The Onion

History

Madison (1988–2001)

In 1988, The Onion was founded as a weekly print newspaper for satirical news by University of Wisconsin–Madison students Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson. Keck's parents had both worked on The Hammond Times newspaper, and he had previously partnered with cartoonist James Sturm to sell monthly calendars featuring characters from Sturm's comics in The Daily Cardinal student newspaper. The idea for a newspaper of fake stories came from The Daily Cardinal's annual April Fools' Day parody issue. Keck claims that Johnson's uncle suggested naming the newspaper The Onion because of their frequent consumption of onion sandwiches, early comic contributor Scott Dikkers maintains that it referred to "newspaper slang in the 1930s for a juicy, multi-layered story," and editor Cole Bolton insists that it mocked the campus bulletin The Union, alongside which early issues appeared.

In 1989, Keck and Johnson sold the paper to Dikkers; Peter Haise, their advertising manager; and Jonnie Wilder, their typesetter, 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. In late 1990, Wilder sold her shares for $15,000 to work at the board game publisher Iron Crown Enterprises. Haise left The Onion after 15 years and eventually opened a custom framing shop in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Dikkers claimed he was de facto editor by the third issue and became The Onion's longest-serving editor-in-chief (1988–1999, 2005–2008).

In The Onion's earlier years, it 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.

In the summer of 1993, Stephen Thompson founded and became editor of the paper's genuine entertainment section, which was dubbed The A.V. Club in 1995. 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 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".

New York City (2001–2012)

In April 2000, a $12 million deal for Comedy Central to acquire The Onion fell through amid the dot-com crash. In frustration, Dikkers sold his shares to David Schafer, who managed investments for Strong Capital Management. Writers conditioned their acceptance of the deal on joining the owners in New York City, while writers for The A.V. Club would remain in Madison, Wisconsin. Agreeing that the move would allow The Onion to expand into a full production company of books, television, and movies, Haise and Schafer chose a former furniture warehouse in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The planned launch of the New York City print edition on September 16, 2001, was postponed due to the September 11 attacks. The rewritten issue debuted on September 27 and was widely praised for bringing humor to a recent tragedy, doubling the website's online traffic in the following weeks.

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 the move."

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 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 took over as editor of the publication.

Unable to support The Onion's rising costs, Haise sold his ownership shares to Schafer for $1.7 million in April 2003. Schafer appointed journalist Steve Hannah as The Onion's new CEO, who quickly faced criticism for being too old to understand its satire. 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. That same year, Kolb resigned to work in television writing, leading Hannah to rehire Dikkers as editor-in-chief.

In 2006, The Onion had reached 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.

Chicago (2012–present)

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 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 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 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 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 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 the publication's website. The final print edition was published on December 13, 2013.

Print edition

During The Onion print edition's initial 25-year run—from the publication's creation in 1988 to the end of the print edition in 2013—it was distributed for free in various cities across the United States and Canada as well as via paid mail order subscription to subscribers around the world. By the time the print edition of The Onion ceased publication in December 2013, it was only available in Chicago, Milwaukee and Providence. At its peak, The Onion had a print circulation of about 500,000 while the publication's websites brought in more than 10 million unique monthly visitors. Below is a list of all of the cities in which The Onion was distributed freely at different points from 1988 to 2013.

The Onion revived its print edition in August 2024, as a paid subscription with monthly issues. To promote the relaunch, The Onion printed a special 40,000-copy run for the 2024 Democratic National Convention that month, which was held in their headquarters city of Chicago. As of March 2026, the print edition of The Onion had 65,000 subscribers.

Regular features

Regular features of The Onion include:

"Statshot", an illustrated statistical snapshot which parodies "USA Today Snapshots".

"Infographics", with a bulleted lists of jokes on a theme.

Opinion columns, including mock editorials, point-counterpoints, and pieces from regular (fictional) columnists, including Jean Teasdale and Herbert Kornfeld (originated by Maria Schneider), Jim Anchower and Jackie Harvey (originated by Joe Garden), Larry Groznic, Smoove B, and Gorzo the Mighty.

Bizarre horoscopes.

Slideshows that parody content aggregation sites like Huffington Post and Buzzfeed, usually accompanied by a "click-bait"-style headline.

"News in Photos" that feature a photograph and caption with no accompanying story.

"American Voices" (formerly called "What Do You Think?"), a mock vox populi survey on a topical current event. There are three respondents—down from the original six—for each topic, who appear to represent a diverse selection of demographics. Although their names and professions change each time they are used, the same six pictures have been reused weekly for over 20 years. The photos belong to people that happened to be near the publication's old office in Madison: one is a Madison community theater actor, one used to work with The Onion's CEO Chad Nackers at a restaurant, one delivered goods for UPS, and one is Mark Danielson's aunt.

