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TCB Debriefing 1/31/24-2/3/24: Sometimes I Think About Dying, The Onion, Friendship, Garrett Morris, Will Ferrell/Harper Steele, Larry David, River Butcher

February 3, 2024
News
andrew deyoung, dave meherje, friendship, garrett morris, harper steele, hollywood walk of fame, larry david, paul rudd, rachel lambert, river butcher, seth meyers, sometimes i think about dying, the onion, tim robinson, will ferrell

1. If we were to tell you that there was a beautifully subdued dramedy about intrusive thoughts that isn’t a horror movie, you might wonder if we were just giving you the run around about a movie that couldn’t ever exist. Yet, Rachel Lambert’s Sometimes I Think About Dying, based on Killers by Kevin Armento, emerges with a lush exploration into the interior life of someone who often fantasizes about dying, amazingly in a peaceful, serene way. Daisy Ridley gives a career redefining performance playing the most quiet character she has ever played amidst a marvelous ensemble of comedians and character actors, especially with rising comedy star/comedian Dave Meherje. The humor derived from the tiniest of minutia is something to marvel here and a testatment to Lambert’s vision as we can only imagine the sort of feat it would be to pitch a movie like this to get funding. Sometimes I Think About Dying very well could be a cinematic/comedic rally cry for hardcore introverts everywhere and, for that, it’s pretty magnificent.

2. Staffers at The Onion have reached a tentative deal with parent company G/O Media have reached a tentative agreement over increases in wages and workplace protections averting a strike (THR). Oh, just imagine the never-ending flurry of Onion-esque headlines that would be blasted at G/O Media if there was a strike.

3. Whenever the next batch of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson comes out isn’t soon enough, but at least there will be a feature length film where Tim Robinson plays a suburban dad, ostensibly a character from I Think You Should Leave, only to have his life turned upside down by a mysterious weather man played by Paul Rudd upends his whole life. Called Friendship, this will also be the writer/director feature length debut of the brilliant Andrew DeYoung (John Early and Kate Berlant’s 555) (Deadline).

4. All hail the trailblazing comedian and SNL star Garrett Morris and his recently minted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hollywood Walk Of Fame (@hwdwalkoffame)

5. The latest Will Ferrell movie, Will & Harper, will actually be a doc about Will going on a road trip with one of his best friends, Harper Steele, who recently transitioned (Variety). This might be the rare instance where you see Will actually be himself without bits (though we have no doubt that he’ll be pulling shenanigans throughout).

6. The one and only Larry David essentially does an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm during his appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers AND gets bested by Seth. Please enjoy.

7. The amazing River Butcher is out on tour all the way through March! Go see him live at throughout the country and get tix now at riverbutcher.com/shows..

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by River Butcher (@rivbutcher)

8. We’ll leave you with this: Hot take-9:30PM is not late.

The Onion Unionizes with WGA East

December 21, 2018
Uncategorized
the onion, wga

The Onion Unionizes with WGA East

Well, here is some unequivocal, very non-ironic good news. 

Legendary satirical publication The Onion has signed an official contract with the Writers Guild of America East that covers their 69 (we’re guessing that’s not on purpose) employees. 

Per Deadline:

The two-year contract includes annual pay increases, minimum pay grades, diversity and anti-harassment language, just cause, union security, editorial independence and intellectual property rights. It also puts an end to “permalancers” – long-term freelancers – through a provision that requires the company to offer them full-time jobs if they contract, fellow or apprentice for the company for 12 consecutive months or 18 cumulative months over a two-year period.

Note that any new positions that open up at The Onion will be even more coveted than before.

The Onion Unionizes with WGA East

December 21, 2018
Uncategorized
the onion, wga

The Onion Unionizes with WGA East

Well, here is some unequivocal, very non-ironic good news. 

Legendary satirical publication The Onion has signed an official contract with the Writers Guild of America East that covers their 69 (we’re guessing that’s not on purpose) employees. 

Per Deadline:

The two-year contract includes annual pay increases, minimum pay grades, diversity and anti-harassment language, just cause, union security, editorial independence and intellectual property rights. It also puts an end to “permalancers” – long-term freelancers – through a provision that requires the company to offer them full-time jobs if they contract, fellow or apprentice for the company for 12 consecutive months or 18 cumulative months over a two-year period.

