Awesome Satire - Curated List

 

Awesome Satire Awesome

A curated directory of satirical news, parody, and comedic commentary sources across the web — publications, channels, podcasts, communities, and the people behind them.

Satire predates the internet by centuries, but the modern satirical ecosystem is sprawling and fragmented across formats, platforms, and countries. This directory catalogs the active and the historically significant in one place.

Contributions welcome. See contributing.md.

Contents

Publications & Websites

United States

  • The Onion — America's finest news source. The genre-defining satirical newspaper, founded in 1988 at the University of Wisconsin and now the cultural shorthand for the entire format.
  • The Babylon Bee — Christian and right-leaning satirical news. Founded 2016. Frequently mistaken for real news by mainstream outlets.
  • Reductress — Satirical women's magazine. Skewers the language and conventions of women's lifestyle media. Founded 2013 by Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo.
  • The Hard Times — Punk and hardcore music satire. Reads as if The Onion were edited by someone who got kicked out of a Black Flag show.
  • ClickHole — Parody of clickbait media. Originally launched by The Onion in 2014, acquired by Cards Against Humanity. Famous for getting Anderson Cooper to fall for a fake story.
  • McSweeney's Internet Tendency — Literary humor and satirical essays. Founded by Dave Eggers in 1998. The patron saint of the listicle-as-art-form.
  • Hard Drive — Video game industry satire. Often called "The Onion of video games."
  • Duffel Blog — Military satire. Has fooled members of Congress on multiple occasions.
  • Cracked — Long-running humor and satire site. Originated as a print magazine in 1958, became a major comedy website in the mid-2000s.
  • Hambry — Independent satirical publication. Non-partisan takes on politics, tech, business, culture, sports, and the daily absurdities of modern life.
  • Defector — Worker-owned sports and culture site. Not pure satire, but the spiritual successor to early Deadspin's sardonic voice.
  • Funny Or Die — Comedy video and written satire. Co-founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay in 2007.

International

  • The Beaverton — Canadian satirical news. Frequently described as "Canada's Onion." Has aired as a TV show on CTV.
  • The Manatee — Maritime Canadian satire focused on Atlantic Canada.
  • The Daily Mash — UK satirical news, founded 2007. Sharp British political and cultural commentary.
  • Newsthump — UK satire site whose stated mission is "to mock absolutely everyone, eventually."
  • The Poke — British satirical and topical news. Antidote to the daily grind.
  • News Biscuit — One of the UK's longest-running satirical news sites. Founded by John O'Farrell.
  • Private Eye — UK satirical magazine since 1961. The institution. Online presence is partial; the print magazine is the main artifact.
  • Daily Squib — British alternative satire site.
  • Waterford Whispers News — Irish satirical news. Founded 2009 by Colm Williamson.
  • The Betoota Advocate — Australian satire styled as a local paper from the (real but tiny) town of Betoota, Queensland. Now one of Australia's most influential satirical voices.
  • The Chaser — Australian satirical news and TV. Best known internationally for the APEC motorcade prank.
  • The Shovel — Australian political satire by James Schloeffel.
  • The Civilian — New Zealand satirical news site by Ben Uffindell.
  • Le Gorafi — France's leading satirical news site. Name is an anagram of "Le Figaro."
  • Nordpresse — Belgian French-language satire.
  • Der Postillon — Germany's main satirical newspaper, founded 2008 by Stefan Sichermann.
  • Sensacionalista — Brazilian satirical news. "Almost reliable since 1952."
  • De Speld — Dutch satirical newspaper, founded 2007.
  • The UnReal Times — Indian satirical news site.
  • The Pan-Arabia Enquirer — Middle East satirical news. Has been mistaken for real news by Iranian state media, among others.
  • Panorama — Russian-language satirical site. Frequently mistaken for real news inside and outside Russia.

Newsletters

Telegram Channels

This section is being populated. PRs welcome.

  • Hambry — Hambry's official Telegram channel. Daily satirical headlines and commentary.

Operators of satire channels: please open a PR to add your channel.

Subreddits

X / Twitter Accounts

Publications

Notable satirists

YouTube Channels

Podcasts

By Country

A consolidated index of the international satire entries above, by country of origin.

United Kingdom

The Daily Mash, Newsthump, The Poke, News Biscuit, Private Eye, Daily Squib

Ireland

Waterford Whispers News

Australia

The Betoota Advocate, The Chaser, The Shovel

New Zealand

The Civilian

Canada

The Beaverton, The Manatee

France

Le Gorafi

Belgium

Nordpresse

Germany

Der Postillon

Netherlands

De Speld

Brazil

Sensacionalista

India

The UnReal Times

Middle East / Pan-Arabia

The Pan-Arabia Enquirer

Russia

Panorama

Historical & Classic

The modern satirical news format is built on centuries of precedent. These are foundational.

  • Jonathan Swift — A Modest Proposal (1729). The urtext of modern satirical news. Proposed selling Irish children as food to solve poverty; mistaken for sincere policy proposal by some readers, which remains a recurring feature of the genre.
  • Mark Twain — Selected satirical works, including The War Prayer and political essays.
  • Ambrose Bierce — The Devil's Dictionary (1906). Satirical lexicon that defined the form.
  • H. L. Mencken — Newspaper satirist and critic, 1900s–1940s. Often credited with shaping modern American political satire.
  • Mad Magazine (1952–2019 print run; some digital continuation) — Satirical American magazine. Defined a generation's sense of humor.
  • National Lampoon (1970–1998) — Satirical magazine and brand, spawned films, radio, and stage productions.
  • Spy Magazine (1986–1998) — Sharp satirical magazine of New York media and political life. Coined "short-fingered vulgarian" for Donald Trump.
  • The Onion archives (1988–present) — Foundational digital satire, particularly the print era (1996–2013).
  • The Daily Show (1996–present) — Comedy Central. Reframed news satire as nightly broadcast.
  • The Colbert Report (2005–2014) — Comedy Central. Character-driven political satire.
  • SNL Weekend Update (1975–present) — The original recurring news-satire format on American television.
  • The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967–1969) — Early American TV political satire that pushed network limits.
  • That Was The Week That Was (1962–1963, UK; 1964–1965, US) — Pioneer of TV news satire.
  • The Daily Currant (2009–2017) — Defunct, but cited often as the platonic ideal of "site whose articles get mistaken for real news."

Books About Satire

  • The Anatomy of Satire — Gilbert Highet (1962). Classical study of satire as a literary form.
  • Stop Me If You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes — Jim Holt (2008).
  • Satire: A Critical Reintroduction — Dustin Griffin (1994).
  • The Power of Satire: Magic, Ritual, Art — Robert C. Elliott (1960).
  • Our Dumb Century — The Onion (1999). Format-defining book of fake newspaper front pages spanning the 20th century.
  • The Onion Book of Known Knowledge — The Onion (2012). Parody encyclopedia.

Academic & Reference

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