The Onion Story

How a Band of Misfits, Dropouts, and Sad Sacks Built the World's Most Trusted News Source

By: Scott Dikkers

Narrated by: Scott Dikkers

“Dikkers’ comedic voice, so integral to creating the distinctive Onion style, lends to a mixture of journalistic verve and an authentically confessional account of long nights and betting on your own talents. Fans of The Onion will relish revisiting some of its best stories and headlines while witnessing its constant reinvention as the media landscape itself continues to evolve.”—Booklist

The founder of TheOnion.com and longest-serving editor-in-chief regales readers with never-before-told anecdotes from the beloved satiric newsroom in this celebration of creativity, resilience, and the transformative power of jokes—delivered in AP style.

In this laugh-out-loud origin story of a world-renowned satirist and “America’s Finest News Source” Scott Dikkers treats you to a rollicking trip through the 80s, 90s, and 00s, chronicling the inception, evolution, and success of The Onion from his view at the helm. With his famous wit and wisdom Dikkers chronicles the paper’s founding, run-ins with the law, scrapes with death, and raving-mad antics of its staff in chapters like:

• Childhood Trauma Mined for Cheap Laugh
• Hurriedly Collected Life Savings Invested Wisely
• Stop Put to All This Horseplay
• Award-winning Local Author Inspired, Drunk
• Look, Area Man on TV
• Office Internet Briefly Used for Work

If you’ve ever been duped into believing an Onion headline, or simply laughed to avoid crying at how closely its fake news articles resembled reality, get a first-person view from the mastermind himself of the publication’s unparalleled legacy as the world’s most trusted news source, celebrated for its fearless commitment to truth-telling under the guise of satire.

©2025 by Scott Dikkers used with permission of BenBella Books, Inc. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

A compelling story about the history of fake news

I’m a huge fan of Scott Dikkers and the “how to write funny” series. This was an in depth opportunity to see how his comedic brain works and what it takes to be successful in the comedy writing game.