An editorial cartoon drawn by "Kelly" (also referred to as "Stan Kelly"), a fictional cartoonist. The cartoons are actually the work of artist Ward Sutton and they are a deadpan parody of conservative editorial cartoons, as well as editorial cartoons in general. Many of the cartoons feature the Statue of Liberty, usually shedding a single tear—of joy or anguish—depending on the situation.

Editors and writers

As of 2025, the current editor of The Onion is Chad Nackers. Past editors and writers have included:

Books, video, film and audio

Books

Since the first publication of Our Dumb Century in 1999, The Onion has produced various books that often compile already produced material into collected volumes. Its other fully original book content includes Our Dumb World (2007) and The Onion Book of Known Knowledge (2012).

The Onion (March 23, 1999). Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0609804612.

The Onion (April 4, 2000). The Onion's Finest News Reporting, Volume 1. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0609804636.

The Onion (September 4, 2001). Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of The Onion. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0609808344.

The Onion (September 24, 2002). The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives, Volume 13. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-1400047246.

The Onion (September 23, 2003). The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives, Volume 14. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-1400049615.

The Onion (September 28, 2004). Fanfare for the Area Man: The Onion Ad Nauseam Complete News Archives, Vol. 15. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-1400054558.

The Onion (October 4, 2005). Embedded in America: The Onion Complete News Archives Volume 16. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-1400054565.

The Onion (October 31, 2006). Homeland Insecurity: The Onion Complete News Archives, Volume 17. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0307339843.

The Onion (October 30, 2007). Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition. Little, Brown And Company. ISBN 978-0316018425.

The Onion (November 3, 2009). Our Front Pages: 21 Years of Greatness, Virtue, and Moral Rectitude from America's Finest News Source. Scribner. ISBN 978-1439156926.

Onion News Network

In April 2007, The Onion launched Onion News Network—a daily web video broadcast—with a story about an illegal immigrant taking an executive's $800,000-a-year job for $600,000 a year, directed by Dikkers. The publication reportedly initially invested $1 million in the production and hired 15 new staffers. On February 3, 2009, The Onion launched a spin-off of the Onion News Network called the Onion Sports Network. In April 2009, the program was awarded a Peabody Award noting that the publication provides "ersatz news that has a worrisome ring of truth."

In a Wikinews interview in November 2007, former Onion President Mills said the Onion News Network had been a huge hit. "We get over a million downloads a week, which makes it one of the more successful produced-for-the-Internet videos", said Mills. "If we're not the most successful, we're one of the most.' In January 2011, The Onion launched two TV shows on cable networks: Onion SportsDome which premiered January 11 on Comedy Central, and the Onion News Network which premiered January 21 on Independent Film Channel (IFC). Later in the year IFC officially announced the renewal of the Onion News Network for a second season in March 2011 while Comedy Central officially announced the cancellation of Onion SportsDome in June 2011.

In August 2011, the Writers Guild of America, East, AFL–CIO, announced the unionization of the Onion News Network writing staff, averting a potential strike which hinged on pay and benefits. It is also not the first time Onion, Inc. has been criticized for the way it treats its employees: In June 2011 A.V. Club Philadelphia city editor Emily Guendelsberger was the victim of an attack and—according to the Philadelphia Daily News—her job did not provide health insurance to cover hospital bills. According to the WGA, Onion News Network was the only scripted, live-action program that had employed non-union writers. "The ONN writers stood together and won real improvements", said WGAE Executive Director Lowell Peterson. "We welcome them into the WGAE and we look forward to a productive relationship with the company." Peterson noted that more than 70 Guild members from all of the New York-based comedy shows signed a letter supporting the Onion News Network writers, and hundreds of Guild members sent emails to the producers.

In March 2012, IFC officially announced the cancellation of the Onion News Network. After the show's cancellation, a pilot for a new comedy series titled Onion News Empire premiered on Amazon.com in April 2013, which presented as a behind-the-scenes look of The Onion's newsroom. The pilot was one of several candidates for production on Amazon, but was not ultimately selected. In September 2024, The Onion relaunched the Onion News Network on its YouTube page, starring former MSNBC host Joshua Johnson as ONN anchor Dwight Richmond.

Video series

Today Now!: a series of parodies of a morning talk show

Onion Film Standard with Peter K. Rosenthal: a series of parodies in which "Movie critic Peter K. Rosenthal" (played by Ron E. Rains) presents his views on famous films, both classic and contemporary.

