Scott Dikkers

Scott Dikkers founded the world’s first humor website, TheOnion.com, in 1995. A few years earlier he helped found the original Onion newspaper. He’s served as The Onion’s owner and editor-in-chief, on and off, for much of the last quarter century.

Dikkers co-wrote and edited The Onion’s first original book, Our Dumb Century, a look at recent history through front pages of The Onion. It's sold over a million copes, debuting as a #1 New York Times and #1 amazon bestseller. He also co-wrote and edited The Onion’s second original book, Our Dumb World, a world atlas parody, which also debuted on the New York Times bestseller list.

In the mid-2000’s, Dikkers headed up the creation of "The Onion News Network" web series, serving as a director and executive producer. The series gave rise to many viral videos and a TV series on IFC. The web shorts won a Peabody Award in 2008.

Dikkers led The Onion’s rise from small, unknown college humor publication to internationally respected comedy brand. He gathered a talented team of writers and editors over the years, working with them to develop The Onion’s culture of creative freedom and brutal honesty, its distinct comic voice, and its reliable process for generating award-winning satire, day after day.

This unique process is spelled out in Dikkers’s book, How to Write Funny, which is the basis of the Writing with The Onion program he created and teaches at The Second City Training Center in Chicago. His work with The Onion, its website and other ancillary products, earned Dikkers the #43 spot on Time magazine’s list of the Top 50 “Cyber Elite” alongside such iconic figures as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and George Lucas.

Dikkers began his career in the entertainment business with his self-syndicated comic strip, Jim’s Journal. The popular college cartoon, comprised of little more than stick figures, spawned a self-published book collection that became a national bestseller. Rolling Stone magazine ranked “Jim” one of America’s top ten favorite writers in 1992. Dikkers continues to draw and animate cartoons under the banner of the Dikkers Cartoon Company.

In addition to his other work, Dikkers is an accomplished voice actor who’s performed in many national commercials, video games and animated cartoons, including Saturday Night Live’s “TV Funhouse.” He’s also written and directed several award-winning short films, and two feature films, Spaceman, and Bad Meat.