Does anyone know who started The Onion? When, why, all that good stuff? Is T. Herman Zweibel real, or is he a conglomerate of alcoholic writers? Does anyone know anything about their operation, besides that they are located in Madison, Wisconsin?
Wired had an article about The Onion a while ago, and talked with Scott Dikkers, the editor. You can find that article at http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,18776,00.html
If you do a search on Wired’s site, they’ve got a few other articles as well. Dunno if they mention Herr Zweibel at all, but it’s informative anyway.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,18776,00.html
Let’s see if that did it.
Just for your info: Zwiebel is German for ‘onion.’
Jman
Back in my AOL days, I was friends with Tim Harrod, who got a job on the Onion by continuously sending them Onion-style material of such quality they were basically forced to hire him. We both hung out in the Simpsons Trivia rooms.
–Tim
That’s what I get for not previewing before posting I guess. Thanks.
Thanks, everyone. I also found an interview with Scott Dikkers for anyone who’s interested.
I’ve been reading the Onion since I moved to Madison in summer '93. I have one issue from '89. Other than removing most Madison-centric references the general tone hasn’t changed much.
T. Herman Zweibel is a fairly recent invention. '97 or so, I’d guess. I saw an interview of Dikkers on Conan O’Brien some time ago- there is one author who writes all ‘his’ columns, but I don’t remember her name. I think Jim Anchower, Jean Teasedale, Smoove B, etc. are analogous.
They’ve stabilized the claimed history of the Onion in recent years- in the past, their backstory was all over the map, from celebrating a centennial to claiming to have commissioned Gutenberg.
Hey, thanks for the info. The Onion has to be one of my favorite humor sources, especially the book ‘Our Dumb Century’. Freakin’ hilarious. Thanks for giving me another excuse to go there. 
Herbert “Tha H Dogg” Kornfeld rules! His picture especially cracks me up.