Laughter filled the Stamp Grand Ballroom on Thursday night during SEE’s free lecture, An Evening with The Onion. Senior writer Dan McGraw and ClickHole editor Jermaine Affonso peeled back The Onion’s self-aggrandizing skin to give students a taste of the creative process behind the satirical newspaper.

McGraw and Affonso rolled through slide after slide of comedic headlines, several of which the college crowd knew all too well: “College Roommates to Continue Bonding Process until Real Friends Made.” 

Earlier in the afternoon, about 30 students who had been accepted into The Onion’s satirical writing workshop got a chance to pick the brains of the comedic pair.  While the hour was less workshop and more prequel lecture, it did offer a deeper look into The Onion’s inner workings.

Every Monday, the surprisingly small staff gets together to share ideas.

“They always pitch the exact wording of the headline, and then we decide,” said McGraw.

Each person brings 25 headlines, of which only a handful might make it to the next round and even fewer onto the site.

The Onion tries to avoid words like “hipster,” “Viagra” or memes because they instantly clue in the reader, part of its effort to intentionally adhere to a standard newspaper aesthetic.

“It all looks as serious as possible so that the joke we’re trying to make stands out as the one weird thing,” McGraw said.

McGraw and Affonso said Onion writers come from different backgrounds and it’s more important to be able to mimic news style than to have journalism experience.

“It’s comedy first,” Affonso said.

But it’s not always about the jokes.

“When there’s a tragic event, we try to come up with a cathartic take that represents the helplessness that people are feeling,” Affonso said.

McGraw and Affonso also talked about the way people react to their work.

“Mary-Kate Olsen is Dragging Ashley Down” has generated hundreds of angry emails. Meanwhile, “Government Admits it was Only Behind Destruction of North Tower” has only received one note: “Thanks for you article. It was both though :(” 

Freshman Chris Henderson enjoyed the evening’s humorous spin.

“It was funnier than I expected,” the mechanical engineering major said. “I thought it was going to be more serious about their process, but it turned out to be a comedy show for a half hour, so that was nice.”

But 2015 journalism graduate Jin Kim thought the show left a bit to be desired. He had hoped to see more in Affonso and McGraw’s presentation.

“It was more of a comedy show,” he said. “I wanted to know more about their process. It seemed like the material in the slides was appealing and those got the most laughs, rather than the presenters’ skills.” 

Greg Howard, an aerospace engineering major, says The Onion’s voice plays an important role in society.

“It comments on real issues, but does it in a way that’s funny, and it allows them to say things that everyone thinking but no one wants to say straight up,” the freshman said.

McGraw and Affonso got personal before they left, with a chart titled “Journalistic Integrity.” According to data provided by the (fictional) U.S. Department of Integrity, The Onion scores a 6.0, far higher than The New York Times, The Washington Post, and, of course, The Diamondback.

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“In every school we do The Diamondback, because you guys are that bad,” Affonso quipped.

But jokes aside, Affonso and McGraw said they enjoyed the beautiful weather and their time on the campus.

“We sit in an office all day and churn out ideas and shoot them off into the world,” McGraw said.

Getting feedback on their work and answering student questions was a nice break, they said.

And for students, this lecture of a different kind was an escape from the grind of classes and clubs. An Evening with The Onion left everyone crying — tears of laughter, that is.