles in The Atlantic Wire and New York magazine 's Daily Intelligencer . According to an article in the Chicago Tribune , founding editor Scott Dikkers returned to the publication in light of the Chicago move stating that he hopes to find a "younger and hungrier" pool of talent in Chicago than what was available in New York City. " The Onion

11110-901: The writings of the Roman satirist Juvenal (late first century – early second century AD), is more contemptuous and abrasive than the Horatian. Juvenal disagreed with the opinions of the public figures and institutions of the Republic and actively attacked them through his literature. "He utilized the satirical tools of exaggeration and parody to make his targets appear monstrous and incompetent". Juvenal's satire follows this same pattern of abrasively ridiculing societal structures. Juvenal also, unlike Horace, attacked public officials and governmental organizations through his satires, regarding their opinions as not just wrong, but evil. Following in this tradition, Juvenalian satire addresses perceived social evil through scorn, outrage, and savage ridicule. This form

11220-561: Was acquired by Paste Magazine in March 2024. In November 2024, through a bankruptcy auction, The Onion attempted to purchase InfoWars , a conspiratorial far-right news website founded by Alex Jones , with the intent of turning the site into a parody of Jones's conspiracy theories. The purchase was sanctioned by families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting , who had successfully sued Jones for defamation . The purchase has been stayed in

11330-463: Was added to Advertising Age ' s "Digital A-List 2013" because the publication "...has not just survived, it's thrived..." since the publication's 2012 move to consolidate operations and staff in Chicago. In November 2013, the publication announced in Crain's Chicago Business that The Onion would move to an all-digital format by December 2013, citing a 30% year-over-year growth in page views to

11440-566: Was adopted by Greek dramatist-comedian Menander . His early play Drunkenness contains an attack on the politician Callimedon . The oldest form of satire still in use is the Menippean satire by Menippus of Gadara . His own writings are lost. Examples from his admirers and imitators mix seriousness and mockery in dialogues and present parodies before a background of diatribe . As in the case of Aristophanes plays, menippean satire turned upon images of filth and disease. Satire, or fengci (諷刺)

11550-615: Was an Arabian Nights tale called "Ali with the Large Member". In the 10th century, the writer Tha'alibi recorded satirical poetry written by the Arabic poets As-Salami and Abu Dulaf, with As-Salami praising Abu Dulaf's wide breadth of knowledge and then mocking his ability in all these subjects, and with Abu Dulaf responding back and satirizing As-Salami in return. An example of Arabic political satire included another 10th-century poet Jarir satirizing Farazdaq as "a transgressor of

11660-458: Was considered "unchristian" and ignored, except for the moral satire , which mocked misbehaviour in Christian terms. Examples are Livre des Manières by Étienne de Fougères  [ fr ] (~1178), and some of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . Sometimes epic poetry (epos) was mocked, and even feudal society, but there was hardly a general interest in the genre. In the High Middle Ages

11770-641: Was kind of like a slightly awkward, but successful, first date. When I got back to Los Angeles, they offered me the head writer job". From March 3–7, 1999, writers and editors of The Onion attended U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado in part to promote the forthcoming Our Dumb Century anthology and were met with effusive praise for their work from notable comedians such as Conan O'Brien , Dave Foley and Dave Thomas as well as cartoonist Peter Bagge and musician Andy Prieboy . On March 18, 1999, The Onion ' s website won its first Webby Award in

11880-403: Was to be written by former Onion editor and writer Rich Dahm—and "Tenth Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" with an eye toward producing the latter as a family comedy. "The story is so dark and hate filled—I was shocked", said head writer Todd Hanson. "It's like an Onion joke. I mean, what are they going to do? Add a sickly-but-adorable moppet?" added editor Robert Siegel. DreamWorks planned for

11990-443: Was well aware that, in treating of new themes in his prose works, he would have to employ a vocabulary of a nature more familiar in hija , satirical poetry." For example, in one of his zoological works, he satirized the preference for longer human penis size , writing: "If the length of the penis were a sign of honor, then the mule would belong to the (honorable tribe of) Quraysh ". Another satirical story based on this preference

12100-456: Was written 'satyre.' The word satire derives from satura , and its origin was not influenced by the Greek mythological figure of the satyr . In the 17th century, philologist Isaac Casaubon was the first to dispute the etymology of satire from satyr, contrary to the belief up to that time. The rules of satire are such that it must do more than make you laugh. No matter how amusing it is, it doesn't count unless you find yourself wincing

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