Scott Dikkers lives and breathes The Onion. As founding editor of The Onion and the guy with the longest editor-in-chief run, Dikkers knows every in and out of the publication’s unique satirical wit. Before his talk in the Russell House Ballroom at 8 p.m. Wednesday courtesy of Carolina Productions, he talked with The Daily Gamecock about a few behind-the-scenes aspects of The Onion.
The Daily Gamecock: What makes for a good Onion headline?
Scott Dikkers: Well, that’s a great question. A good Onion headline should, first and foremost, be funny.
No. 2, it should mean something, it should say something bigger, more satirical … it should point out something that’s wrong, or something in human nature, or society, or anything. I think it’s [perfect] to bring that out, subtextually.
And No. 3, to make the best joke that could be made about that subject — that ever has been made about that subject. That’s kind of the criteria. It’s typically not required, but it’s super great when the headline can accurately predict the future.
TDG: What’s an example of that?
SD: We did a story, some time ago, about Overstock.com, a story in which we had them announce a video streaming service … and now they’re actually doing it. We ran a commentary written by the CEO of Gillette Razors Company. The headline was “We’re doing five blades.” And then sure enough, they came out with five-bladed razors … It’s stuff like that, such a silly capper to a crazy notion that we had.
TDG: What are some go-tos, or common pitfalls, that new "Onion" writers fall into?
SD: Another good question! One thing you see a lot is, they’ve been reading "The Onion" for many years, they think they know it backwards and forwards — that they know how to do it. And people often find it a lot harder than it looks … It’s all about coming into the office and being part of the writers’ meetings and stuff like that, because really the only way to mature as a writer is to put yourself out there, and learn how to do it and do it well.
TDG: Are there any pieces of subject matter that you are more careful about joking about? Not quite off-limits, but you think through the joke before putting it out there.
SD: I think I’d have to say that there’s no subject that we don’t do that for. It can be the most trivial thing in the world, like ketchup packets or something. We will discuss it and think about it very carefully before we run the story. All jokes are precious to us.
TDG: How did "The Onion" version of Joe Biden come to be?
SD: Well, we have ascribed character traits to politicians of the time … I think it started with Bob Dole, when he was running against Clinton. We turned him into a Terminator he was like a machine man. It’s just a funny way to portray someone’s character traits, or how they come across. Bob Dole was very stiff and he came across as machine-like, with a machine-like voice.
Joe Biden raises the bar. He is actually a very accomplished politician, and he’s the number two … but he sort of has this great inappropriate, older buddy wild child kind of vibe.