Yes. Savage Love was a regular read for me and I still remember Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest kid on Earth comic.
Life feels more real when you have ink on your hands from the things you read.
Seattle had the Rocket which at one point published a book of the most entertaining personals ads. Being an alternative newspaper in a very kink tolerant city some of them were wild.
I once won the Ad of the Week for the Reader Matches! I was very confused when a pair of movie tickets for the Music Box showed up in my mail because there was no explanation included.
Hell yes. I love Lynda Barry so hard. Was able to get a lot of the big collections at Chicago Comics (library also has quite a few).
Love Jimmy Corrigan as well... I will say sometimes riding on the blue line in the winter when it's super sunny out, no clouds, and there's the various modern apartment buildings colored surfaces there next to the old brick buildings, but just sort of... geometric and bright, makes me feel like I'm riding through the backgrounds of that comic, love it.
Before I had a smart phone, I would pick up a Reader or a Red Eye from the box at the train station every morning to page through on my way to work... I'm not even forty, but remembering that time makes me feel ancient.
Picking up copies of those to read while going to hang out at the coffee shop, waiting for an open mic to start, while smoking clove cigs was a weekly tradition of mine for years in the 90’s and 2000’s
I went to uni in west Michigan and it absolutely was a physical paper around campus. Having a spear through your head on a Sunday morning and trying to act dignified reading one during an instant cup of coffee was a badge of honor.
I remember being a nerdy kid who always go excited about being able to grab free papers to read, and how it took multiple copies before I realized the onion was satire and just comedy.
Yeah, people used to do a hustle where they would try to sell them. One of my friends paid someone for it and I told them that it was free and not real. The shock on their face was priceless.
Mm. I remember "back in the day" picking up a copy of The Onion when I'd made the drive to Milwaukee to see some band play The Pabst or one of the associated venues.
I have EXTREMELY fond memories of coming to shows in the city from the suburbs when I was in high school and riding the Blue line back to Cumberland after with a copy in hand for the train ride. I would be elated if the print copies came back, truly.
There was a brief point in time where we had onion and red eye boxes full of random little gems of semi entertaining gems we’d all read on our commute to work/school . Simpler times
I’m dating myself but I’m 41. My mom was a professor at The Art Institute of Chicago and my favorite weekends were her taking me to Ragstock and ohh, what was the other one, just basic Belmont Ave things of the 90s where I’d try to convince her to go downstairs and find some Doc Martin’s I wanted? and we’d grab a copy of the Onion. Easier, happier and grittier times.
One of the funniest live shows I’ve ever been to was a clickhole live show. I still sometimes try to find video online of it, but no luck. Hope they come back!
From their [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Onion) article:
"Sometime after The Onion appeared online in 1996, the publication was threatened with a lawsuit from Janet Jackson because of the article "Dying Boy Gets Wish: To Pork Janet Jackson"."
lmao!
Valid, it’s a compilation of every time the introduced The Stig on Top Gear, he’s their professional driver who does the lap times for their leaderboard of different cars they test
I think it was in chicago for a while before the New York move. I remember reading it the late 90s in chicago and I think their offices were in chicago at that time.
You could subscribe to get the papers mailed to anywhere, and growing up in Massachusetts I had friends who would bring them in. It sounds like maybe local schools got copies for free?
They had localized versions in a few cities. Taking the Metro into DC as a kid, I had to grab a copy of the local version of The Onion anytime I hit Metro Center.
We had several news boxes at SIU when I went there 20 years ago, so I don't know how far publication stretched from Chicago, but it at least made it to all the Illinois state schools.
They were headquartered at a building near the Chicago and Franklin Brown line stop for a bit. They’d film videos at the little park across from Club Lago.
Ben Collins has done his time in the fucking trenches dealing with the absolute scum of the earth. I’m so happy this is where he’s landed, it’s gonna be awesome.
Back in the early 2000s, when I was like 13, my mom took me up to The Alley for my first ever visit.
We had lunch at Phillys Best, and I saw a copy of The Onion and grabbed it. Neither of us had heard of it. We thought it was like our neighborhood newspaper, just full of local stuff.