Onion Social: a series of parodies of Facebook

In the Know with Clifford Banes: a series of parodies of a news talk show

Mothershould with Grace Manning-Devlin: a series of parodies of women's issues YouTube vlogs

The Whole Body: a series of parodies of health tips

Good Taste: a series of parodies of Recipe and cooking videos

EDGE: a series of parodies of the HBO non-fiction TV series VICE

Owner's Box: a series of parodies of ESPN and other sports-news programs

Sportology: a series of parodies of investigation of sport science

O-Span: a series of parodies of C-SPAN

Now: Focus: a series of parodies of NowThis News

Onion Explains: a series of parodies of WIRED Explains

Onion Insights: a series of parodies of Vox videos

In 2008, The Onion launched a series of YouTube videos produced by its 'Onion Digital Studios' division, funded in part by a grant from YouTube and exclusive to the site.

Mockumentaries

Jeffrey Epstein: Bad Pedophile: A 20-minute mockumentary of Jeffrey Epstein.

limited release on October 2, 2025 in independent theaters, after a theater chain withdrew

available online as The Onion Investigates: Jeffrey Epstein

The Onion Movie

The Onion Movie is a direct-to-video film written by then-Onion editor Robert Siegel and writer Todd Hanson and directed by Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire. Created in 2003, Fox Searchlight Pictures was on board to release the movie, originally called The Untitled Onion Movie, but at some point in the process, directors Kuntz and Maguire—as well as writer Siegel—walked away from the project. In 2006, New Regency Productions took over the production of the troubled project. After two years of being in limbo, the film was released directly on DVD on June 3, 2008. Upon release, it was credited as being directed by James Kleiner, a pseudonym for Kuntz and Maguire.

In Spring 2014, early employee and former shareholder, Peter K. Haise, sued majority shareholder, David K. Schafer, in Palm Beach County over not being listed as an "Executive Producer" in the film's credits, despite that being a condition of his 2003 transfer of ownership. The lawsuit was ultimately settled with Haise claiming an undisclosed financial victory.

Onion Radio News

The Onion Radio News was an audio podcast/radio show produced by The Onion from 1999 and 2009. The core voice of the podcast was that of a fictional newsreader named "Doyle Redland" who was voiced by Pete S. Mueller. At its peak Onion Radio News was picked up by the Westwood One radio network as well as Audible.com.

Onion Public Radio podcasts

On February 5, 2018, The Onion published its first podcast, titled A Very Fatal Murder. It was released in six parts and parodies other true crime podcasts such as Serial and My Favorite Murder. The story follows Onion Public Radio reporter David Pascall (voiced by David Sidorov) as he tries to investigate the murder of a 17-year-old girl named Hayley Price in the fictional town of Bluff Springs, Nebraska.

On January 16, 2020, The Onion expanded its podcast formula to include The Topical, in a partnership with Sony Music. The Topical was a satirical news podcast which parodies the style and format of NPR drive-time news broadcasts and The Daily by the New York Times. It was hosted by a fictional Leslie Price, with its final episode on May 20, 2021.

Influence and controversies

Taken seriously

Occasionally, the straight-faced manner in which The Onion reports non-existent events, happenings and ideas has resulted in third parties mistakenly citing The Onion stories as real news.

"'98 Homosexual-Recruitment Drive Nearing Goal": In 1998, Fred Phelps posted an article from The Onion article on his Westboro Baptist Church website as apparent "proof" that homosexuals were indeed actively trying to "recruit" others to be gay.

"Congress Passes Americans With No Abilities Act": At various times since the article's initial publication in 1998, variants of the "Americans With No Abilities Act" article and theme have been passed around online including a variant in 2009 that changed the stated U.S. president from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama as well as a 2007 variant that changed the country from the United States of America to Australia.

"Harry Potter Books Spark Rise in Satanism Among Children": Beginning in the year 2000, an article on Harry Potter inciting children to practice witchcraft was the subject of a widely forwarded email which repeated the quotes attributed to children in the article. Columnist Ellen Makkai and others who believe the Harry Potter books "recruit" children to Satanism have also been taken in by the article, using quotes directly from it to support their claims.

"Congress Threatens To Leave D.C. Unless New Capitol Is Built": On June 7, 2002, Reuters reported that the Beijing Evening News republished and translated portions of the article. The article is a parody of U.S. sports franchises' threats to leave their home city unless new stadiums are built for them. The Beijing Evening News initially stood by the story, demanding proof of its falsehood but later retracted the article, responding that "some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them with the aim of making money."

"Conspiracy Theorist Convinces Neil Armstrong Moon Landing Was Faked": In September 2009, two Bangladeshi newspapers—The Daily Manab Zamin and the New Nation—published stories translated from The Onion claiming that astronaut Neil Armstrong had held a news conference claiming the Moon landing was an elaborate hoax.