Note that any new positions that open up at The Onion will be even more coveted than before.

Please Watch This Docu-Short (and Excerpt from an Upcoming Doc on Comedy and 9/11) “The Onion Issue” About How The Onion Dealt with Making Their First Issue Right After 9/11

August 31, 2018
Uncategorized
9/11, carol kolb, comedy of 9/11, documentary, documentary short, julie seabaugh, nick scown, robert siegel, the onion, todd hanson, too soon

This week, legendary satirical publication The Onion marked their 30th year as one of the premier institutions of satire in our culture today. When it comes to topical humor, their ingenious headlines and articles have blazed a trail having them be a household name (even though it wasn’t too long ago that people were still mistaking Onion headlines as real news).

There are so many ways you can metaphorically (or literally) raise a glass to this achievement, but we would urge you to watch this short film The Onion Issue about how they handled making jokes right after 9/11 to celebrate this anniversary.

Take note that this short is, as mentioned above, part of a feature length documentary called Too Soon: The Comedy of 9/11 coming out in 2021 from Nick Scown and Julie Seabaugh. From the looks of it, that documentary will be probably end up being required viewing for any and all in and around comedy.

And Your 2017 Webby Award Winners in Comedy Are…

April 26, 2017
Uncategorized
2017, cave comedy radio, collegehumor, giphy, jhpiego, jimmy kimmel, last podcast on the left, mean tweets, rooster teeth, the onion, tinder the superhero movie, webby awards, winners

WEBSITE-HUMOR
Webby and People’s Voice Winner: The Onion

FILM & VIDEO-COMEDY-INDIVIDUAL SHORT OR EPISODE
Webby Winner: The New iPhone is Just Worse, CollegeHumor
People’s Voice Winner: Tinder: The Superhero Movie, Rooster Teeth

FILM & VIDEO-COMEDY-LONG FORM OR SERIES
Webby and People’s Voice Winner: Mean Tweets, Jimmy Kimmel Live

FILM & VIDEO-BRANDED-COMEDY
Webby Winner: Say my name, say my name, Jhpiego
People’s Voice Winner: Giphy Keys to Sucess, Giphy

SOCIAL-HUMOR
Webby and People’s Voice Winner: The Onion

PODCASTS & DIGITAL AUDIO-COMEDY
Webby Winner: The Hilarious World of Depression, American Public Media
People’s Voice Winner: The Last Podcast on the Left, Cave Comedy Radio

We’ve got two takeaways here: The Onion maintains its ubiquity in Internet based satire, per usual, with two wins and one of the best damn podcasts around, Last Podcast on the Left, got some much deserved love.

Here Are Your Comedy Nominees for the 21st Annual Webby Awards

April 12, 2017
Uncategorized
2017, college humor, conan o'brien, cracked, funny or die, last podcast on the left, nominees, the onion, vote, webby awards

There are a lot of perennial favorites and heavy hitters here, but we are really happy to see The Last Podcast on The Left, possibly the best distillation of comedy and horror that there has been, getting some love here.

Also, you can vote on all of these categories up until April 20th and see the rest of the nominees, of which there are hundreds, here.

WEBSITE-HUMOR
-Funny or Die
-The Onion
-The Daily Show: Black Trump
-CollegeHumor
-Cracked
Honoree:
-Above Average

FILM & VIDEO-COMEDY-INDIVIDUAL SHORT OR EPISODE
-The New iPhone is Just Worse, CollegeHumor
-3AM, The Simpsons
-Tinder: The Superhero Movie, Rooster Teeth
-Epic Rap Battles of History: Wonder Woman vs. Stevie Wonder, Maker Studios
-Woke Bois-White Male Feminist, Casual Sketch
Honorees: 
-Absolutely Beautiful: Watch This Woman Tell Her Husband She’s Pregnant While Conan O’Brien Pours Good Milk Down The Sink, The Onion
-Pac-Dog (Animal Arcade Ep. 1), Denizen Company
-Stranger Things: The Truth About Steve & Jean-Ralphio, CBS Interactive
-Katy Perry Votes Naked, Funny or Die
-What If Donald Trump’s Been Using a Teleprompter This Whole Time?, Bloomberg Politics
-White Fragility Workplace Training, AJ+