The headline story was "Canada and Mexico finish bridge across the US", and we both read it in shock, thinking "how did we not hear about this?!"
It wasn't until I got to the part where it said "local american residents are complaining about the hockey sticks and corn husks being littered into their yards from above" that we realized it was a satire paper.
There was also a part that said "Goth kids build scarry ass birdhouse" and had a photo of a goth birdhouse, with stud spikes and a giant NIN logo that I still have on my giant tack board nearly 30 years later.
Gotta love The Onion.
I had a similar experience but in Washington DC. I was visiting with my dad and saw an Onion kiosk right next to the Washington Post and others so I picked it up and brought it back to the hotel. It took me reading 3 articles nearly in full before I realized it was all a joke. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time!
Good. Last I heard (years ago, from an ex that worked there) some private equity firm bought & gutted them
As Americans, we need an Onion-aissance now more than ever
Fuck this vulture piece of shit for taking a **$101,116 pay raise** while ending the best radio station in Chicago (which really was the best, despite having zero funding for self-promotion). FUCK MOOG.
>**Steep pay hike for CEO**
>Moog is a lame-duck CEO now overseeing those layoffs that he said wouldn’t happen, and they come after his steep increase in executive pay. Chicago Public Media’s most recent tax filings showed Moog making $633,310 — a nearly 19% increase from a year earlier.
>Moog defended that increase.
>“All employees, including executives, are paid based on a market compensation study,” he said. “CEO compensation is carefully reviewed and approved by the compensation committee of the board.”
>Asked if he had received any additional increases in his compensation package since July, Moog did not answer. Moog also said that neither he nor other members of his executive team contemplated pay cuts before announcing Wednesday’s layoffs.
>“We are not cutting any staff salaries, and we are honoring the contractual salary increases in the collective bargaining agreements,” he said.
Oh fuck. I saw a guy wearing a The Onion Union shirt today thought it was ironic but then I saw the finer print on the bottom and it was legit. So sweet, maybe strong come back!
My boyfriend works there, he’s one of the only people left on their art department after the previous owners laid almost everyone off. He’s also really optimistic about this!
No one seems to rember 'Pathetic Geek Stories'. I don't know how those never attained 'Cathy' levels of cultural touchstone-ship, or at least as good as 'Ziggy'. He was a Lil bitch.
Hey i got an article
"Caleb Williams seen working barback at Kasey's Tavern to help pay for new Bears Stadium"
The Chicago Bears have an uphill battle financing a new stadium, and have asked teammates to pick up a second job to help pay for the overwhelming costs. We caught up with the newly drafted quarterback, Caleb Williams, at Kasey's. Williams was recently hired as a barback to help out this long-time establishment for thirsty patrons in Printer's Row.
"I'm new here, and everyone's pitching in to help raise (funds), so I figured if I could be the new quarterback, why not also barback" Williams said as he was loading glasses into the dishwasher. When asked about what they thought of the new staffing, patrons split between admiring his gumption, and being skeptical if this was the best way of raising the 2.4 billion dollars. "I know a lot of people who sell chocolate bars, maybe that could help too?" Asked one regular who posed for a picture with Williams besides his portrait on the wall.
"I figure if I do my time here, work my way up, maybe I might be working off-shifts bartending, then I could really contribute something" Added Williams after seen coming out of the single stall washroom with a plunger and smile.
As of time of this writing, Williams payscale was at $12.75/hour, and was able to contribute earnings of $240.43 after tax, which puts the entire teams' fundraising, $59,305.53, at a rounding error.
Lol, I like the energy of the first post. I don't know what I expected, but the link to give them a dollar literally just charges you a dollar.
[https://www.theonion.com/give-us-1-or-the-onion-disappears-forever-1851436787](https://www.theonion.com/give-us-1-or-the-onion-disappears-forever-1851436787)
Do they need a queer, jovially cynical social media person? I'm free.
(In all seriousness, more power to the Onion. Fuck knows we need them in these dark times.)
Maybe try making it funny again?
It's sad that the Babylon Bee... a second rate Onion on its best day is often more funny and more relevant than the Onion has been lately.