Prescient articles

The Onion has predicted real-life incidents on more than one occasion.

In February 2004, The Onion published "Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades," framed as an editorial from the CEO of Gillette stating their razors would start including five blades, mocking the competition between Gillette and Schick. Gillette subsequently introduced a five-blade razor in September 2005.

Other examples include the 2013 article "Overstock.com Announces Plans To Develop Original Content," which predicted a real 2015 news story, and the 2002 article "RIAA Sues Radio Stations For Giving Away Free Music," which predicted a real 2008 news story.

As a political actor

Several commentators have characterized The Onion as overtly political. In 2013, Noreen Malone, editor of The New York Times Sunday Business section, characterized the publication as producing biting, leftist op-ed pieces through its presentation of satire news. Conversely, journalist David Weigel criticized the outlet for advocating US intervention in the Syrian civil war and same-sex marriage in the United States, which he framed as already popular views adopted for the faster Internet news cycle. Farhad Manjoo of Slate similarly attributed the publication's "faster, bigger, more strident, and, to me, a little inconsistent" tone to the exigencies of the Internet.

Political commentator Emmett Rensin has described The Onion as "the paper most dedicated to the overthrowing capitalism in the United States" and that it "represents some latent Marxism in our culture", citing its criticism of false consciousness, commodity fetishization, and the invisible hand. Rensin attributes this slant to the need to work from "obvious, intuitive truth—the kind necessary for any kind of broadly appealing humor", while Christine Wenc's book Funny Because It's True highlights that many early writers came from The Daily Cardinal, the left-leaning student newspaper of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Some of the publication's political impact is unintentional. For example, The Onion's long-running caricature of Joe Biden as a blue-collar "creepy but harmless uncle" character is believed to have benefited the real Joe Biden's public image. In May 2019, the former Onion editor Joe Garden published an op-ed in Vice to express regret over the character, which he felt had distracted from serious concerns about Biden's political record and personal behavior.

U.S. Presidential Seal dispute

In September 2005, the assistant counsel to President George W. Bush, Grant M. Dixton, wrote a cease-and-desist letter to The Onion, asking the publication to stop using the presidential seal, which it used in an online parody of Bush.

The Onion responded with a formal request to use the seal in accordance with the executive order, while maintaining that its use was legitimate. The letter stated, "It is inconceivable that anyone would think that, by using the seal, The Onion intends to 'convey ... sponsorship or approval' by the president", but then went on to ask that the letter be considered a formal application requesting permission to use the seal.

85th Academy Awards controversy

During the 85th Academy Awards, a post on The Onion's Twitter account called 9-year-old Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis "a cunt". The post was deleted within an hour, but not before hundreds of angry responses. CEO Steve Hannah issued an apology to Wallis and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, calling the remarks "crude and offensive" and "No person should be subjected to such a senseless, humorless comment masquerading as satire." Scott Dikkers—who was Vice President Creative Development for the publication at the time—said in an interview with NBC 5 Chicago that the publication had sent an apology note to Quvenzhané and her family but also stated, "She's a big star now. I think she can take it." The publication's public apology was denounced by some former Onion writers, with one stating, "It wasn't a great joke, but big deal."

Subway September 11 promotion

In 2013, The Onion published an article detailing the introduction of a recent promotion at Subway themed around the September 11 attacks, where customers could supposedly get two footlong subs for $9.11. This article was accompanied by an ad that depicted a man flying towards two sub sandwiches (arranged to depict the twin towers) along with further offensive jokes around the attacks. The ad quickly circulated around the internet and gathered much criticism as it led customers to believe it was official.

Subway responded on Twitter with a statement reading: "Like everyone, we are deeply offended by the fake story and ad created by The Onion." However, the hoax again came under some scrutiny when YouTuber Travis Northrup posted a video where he printed out the ad and presented it as a coupon when ordering at his local Subway in San Francisco. To his surprise, the coupon was accepted. This video caused some backlash due to some believing that Subway was honoring the hoax, but many still saw it as a humorous situation.

Amicus brief in Novak v. City of Parma

On October 3, 2022, The Onion filed its first amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Novak v. City of Parma. The Onion supported the certiorari petition of Anthony Novak, who was seeking civil damages after having been arrested and unsuccessfully prosecuted over a Facebook page parodying the page of the Parma Police Department. The Onion's brief contained numerous jokes, including a claimed readership of 4.3 trillion, a remark that "the federal judiciary is staffed entirely by total Latin dorks", and a boast regarding Jonathan Swift that "its writers are far more talented, and their output will be read long after that hack Swift's has been lost to the sands of time". The brief noted the paper's Latin motto as Tu stultus es ("You are stupid").