FILM & VIDEO-COMEDY-LONG FORM OR SERIES
-Brooklyn Sound
-Mean Tweets, Jimmy Kimmel Live
-Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, Funny or Die
-Clueless Gamer with Conan O’Brien, Team Coco
-If Google Was a Guy, College Humor
Honorees:
-Celebs Have Issues, AOL Studios
-Hashtaggers, Stun Creativetoon
-Toon, Newbe TV
-Jingle Ballin’: A Holiday Special Starring Liza Koshy, Above Average
-Funny Or Die Presents Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie, Funny or Die
-How To Lose Weight in 4 Easy Steps!, JASH
-The 5th Quarter, OBB Pictures
-BuzzFeed’s The Try Guys, BuzzFeed Motion Pictures

FILM & VIDEO-BRANDED-COMEDY
-Say my name, say my name, Jhpiego
-Lemonade, Not Ice T, The Martin Agency
-Craft Services: Old Spice Sweat-Blastin’ Robot Tank, Viacom Velocity
-Giphy Keys to Sucess, Giphy
-Undercover Lyft, Lyft
Honorees:
-We Know Acne, We Don’t Know Teens, Ways & Means
-Timer: Behind the Scenes, TBWAMedia Arts Lab
-Rise of the Tomb Raider and Broad City Vignette, The Story Lab
-Emily Ratajkowski Shares Her Social Media Secrets, Capture This
-Viralocity: Linsanity, Viacom Velocity
-Kevin Hart Press Conference, R/GA New York, R/GA London, and R/GA Portland
-Girls Can’t Code – Boobs, McCann New York/Tool

SOCIAL-HUMOR
-Eavesdropper, Mete Design
-TSA/Instagram, TSA/Public Affairs
-Kirby Jenner
-@ConanOBrien, Team Coco
-The Onion
Honorees:
-Cracked on Facebook, CRACKED.COM
-Vice Principals Morning Announcements, HBO

PODCASTS & DIGITAL AUDIO-COMEDY
-The Last Podcast on the Left, Cave Comedy Radio
-The Carson Podcast, Mark Malkoff LLC
-2 Dope Queens, WNYC Radio
-My Dad Wrote a Porno, Medium Maze
-The Hilarious World of Depression, American Public Media
Honorees:
-Hard Nation, EARWOLF/MIDROLL
-Comedy Bang Bang, EARWOLF/MIDROLL
-The Cracked Podcast, CRACKED.COM

The 4th Annual 26th Annual Comedy Festival Announces Line-Up

March 8, 2017
Uncategorized
adam conover, adam ruins everything, aparna nancherla, av club, bobcat goldthwait, caitlin gill, chicago, christopher guest, clickhole, ian abramson, idiocracy, illinois, jena friedman, mike judge, nathan fielder, nathan for you, patton oswalt, the onion, trutv
image

Chicago’s 26th Annual Festival, put together by the minds behind The Onion, The AV Club, Clickhole, and TruTV, will be in its 4th year at the end of May/beginning of June and has a pretty fantastic line-up that includes a sneak peek of Nathan For You, Patton Oswalt, 35mm screening of Idiocracy with Mike Judge, Aparna Nancherla, and more.

Individual tickets are on sale now or, if you’d prefer, you can buy a festival pass for $310 here.

The Onion and Colbert Going Live After Trump’s First Address to Congress

February 28, 2017
Uncategorized
address, congress, late show, stephen colbert, the onion, trump

Tonight, President Trump will address Congress for the first time and as Trump appearing on anything is as unpredictable as a sporting event, there will be live commentary.

Specifically, there will be:

The Onion Presents Trump’s Address to Congress 6PM PST on Fusion
A special live edition of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 11:35PM 

So, you’ll have in-game color commentary as well as post-game wrap-up of what’s very likely be a bunch of things that Trump will say that make you bury your face in your hands while sighing heavily and cursing.

