At the WIRED World Fair in Miami on Wednesday, Onion CEO Ben Collins and comedian Patti Harrison explored how humor can restore a sense of satire and online joy even when the political landscape feels grim. Their conversation came a day after midterm elections gave Democrats control of Congress, a result Collins said offered a reason for optimism.
A Shift in Mood
Collins, who once led an effort to acquire conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars, recalled the despair he felt two years earlier when Donald Trump won a second presidential term. He described asking researcher and journalist Kat Abughazaleh whether she would join him in what he called a burning building. Her answer, he said, was that someone had to do it. The Onion won Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, but a federal judge in Texas later struck down the deal, and the legal fight continues.
With Democrats now set to control Congress, Collins said he wanted people to feel hope because things had changed overnight. He pointed to the possibility that a Texas attorney general might reach a different decision in the ongoing case.
Comedy as a Delivery System
Harrison, who stars in The Onion’s parody Infowars show, said comedy works like a pill hidden in cheese—a way to slip ideas to people who might otherwise resist them. Although she felt relief over the midterm results, she noted that a large portion of the population remains deeply radicalized. She also made a joking reference to Mountain Dew, seemingly nodding to a remark Vice President JD Vance once made about his love for Diet Mountain Dew.
Collins, a former extremism reporter, argued that a satirical outlet can state things plainly and quickly. He said many Onion headlines—including almost everything the site writes about RFK Jr.—end up proving true. Unlike traditional reporting, he added, the site does not need three sources to capture what is wrong in the United States.
Growing Up Online, and the Current Internet
Both speakers reflected on how the internet once served as a lifeline in their small-town upbringings. For Harrison, MySpace allowed her to connect with other unusual people who shared interests she could not find in her rural, Christian, white community.
She said social media is not inherently bad, but the current version is abusive and evil. Algorithmic feeds sometimes push her content to audiences who misunderstand it; when she recently dressed as Elon Musk in a black MAGA hat for a WIRED cover, many people told her it was deeply messed up. Still, she believes comedy continues to thrive online and that it is possible to de-algorithmize the internet.
Collins took a harsher view, calling the current internet a joy vacuum that strips away anything fun. Spaces like The Onion, he said, offer catharsis and a way to stay sane when things are so messed up. For now, he said, his greatest fun comes from working in The Onion’s writers’ room or spending time with friends in the real world. He added that he hopes benevolent companies will soon try to fix the online landscape.