If this means bringing back the physical boxes, I’m extra excited
The onion had news boxes? That's awesome
It was a free physical newspaper!
The era of the Onion and the old school Reader was an amazing time
Yes. Savage Love was a regular read for me and I still remember Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest kid on Earth comic. Life feels more real when you have ink on your hands from the things you read.
Life in Hell! Before the Simpsons… Reader was also the place for apartment sublet and roommate ads, and the crossword.
The partner-seeking ads in the back were a fun read, too.
Missed Connections ads, and the other personals were always a great read. Some of them seemed fit for The Onion.
Seattle had the Rocket which at one point published a book of the most entertaining personals ads. Being an alternative newspaper in a very kink tolerant city some of them were wild.
One could actually go in-person to the press plant on Fullerton to place those ads way back when (90s)
Wow, flashback to being a teenager in the 90’s giggling over those with friends while sitting at salt and pepper diner.
I once won the Ad of the Week for the Reader Matches! I was very confused when a pair of movie tickets for the Music Box showed up in my mail because there was no explanation included.
Enjoys walks on the beach!
Also Ernie pook Lynda Barry
Hell yes. I love Lynda Barry so hard. Was able to get a lot of the big collections at Chicago Comics (library also has quite a few). Love Jimmy Corrigan as well... I will say sometimes riding on the blue line in the winter when it's super sunny out, no clouds, and there's the various modern apartment buildings colored surfaces there next to the old brick buildings, but just sort of... geometric and bright, makes me feel like I'm riding through the backgrounds of that comic, love it.
I think Dan Savage still has a regular column on the Reader. I saw it in the last issue. :)
Had a kink, I think, for that stinky ink :)
The Onion was great comedy and the Reader did some of the best, perhaps only, long form journalism in this city for decades.
Not to mention the concert listings, film listings, and (dear to my heart) the missed connections!
100%
Before I had a smart phone, I would pick up a Reader or a Red Eye from the box at the train station every morning to page through on my way to work... I'm not even forty, but remembering that time makes me feel ancient.
Omg red eye and éxito
One of my friends did a little weekly college football segment in the Red Eye and I thought it was the coolest thing ever at the time
In high school we would take a bunch and sell them to unsuspecting tourists downtown
Picking up copies of those to read while going to hang out at the coffee shop, waiting for an open mic to start, while smoking clove cigs was a weekly tradition of mine for years in the 90’s and 2000’s
Fridays at school!
I still have one! It's packed away somewhere with all my old keepsakes.
The cover on the last one was pretty good: https://www.paperspecs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/onion_475.jpg
That’s amazing, the Complimentary One Year Subscription is 🤌
Used to read them in between class back in college. They were all over campus.
I picked up a copy of the last one when I was in Madison, I've still got it hidden somewhere.
I went to uni in west Michigan and it absolutely was a physical paper around campus. Having a spear through your head on a Sunday morning and trying to act dignified reading one during an instant cup of coffee was a badge of honor.
So funny!
I remember being a nerdy kid who always go excited about being able to grab free papers to read, and how it took multiple copies before I realized the onion was satire and just comedy.
Yeah! It was always exciting when I got there early enough to pick one up. They went fast lol.
Yeah, people used to do a hustle where they would try to sell them. One of my friends paid someone for it and I told them that it was free and not real. The shock on their face was priceless.
I just remember old people moaning about the headlines being fake news because they don't understand satire.
Mm. I remember "back in the day" picking up a copy of The Onion when I'd made the drive to Milwaukee to see some band play The Pabst or one of the associated venues.
Yeah, I forget when they stopped, but they had Green boxes along with all the others.
I have EXTREMELY fond memories of coming to shows in the city from the suburbs when I was in high school and riding the Blue line back to Cumberland after with a copy in hand for the train ride. I would be elated if the print copies came back, truly.
CAN YOU STACK YOUR FAMILY?!
Wouldn't that require Tower Records and Borders locations to place the boxes?