The Onion Inks Three-Film Development Deal with Lionsgate

January 9, 2017
Uncategorized
lionsgate, the onion, three picture deal

The Onion Inks Three-Film Development Deal with Lionsgate

There are few details outside of American satire institution The Onion will be developing three films at Lionsgate. 

That being said, so many of their headlines over the years could serve as loglines for more than just three movies. 

Matt Broussard’s Half Hour Special, Chris Gets Money, The Onion’s Election Special, and Bassem Youssef’s Muslim Invasion All Premiere Tonight

October 21, 2016
Uncategorized
bassem youssef, chris gets money, comedy central, comedy special, documentary, election 2016, fusion, matthew broussard, muslim invasion, stand up, the onion

Tonight’s a night for specials.

The latest episode of The Half Hour features the half hour stand-up special of Matthew Broussard. That airs at midnight on Comedy Central.

On Fusion, they have an entire block of specials starting with an docu-special about income inequality with Chris Cubas called Chris Gets Money at 5PM PDT. Following that, The Onion Presents Iconic Images of Election 2016 airs at 6PM PDT and Bassem Youssef’s own comedy docu-special Muslim Invasion at 6:30PM PDT.

OK, you’ve got your Friday TV watching cut out for you.

The Onion to Do Their Own Election Special on Fusion

October 20, 2016
Uncategorized
election special, fusion, iconic images of election 2016, satire, the onion
image

The dry, sarcastic bent of The Onion is making an entire election special that will air on Fusion. From the looks of this preview, it’ll have the look of a normal sort of traditional news deep dive on this election, but with appropriate cursing and satire.

The Onion Presents The Iconic Images of Election 2016 is set to premiere on Friday, October 21st at 9PM on Fusion right after the Chris Cubas-1 percenter docu-special Chris Gets Money and right before a Bassem Youssef special called Muslim Invasion.

Starwipe, The Onion’s Parody of Celebrity News, Is Shutting Down

June 17, 2016
Uncategorized
starwipe, the onion

Since, as they say, “celebrity is dead”, they’re saying goodbye.  

In truth, Starwipe hasn’t gained the popularity that the other Onion off-shoot, Clickhole, has gotten and will be thusly shutting down its operation.

We do note that celebrity news is getting harder and harder to parody as the source material seems like a parody of itself already and parodies of that have already flooded the Internet. In any case, we’ll be curious to see if starwipe.com will be used for anything else like .gifs of actual starwipes over the post-apocalyptic hellscape that’s left in the wake of the concept of celebrity dying.

Fusion Partners with The Onion to Develop Weekly “A.V. Club” Series

April 29, 2016
Uncategorized
av club, fusion, the onion, univision

(via Deadline)

We’re intrigued to see how much satire or snark versus genuine coverage gets put on this show.

Since Univision owns Fusion outright now and also now has controlling stake in The Onion, it would only seem natural for the two properties to collaborate given their focus on a specific niche of millennials. The idea that No, You Shut Up with Paul F. Tompkins and an A.V. Club weekly series being on the same network makes sense.

So, that is what is going to happen. 

The Onion’s almost non-satirical pop-culture off-shoot, The A.V. Club, is getting its own weekly show developed for Fusion, which will take on pop culture, music, etc. with that clever edge that they’ve honed for years. 

We’ll find out if they’ll be able to translate their Internet credibility to Fusion soon.

Tonight Show, Conan, Nick Offerman, College Humor, The Onion, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Rick & Morty, Zoolander, and More Nominated for 2016 Webby Awards

April 7, 2016
Uncategorized
college humor, conan o'brien, ellen degeneres, nick offerman, rick & morty, team coco, the onion, the webby awards, tonight show, zoolander

We combed through all the dozens of categories and hundreds of nominees to highlight the comedy nominees for this year’s Webby Awards. 

In short, late night, College Humor, and The Onion (and its various offshoots) are still going strong.

