BOOK REVIEW

By Adam Druckman
4/19/00

The Onion's Finest News Reporting
Three Rivers Press, $16

Why is the Onion’s over-the-top brand of made-up news so entertaining? So laugh-out-loud, show-it-to-a-friend funny? The weekly periodical’s latest compendium, The Onion’s Finest News Reporting, begs these questions. Featuring dozens of satirical news reports, fictional op-ed pieces and even the occasional USA Today-style pictograph, you can’t help but wonder why you’re wiping away the tears with every turn of the page.

Is it the clever headlines ("Basketball star blames God for defeat")? The hilariously lewd handling of politically slippery subjects ("Lewinsky subpoenaed to reblow Clinton on Senate floor")? Perhaps it’s simply that the Onion is just good old-fashioned dumb fun ("New study reveals: Babies are stupid").

But why ask why? The Onion’s Finest News is an absolute joy – like vintage Mad magazine for grown-ups, or a modern newsprint version of the old "Saturday Night Live" Weekend Update segment.

Still, unlike the guilty thrill show found in supermarket rags such as Weekly World News, the Onion is a much more elegant brand of puffery. There’s a kernel of reality hidden just below the nuttiness. Rather than teasing us with lies disguised as truth, the Onion gives us a neato reverse: Truth masquerading as deliciously funny lies. And that’s something we all can believe in.

Peel the Onion online at www.theonion.com

Adam Druckman is Metro Times online editor.