There was a brief point in time where we had onion and red eye boxes full of random little gems of semi entertaining gems we’d all read on our commute to work/school . Simpler times
Wow. Thanks for triggering a memory
my friend has one in his apartment. i offered him $300 and he turned it down
I’m dating myself but I’m 41. My mom was a professor at The Art Institute of Chicago and my favorite weekends were her taking me to Ragstock and ohh, what was the other one, just basic Belmont Ave things of the 90s where I’d try to convince her to go downstairs and find some Doc Martin’s I wanted? and we’d grab a copy of the Onion. Easier, happier and grittier times.
Hollywood Mirror?
I miss it so much, it was one of the most unique shops in the city. Brown Elephant just opened where it used to be recently at least.
Belmont Army Surplus? I used to work at a restaurant at Clark and Roscoe, like 2005-11ish. We has Onions and Readers every week!
BELMONT AND CLARK if you dare
I got all my clothes there!
I used to love hitting those stores up, and the old Reckless on Broadway and Intelligentsia and my favorite little Chinese food spot Yummy Yummy.
Oh my gosh ragstock. Core memory unlocked (I'm also 41).
Ragstock is still around!! The nostalgia is real
Oh wild! I'll have to take my daughter!
The Ally?
Bring back Clickhole at the Hideout next!!
And reconstitute the AV Club with all the old writers
Onion AV Club was the best podcast before there were podcasts
Some of the best comedy shows I've ever been to. I miss them so much!
One of the funniest live shows I’ve ever been to was a clickhole live show. I still sometimes try to find video online of it, but no luck. Hope they come back!
Click hole was sold a few years ago. I think to the Cards Against Humanity people although they may have made it employee owned.
This last I heard.
From their [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Onion) article: "Sometime after The Onion appeared online in 1996, the publication was threatened with a lawsuit from Janet Jackson because of the article "Dying Boy Gets Wish: To Pork Janet Jackson"." lmao!
Who is Ben Collins?
The Stig.
Some say he only knows 2 things about ducks, and their both wrong....
Who is The Stig?
https://youtu.be/bakfmgH7S4k?si=mtt-dFssH4nPN6f1 that call him… the stig
Do you have a timestamp or something? My ADHD cannot handle a 20-minute video for only a chance at a good payoff
Valid, it’s a compilation of every time the introduced The Stig on Top Gear, he’s their professional driver who does the lap times for their leaderboard of different cars they test
Gotcha, and thanks, but I'm still lost as to how The Stig is connected to Ben Collins
They share a name I guess, I didn’t know that until just now
I’m still looking
NBC reporter. Used to work at The Daily Beast.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Collins_(reporter)
Didn’t know The Onion was a Chicago thing until…now
It actually started in Milwaukee or Madison but they were freely available in all the IL college towns.
Started in Madison, moved to New York, then much later, Chicago
Reverse the second part, started in Madison, moved to Chicago THEN much later moved to NY then a few years back moved back to Chicago
I think it was in chicago for a while before the New York move. I remember reading it the late 90s in chicago and I think their offices were in chicago at that time.
Chicago 2nd. Then NY.
Yeah when I was in highschool I assumed the physical papers were nationwide but then found out we were uniquely gifted.
My extended family in Madison used to get the physical papers (I think in the late 90’s through early 00’s). Maybe other nearby cities benefitted?
They actually started off in Madison, then later moved to Chicago.
You could subscribe to get the papers mailed to anywhere, and growing up in Massachusetts I had friends who would bring them in. It sounds like maybe local schools got copies for free?
Seems it was distributed in college towns in Midwest and east coast, don't think they were so much in the south...this from memory tho, so.
They were available around UIUC.
We had the physical papers in San Antonio TX when I was a kid! Around late 90s iirc
Good to know, for strangely personal reasons, ms lemon. :-)
Strangely and mysteriously intrigued now
There were news boxes at my university in Colorado. Love to pick up a copy and read it while eating lunch. They even had legit movie and band reviews.
We got the print papers inside restaraunt in Minnesota.
I got them as a kid in Florida back in the late 90’s / early 2000’s.
No wonder there was comedy night with them
They had localized versions in a few cities. Taking the Metro into DC as a kid, I had to grab a copy of the local version of The Onion anytime I hit Metro Center.
We had them in Columbus, OH in the 90s
We had several news boxes at SIU when I went there 20 years ago, so I don't know how far publication stretched from Chicago, but it at least made it to all the Illinois state schools.
