The Onion: Very Funny

Is there anything on the internet that is as consistently good at what they do as The Onion?

I offer this headline: In Attempt To Jump-Start Economy, Obama Declares Tuesdays Ladies' Night

If you want a look into the newsroom at The Onion, you can listen to this episode of This American Life from February of 2008.

What was probably The Onion's finest moment, however, came after 9/11. The newspaper stopped presses for a week after the attacks on New York and Washington D.C. and came back with an issue themed "Holy Fucking Shit: Attack on America."

Articles included American Life Turns Into Bad Jerry Bruckheimer Movie and U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We're At War With with which The Onion somehow managed to be funny and capture the thoughts of millions of Americans at that very difficult time.

The American Journalism Review wrote about that edition:

The New York Times' John Schwartz lavishly praised the edition, describing the "Hijackers" story as "searingly brutal" and "cathartic for many readers." "[O]ther articles in the carefully balanced package show a sense of compassion and even grace," he wrote.

Still, some were offended; others just disappointed. Online Journalism Review published a commentary by contributor Steven Zeitchik on October 19 that criticized the issue as preachy, obvious and lacking punch. Zeitchik preceded his complaints with "Normally, I'm one of the many who finds the Onion riotously funny. But when it came to the attacks, something seemed off." The hijackers-in-hell headline, he wrote, is "one of the lazier forms of humor: moral grandstanding. Do we really need to be told what naughty little boys those terrorists were?"

But overall, the response "was pretty overwhelming," says writer Garden. "It was really kind of moving to see how much of an impact it had.... People wrote in and said that this was the first thing they had laughed at. It was really touching to be part of the healing process in a way that I never thought I would be capable of."