Editor in chief, the Onion AGE 33 E-MAIL editorial@theonion.com BIO For Dikkers, the Net is a minefield of bad humor. "The jokes
people e-mail each other, the corporate sites with crap on them
that nobody wants--none of it's actually funny," he says. "We
are." So funny, in fact, that when the irreverent Madison, Wis.,
paper went online with its stolen-from-the headlines headlines
and news parodies in 1996, its audience grew tenfold. With
grabbers like "32% of U.S. Citizens Still Not Famous" and "Man in
Suit Makes Decision Affecting Thousands of Nonsuited
Individuals," the Onion quickly endeared itself to an online
audience hungry for a real laugh. The paper has existed in print
form since 1988. Dikkers himself joined the two-person staff to
draw comic strips. "By issue three, I was de facto editor." Today
the staff has seven full-time writers, and national advertisers
such as Sony and CD-NOW. 1998 POWER PLAY Disney ducked out of a
deal to publish the Onion's 20th century "history" book, "Our
Dumb Century," this summer and a $450,000 bidding war ensued. The
book is due in April 1999 from Crown. Also in the works is the
launch of a national edition of the paper. PLACE YOUR BETS Add www.theonion.com to your reading list. It won't impress your boss
or improve your stock portfolio, but it will make you laugh out
loud.