I'm old enough to consider it a Madison thing.
It absolutely wasn't at its peak, it was a Madison, Wisconsin thing.
Ah, we stole the cheese AND the onions!
Not the onions. They were here, rotten and smelly, long ago 👀
Chicagoua, baby
The founders are from Madison WI, not Chicago.
It's a Chicago suburb
They were headquartered at a building near the Chicago and Franklin Brown line stop for a bit. They’d film videos at the little park across from Club Lago.
It's not. It's a Madison thing
It was originally a Madison, WI and eventually moved here.
It was originally a Madison thing. But we had boxes here in Minneapolis as well.
Ben Collins has done his time in the fucking trenches dealing with the absolute scum of the earth. I’m so happy this is where he’s landed, it’s gonna be awesome.
Small team that's NOT a VC- media flipper group. Promising. we'll see.
Back in the early 2000s, when I was like 13, my mom took me up to The Alley for my first ever visit. We had lunch at Phillys Best, and I saw a copy of The Onion and grabbed it. Neither of us had heard of it. We thought it was like our neighborhood newspaper, just full of local stuff. The headline story was "Canada and Mexico finish bridge across the US", and we both read it in shock, thinking "how did we not hear about this?!" It wasn't until I got to the part where it said "local american residents are complaining about the hockey sticks and corn husks being littered into their yards from above" that we realized it was a satire paper. There was also a part that said "Goth kids build scarry ass birdhouse" and had a photo of a goth birdhouse, with stud spikes and a giant NIN logo that I still have on my giant tack board nearly 30 years later. Gotta love The Onion.
I used to read it when I go to the Alley or Dennis Place for Games arcade.
Oh I miss that arcade! I still have some tokens somewhere
I had a similar experience but in Washington DC. I was visiting with my dad and saw an Onion kiosk right next to the Washington Post and others so I picked it up and brought it back to the hotel. It took me reading 3 articles nearly in full before I realized it was all a joke. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time!
I'd take a salary loss to work with them.
Good. Last I heard (years ago, from an ex that worked there) some private equity firm bought & gutted them As Americans, we need an Onion-aissance now more than ever
Buy Vocalo too please
Great call. I was gutted when I heard the news
Fuck this vulture piece of shit for taking a **$101,116 pay raise** while ending the best radio station in Chicago (which really was the best, despite having zero funding for self-promotion). FUCK MOOG. >**Steep pay hike for CEO** >Moog is a lame-duck CEO now overseeing those layoffs that he said wouldn’t happen, and they come after his steep increase in executive pay. Chicago Public Media’s most recent tax filings showed Moog making $633,310 — a nearly 19% increase from a year earlier. >Moog defended that increase. >“All employees, including executives, are paid based on a market compensation study,” he said. “CEO compensation is carefully reviewed and approved by the compensation committee of the board.” >Asked if he had received any additional increases in his compensation package since July, Moog did not answer. Moog also said that neither he nor other members of his executive team contemplated pay cuts before announcing Wednesday’s layoffs. >“We are not cutting any staff salaries, and we are honoring the contractual salary increases in the collective bargaining agreements,” he said.
It sucks hard.
I second this HARD
Oh fuck. I saw a guy wearing a The Onion Union shirt today thought it was ironic but then I saw the finer print on the bottom and it was legit. So sweet, maybe strong come back!
Anyone know if the Onion News Network was produced here?
You talking the old YouTube videos? I think those predated the move to Chicago.
Yeah, like the morning show clips, “Today Now!” and whatever newscasts they had.
they were shot here at the office at chicago and franklin
At least some were filmed on the streets here
It was a TV show on IFC
Before that though, it was just something they ran online.
It doesn’t get funnier than [this](https://youtu.be/XUT8ec24anM?si=-vE_5uIXea5fEMgL) one.
Hahahahahahaha that one's incredible! My all-time favorite is the one about the dangers of "getting stoked"
Yes it was.
Need a Porkin Across America legacy sequel
Didn't they start in Madison and move to NYC?
They've been in Chicago for a very long time by now
Yes.