WEBSITES

Celebrity/Fan
Team Coco
The Ellen Degeneres Show

Humor
Funny or Die
The Onion
Clickhole
Cracked.com
John Oliver Leap Second
Honorees-Tickld, The Kicker, Live @ The Apt

Television
Honoree-Real Time with Bill Maher

Best Writing (Editorial)
The Onion

Best Use of Data Driven Media
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Google search

Advertising & Media

Media & Entertainment
Rick & Morty’s Rickstaverse

Best Use of Social Media
Honoree-Ricky Gervais series for Optus

ONLINE FILM & VIDEO

Branded Entertainment

Animation
Rick and Morty: Thickburger Invasion

Live Experiences
Zoolander Returns to the Runway

Long Form
Honoree-Nick Offerman’s Yule Log

Scripted
Tracy Morgan in a Christmas Miracle

Series
Honoree-Slim Jim: Greg the Genie with TJ Miller, Ricky Gervais series for Optus

Viral
Zoolander Returns to the Runway

General Film

Online Film & Video-Animation
Super Mansion
Honoree-Team Coco Animations

Comedy: Individual Short or Episode
The Simpsons-Trumptastic Voyage
College Humor-Anaconda; The Educational Version (Nicki Minaj parody)
Mashable-Fight Club for Kids (with Chuck Palahniuk)
Funny or Die-Dennis Quaid’s On Set Freak Out
College Humor-Go to College Music Video (with First Lady Michelle Obama)
Honorees-Uber Meets Tinder, Guy Pretends He Got Drafted In The 2015 NBA Draft, Dickipedia: Ted Nugent, Bieber vs Rapaport: More Than a Game, Alternatino – Respect Your Mother, Tiny Hamster Goes to Disney World, BFFs – Rhett & Link, My Drunk Kitchen: Macho Gazpacho by Hannah Hart, Tangents

Comedy: Long Form or Series
Funny or Die-Billy on The Street with First Lady Michelle Obama, Big Bird, and Elena
College Humor-If Google Was a Guy
Maker Studios-Epic Rap Battles of History
Crackle/Sony Pictures Television-Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Jimmy Kimmel Live-Celebrities Read Mean Tweets #9
Honorees-The Key of Awesome, The Small Time – Pilot, Everyone’s Crazy But Us, New Timers, Season 2, Hack Into Broad City, Season 2, Adam Ruins Everything, The Brief, CinemaSins, Shitty Boyfriends

Events & Live Webcasts
SNL: 40
Honorees-Marty McFly and Doc Brown Visit Jimmy Kimmel Live, 
Night of Too Many Stars – America Comes Together for Autism Programs

Music
Maker Studios-Epic Rap Battles of History

Variety
SNL: 40

Video Remixes/Mash-Ups
Funny or Die-Office Space with Michael Bolton
Screen Junkies-Honest Trailers

Viral
SketchShe-Mime Through Time
Jimmy Kimmel Live-YouTube Challenge – I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy 2015

Weird
Conde Nast/GQ-Gentleman Lobsters Season 2
Honoree-Nick Offerman’s Yule Log

Performance/Craft

Best Individual Performance
College Humor-Go To College Music Video (with First Lady Michelle Obama)
Maker Studios-Epic Rap Battles: Steven Spielberg vs. Alfred Hitchcock
Honorees-Nick Offerman’s Yule Log, Fat Drake, Do You Trust Me

Best Web Personality/Host
Crackle/Sony Pictures Television-Jerry Seinfeld-Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Soulpancake-Kid President

Best Writing
All Def Digital-Do You Trust Me
French Mustache-Everyone’s Crazy But Us
First Printing Productions-The Small Time
Honorees-EDGE, Adam Ruins Everything

Video Channel/Network

Entertainment
The Late Late Show with James Corden-Carpool Karaoke
Cracked.com
College Humor
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Honorees: Crackle, Rooster Teeth, FINE BROTHERS ENTERTAINMENT

Variety
AwesomenessTV
The Late Late Show with James Corden-Carpool Karaoke
Soulpancake
Honoree: All Def Digital

MOBILE SITES/APPS

Features

Best Use of Mobile Camera
The Ellen DeGeneres Show-Heads Up!

