Tracing the history of the Onion from a \wacky campus rag"" to a national phenomenon that has spawned numerous books and a movie script, former Onion Editor in Chief Robert Siegel shared his favorite headlines with a small but enthusiastic crowd Monday. Siegel spoke as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series in the Wisconsin Union Theater.
Siegel said the Onion ""didn't start with the goal of becoming America's finest newspaper-it just happened.""
In 1988, as UW-Madison students, Siegel and his friends created a newspaper to sell pizza coupons, and they filled the news pages with inane content. Among the early headlines were, ""UW Students Butt Dumb"" and ""Thompson Changes Title From Governor To Sexecutioner,"" a reference to then-governor Tommy Thompson.
Virtually all of the current staff has been with The Onion since its inception. Today's writers are most likely the same writers who came up with such pioneering headlines as ""Women: Why Don't They Lose Some Weight?""
The staff generally brainstorms headlines, which Siegel said have to be funny enough to stand on their own. If the headline is funny and creative, the editor in chief assigns the story to a writer.
President Clinton was a fun and recurring target, said Siegel, because he was a colorful character.
""We ran the headline, 'Clinton Vaguely Disappointed By Lack Of Assassination Attempt.' It was funny because you could sort of see Clinton upset that he didn't get the same publicity as Reagan,"" Siegel said. ""With Bush it's harder-there's not as much to say about him. He's just a prick.""
Siegel said one timeworn Onion strategy is to be incredibly callous about tragedy, leading to such headlines as ""Fun Toy Banned Because Of Three Stupid Dead Kids"" or ""God Answers Prayers Of Paralyzed Little Boy. No, Says God."" Siegel's personal favorite was ""Special Olympics T-ball Stand Pitches Perfect Game.""
Surprisingly, the headline that sparked the greatest uproar in the Onion's history was a seemingly tame one: ""Mary-Kate Olsen Is Bringing Ashley Down.""
""We got more hate mail from that, by a factor of 10, than from anything else-the Pope, 9/11, Area Sodomite,"" he said.
UW-Madison junior Elizabeth Costello appreciated Siegel's frank candor. ""He was honest and funny. It was refreshing to hear him talk to us like he was one of us,"" she said.
Another UW-Madison junior, Jesse Feinberg, thought the Onion was a worthy success story.
""It's great to hear how a local Madison paper became such a national phenomena,"" he said.
