Christine Wenc

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courtesy Christine Wenc

A close-up of Christine Wenc.

Christine Wenc

The Onion still has an online presence and recently returned to print with a monthly edition, but let’s not forget that this fine source of satirical news had its humble beginnings in Madison. A motley crew of University of Wisconsin undergrads and dropouts began publishing a free newspaper in 1988 with the editorial stance “You Are Dumb.” Author and historian Christine Wenc was part of that original staff, and she chronicles The Onion’s rise, its position as one of the first online humor sites, and its cultural influence in Funny Because It’s True: How The Onion Created Modern American News Satire. The book will be published the same day Wenc — a member of the literary arts team at Arts + Literature Laboratory — will talk about The Onion with Wisconsin Public Media’s Steve Paulson at this Wisconsin Book Festival event. Longtime readers no doubt will be familiar with many of the names featured in the book, which serves as a reminder that we still need The Onion — perhaps now more than ever.

media release: Please note, this event will be held at Arts + Literature Laboratory: 111. S. Livingston St. Suite 100, Madison, Wisconsin 53703.

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 Wisconsin–Madison 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 Onion’s 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 It’s True peels back the layers to reveal how a group of young misfits from flyover country unintentionally created a cultural phenomenon. 

In conversation with Steve Paulson.