General Sites/Apps

Entertainment
Saturday Night Live App

SOCIAL

Best Overall Social Presence
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Honoree: The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Best Writing
@conanobrien​
Last Week Tonight
Honoree-Cracked

Native Advertising
HBO-Silicon Valley “We’re Hiring” Ads

Celebrity/Fan
@conanobrien​
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Zoolander Returns to the Runway

Entertainment
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Rick and Morty: Rickstaverse

Humor
LACMA Snapchat
Funny or Die
Mapquest-#AvoidTrump
The Onion
@conanobrien​
Honorees: @midnight, Cracked, White Ninja, Kirby Jenner, @tank.sinatra, Archer Season 6

Weird
ClickHole
Kirby Jenner

The Webby Awards allow you to vote for your favorites in each category and you have just over two weeks from when this article was posted to do so. 

You can see the rest of the nominees and vote for them here.

The Onion Expands Its Satirical Universe with TMZ Parody “Starwipe”

September 21, 2015
Uncategorized
parody, starwipe, the onion, tmz

“The website’s name is StarWipe. And no matter how fervently celebrities may pretend otherwise, it exists. It exists, and it will write articles making fun of the beautiful, idolized rich for an audience of readers who should probably be working right now, in a way that will make that audience maybe smirk and feel slightly superior for a few, fleeting seconds. And those celebrities can’t really do anything about it, besides not saying or doing dumb things.”

The Onion has already solidified its expansion of the large scale institutions that they parody. The Onion itself parodies newspapers, Clickhole takes on content aggregators, and their latest endeavor, Starwipe takes on entertainment obsessed journalism like TMZ. 

While the satire of The Onion still goes over the heads of some folks and Clickhole gets so close to the real thing that one of their writers got brought over to Buzzfeed, it seems Starwipe is making no cover up of their contempt of how entertainment journalism is carried out these days. 

A quick perusal of their site will show headlines like “Kate Upton Nearly Avoids Wardrobe Malfunction, Saves Herself Humilation and Us From Lack of Free Will” and “Baby Bump Watch: George Clooney” are good examples of this.

You can peruse more of Starwipe here, then follow them on FB and Twitter here and here

Watch the First Episode The Onion’s VICE Parody, “EDGE”

August 4, 2015
Uncategorized
devin field, EDGE, israel, palestine, parody, the onion, vice, west bank

When Onion Studios’ EDGE goes to the West Bank, do they investigate how peace could ever come from such a perpetually war torn region? 

Well, if it involves scoring drugs, sort of. 

Look at EDGE’s first investigate report featuring Devin Field here.

Watch Teaser for Onion’s Vice Parody “EDGE”

July 31, 2015
Uncategorized
devin field, EDGE, parody, the onion, vice

Who knew that covering the stories of the most reckless people on the planet could be, itself, so reckless?

See for yourself in this teaser for EDGE, the VICE parody from The Onion that also happens to prominently feature the very funny Devin Field as a great, devil-may-care EDGE reporter. 

The Onion Now on to Parodying “VICE” with “EDGE”

July 28, 2015
Uncategorized
EDGE, the onion, vice

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

So, is The Onion going to become the one site to parody them all? 

They parodied the likes of BuzzFeed with Clickhole so well that one of the Clickhole writers got hired at BuzzFeed.

Now, The Onion is going to take on the edgiest news outlet out there, VICE with a weekly web series called EDGE starting next week.

With the launch of EDGE, we’ll all have to see if VICE, in true VICE fashion, would do an investigative report into why they’re being parodied.

The Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival and The Onion/A.V. Club’s 26th Annual Comedy Festival Return

March 18, 2015
Uncategorized
26th annual comedy festival, av club, boston, chicago, comedy festival, eugene mirman, john mulaney, jon benjamin, kyle kinane, the onion

If you’re in or around Chicago or Boston this spring, get your calendar out and mark these down. 

Apr. 17th-19th, The Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival returns to Boston featuring Jon Benjamin, Wyatt Cenac, Rachel Dratch, Jon Glaser, Jessica Williams, StarTalk! Live with Bill Nye, and more, You can get your tickets here.

May 26th-30th, The Onion and A.V. Club are bringing The 2nd Annual 26th Annual Comedy Festival to venues throughout Chicago with the comedic stylings of John Mulaney, Kyle Kinane, Eric Andre, Joe Mande. panel discussions with writers from The Onion and The Simpsons, 7 Minutes in Purgatory with Ian Abramson, and more. You can get your tickets this Friday here.