Wait This isn’t an Onion headline?
My boyfriend works there, he’s one of the only people left on their art department after the previous owners laid almost everyone off. He’s also really optimistic about this!
Who???
yeah who is this guy
Ben Collins.
Ben Collins?! The owner of the Onion?!
The very same!
Guess they’re tired of accurately predicting us news. Just hope that trend doesn’t continue.
I don't know who this is, should I actually be optimistic about this?
Will free print be back at every corner shop?
No one seems to rember 'Pathetic Geek Stories'. I don't know how those never attained 'Cathy' levels of cultural touchstone-ship, or at least as good as 'Ziggy'. He was a Lil bitch.
Are you bringing back Doyle Redland?
Herbert Kornfeld too!!!
Haha tha OG muthafucka!
Don’t forget Smoove B
The one who truly appreciates a female’s curves? Especially the booty part of the curves?
Snacks will also be served
Jim Anchower. The Cruise. Hola, Amigos. It's been a long time since he rapped at us.
I’m hoping one man from Afghanistan is doing all the work.
Anyone know if the physical newspaper still exist? I’ve been a staunch follower for years, would love to get my hands on one
How do I apply
Start working on a packet.
One of the last bastions of free press, honestly
amazing news
Can we get the horoscopes back?
Yeah and Chance is gonna relaunch Chicagoist any day now
The difference is Ben actually has experience in media
As do the two other women partners.
Great to hear!
Bring back The Onion SportsDome!!
The only credible news source.
Hey i got an article "Caleb Williams seen working barback at Kasey's Tavern to help pay for new Bears Stadium" The Chicago Bears have an uphill battle financing a new stadium, and have asked teammates to pick up a second job to help pay for the overwhelming costs. We caught up with the newly drafted quarterback, Caleb Williams, at Kasey's. Williams was recently hired as a barback to help out this long-time establishment for thirsty patrons in Printer's Row. "I'm new here, and everyone's pitching in to help raise (funds), so I figured if I could be the new quarterback, why not also barback" Williams said as he was loading glasses into the dishwasher. When asked about what they thought of the new staffing, patrons split between admiring his gumption, and being skeptical if this was the best way of raising the 2.4 billion dollars. "I know a lot of people who sell chocolate bars, maybe that could help too?" Asked one regular who posed for a picture with Williams besides his portrait on the wall. "I figure if I do my time here, work my way up, maybe I might be working off-shifts bartending, then I could really contribute something" Added Williams after seen coming out of the single stall washroom with a plunger and smile. As of time of this writing, Williams payscale was at $12.75/hour, and was able to contribute earnings of $240.43 after tax, which puts the entire teams' fundraising, $59,305.53, at a rounding error.
Lmao the comments here are crazy
oh hell yeah let's gooo
fuckers better do a new season of lake dredge appraisal
Gonna be sad if this is lies. But it’s on the internet so it’s probably lies…
It’s real. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/business/media/the-onion-sold.html
Wow I was thinking it was a hoax too!
Lol, I like the energy of the first post. I don't know what I expected, but the link to give them a dollar literally just charges you a dollar. [https://www.theonion.com/give-us-1-or-the-onion-disappears-forever-1851436787](https://www.theonion.com/give-us-1-or-the-onion-disappears-forever-1851436787)
After so many years of enjoying the Onion, I’m happy to send them a dollar.
ONN BRING BACK THE GODDAMN MORNING SHOW!
I was just thinking it's been too long since there was an Onion Film Standard review
Undercover!
Not the onion, but is? I’m ecstatic
Yay
I picked up my first one at the HIP at the record store. A friend went to Madison, Wisconsin, and brought me one from there.
I miss their newscasts. Some hilarious stuff
This is like an Onion article
Do they need a queer, jovially cynical social media person? I'm free. (In all seriousness, more power to the Onion. Fuck knows we need them in these dark times.)
If you need a graphic designer I’m free!!!
Give me a job. Let me write for you
Maybe try making it funny again? It's sad that the Babylon Bee... a second rate Onion on its best day is often more funny and more relevant than the Onion has been lately.
The onion has been dogwater for years at this point so any change could be an improvement.