The current and former Editors in Chief of The Onion, Joe Garden and Carol Kolb respectively, spoke of the ins and outs of their satire news organization at the Wisconsin Union Theater on Monday evening. A part of the Distinguished Lecture Series, Garden and Kolb gave students not only the chance to learn of The Onion's print and multimedia workings, but, of course, a few laughs.
Prior to the lecture The Daily Cardinal got the chance to speak with Garden and Kolb, both alumni of UW-Madison. They were pleased to return to campus, though understandably unsettled by the changes that have occurred in their absence.
"It's always a very different time coming back when you're not a student," Garden said. "It's like the median age suddenly goes up ... but it's OK because my median age is going up as well."
At the helm of arguably the most popular satire organization in the United States, Garden and Kolb are accustomed to discerning the line between what is funny and what is "too far."
"It's not that there's any topic that's off limits, you just have to be able to stand by what you're saying and think about what target you're hitting," Kolb said. "You can make jokes about terrorism or abortion or pedophilia ... you just need to think about what point your joke is making."
Garden, admitted to being a bit less confident in the integrity of some pieces that have been published, but maintained that satire cannot be too cautious.
"If we start trying to second guess ourselves it'll reflect poorly in the satire," Garden said. "We won't feel comfortable writing as we do. We just have to write as if no one's reading."
The subtle nature of print satire inevitably leads to some sarcasm going over readers' heads.
"With the internet now it happens all the time," Kolb said. "One of our pieces will get passed around and people don't see it next to the other articles."
"If you strip it of the context, it's a lot easier to believe," Garden said. "People will send us an e-mail asking if it's true. But after a certain point, what is your obligation to let people know? People should be using their critical abilities instead of accepting everything."
The expedited, interconnected nature of the modern media has also caused other outlets to quote The Onion as true, much to the editors' delight.
"We just wait until someone else tells them," Kolb said. "'You know you made a mistake, that's The Onion you idiot, it's humor.'"
"It makes me a little sad actually," Garden said on the tendency of news outlets to pick up satirical stories from The Onion. "It's at a point where I'm like ‘People are so fucking stupid.'"
In this way, The Onion can take on a more serious role-pointing out the ludicrousness of modern news.
"I'd hope that it does change the way that people look at the news," Kolb said. "That we teach people a little."
Of course, the publication strives to stay true to it's roots.
"The main role of The Onion is to make people laugh," Kolb said. "That's what we want more than anything."
Garden and Kolb tend to draw from real-life experiences for their more personal pieces, like Garden's character Jim Anchower. He views his characters as versions of himself in an alternate universe-Anchower even drives the same car as Garden.
This real-life experience is a part of their advice for aspiring comedy writers.
"Work a lot of shitty jobs," Garden said. "It makes you understand human relations a lot better. It gives you more to write about. It also makes you not want to work shitty jobs anymore."
"Write a lot," Kolb emphasized. "Don't get too married to what you write. Show it to other people and learn to take criticism. Learn to have a tough skin, revise and write a lot."
When it comes down to it, the funniest writers have visible integrity.
"Have a voice," Garden said. "Don't be afraid to show your point of view. Don't hide behind it; don't create straw men to knock down. Write something that's honest and you believe, and make the jokes come from there."