If you don’t live near Chicago or Boston, you have plenty of time to get plane tickets and hotel reservations.

Buzzfeed Hires Daniel Kibblesmith from Clickhole, The Professional Parody of Sites Like Buzzfeed

December 2, 2014
Uncategorized
buzzfeed, clickhole, daniel kibblesmith, the onion

(via Poynter)

Clickhole was founded by The Onion to satirize all the clickbait sites that have risen to prominence online over the last couple of years. One of their biggest targets was Buzzfeed and they made sure to make Buzzfeed style quizzes and listlcles, but with their own absurd twist. The folks at Clickhole were so good at parodying Buzzfeed that, sometimes, the only way to differentiate between the two was the font, graphics, and URL.

Now, “the snake has eaten its own tail” or “life imitates art” or “if you can’t beat’em, join’em” all applies as Buzzfeed has just hired Daniel Kibblesmith, a Clickhole associate editor to be part of their staff. They were impressed with his work and thought his quizzes would work as regular non-parody on Buzzfeed.

What this all means in the long run has yet to be seen, but we do know that this is one way where the Internet has reinforced itself from attempts by others to “break it”.

Both Funny or Die and The Onion Inc. Are Being Evaluated For Potential Sale

November 15, 2014
Uncategorized
funny or die, the onion

(via Bloomberg)

Just this week, it’s been reported that the ubiquitous comedy brands of Funny or Die and The Onion, along with their offshoots of The A.V. Club and Clickhole, have had financial advisors evaluate their worth for a potential sale. 

While certainly both Funny or Die and The Onion have had enough success to garner a nice price tag, it’s unclear what exactly will happen if someone does buy out or into either of them.

Perhaps, both companies feel like they can reach further with whatever they want to accomplish being part of a bigger whole or having more capital in general to work with similar to the way Nerdist, Red Hour, and Smart Girls at the Party were acquired by Legendary.  However, part, if only a small sliver, of the autonomy that has gotten them to where they are today would surely be sacrificed in a sale.

While nothing is decided and many of the details are still private, where Funny or Die and The Onion have gotten based off of respectively making funny web videos and satirical news headlines is pretty amazing.

The Onion’s Clickhole Launched Today

June 12, 2014
Uncategorized
buzzfeed, clickbait, clickhole, parody, the onion, upworthy

The Onion’s Clickhole Launched Today

The clickbait parody site by The Onion known as Clickhole officially launched today and it’s as perfectly satirical as you would hope it to be. Listicles, nostalgia, personal quizzes abound there in a way with headlines that The Onion pulls off the best.

Interestingly enough, the parody of clickbait still makes us want to click, which kind of makes it clickbait, but the kind that we feel less guilted into checking out.

The Onion Launching Clickhole.com To Stick It to BuzzFeed and Upworthy

April 30, 2014
Uncategorized
buzzfeed, clickhole, parody, the onion, upworthy

The Onion Launching Clickhole.com To Stick It to BuzzFeed and Upworthy

Well, The Onion is laying down a new gauntlet by launching Clickhole.com to make fun of the listicles and aspirational, dramatic headlines that both Buzzfeed and Upworthy have made themselves famous for on the Internet.

Already, there’s a pretty great primer for Clickhole.com right now before it’s launch in June. We’re really curious how or if Buzzfeed and Upworthy will go toe-to-toe with them.

‘The Onion’ Is Ending Its Print Publication Entirely

November 8, 2013
Uncategorized
publishing, the onion

‘The Onion’ Is Ending Its Print Publication Entirely

The Onion will soon only be able to consumed online, though we’re assuming that’s how most of you read it, watched it, or listened to it anyway.

Still, with this in mind, we’re sure we’ll see old print copies of The Onion being sold on Etsy.

2013 Webby Award Winners for Comedy

May 1, 2013
Uncategorized
burning love, funny or die, jerry seinfeld, the onion, webby awards, winners

2013 Webby Award Winners for Comedy

Congratulations to the very deserving Burning Love, Funny or Die, The Onion, Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Rainn Wilson’s Soul Pancake for taking home honors at the 17th Annual Webby Awards. 

Click the link to see the full list.

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