Scott Dikkers

Scott Dikkers
Born (1965-03-01) March 1, 1965 (age 59)
Minneapolis, Minnesota
EducationUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
Occupation(s)Comedy writer, cartoonist
Years active1990s-present
Known forThe Onion, Jim's Journal

Scott Dikkers (born March 1, 1965) is an American comedy writer, speaker and entrepreneur. He was a founding editor of The Onion,[1] and is the publication's longest-serving editor-in-chief, holding the position from 1988–1999, 2005–2008, and as General Manager / Vice President of Creative Development from 2012–2014.[2][3] He currently heads the "Writing with The Onion" program in partnership with The Onion and The Second City in Chicago.[4]

Biography

Born in 1965 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Scott Dikkers is the author or co-author of several best-selling[citation needed] humor books including "How to Write Funny". He is also the creator and artist of the comic strip Jim's Journal, which was syndicated to college newspapers from 1987–1997. Dikkers has also written and directed several films, including episodes of "The Onion News Network" web videos (2007) and the independent features Spaceman (1997), and Bad Meat (2003), starring Chevy Chase. Scott currently runs online courses about comedy writing where he teaches his subscribers and students to write comedy, be more scalable and take charge of their comedy writing business.[5]

Since 2015, Dikkers has hosted the How To Write Funny podcast, on which he interviews notable comedians and comedy writers.[6]

Books

  • The Joke at the End of the World (writer) (2020,ISBN 979-8695741476)
  • Outrageous Marketing: The Story of The Onion and How To Build a Powerful Brand with No Marketing Budget (writer) (2018,ISBN 978-1729585078)
  • Trump's America: The Complete Loser's Guide (editor-in-chief, co-writer) (2016, ISBN 978-1944068097)
  • Onion books
    • Our Dumb Century: 100 Years of Headlines From America's Finest News Source (editor-in-chief, co-writer) (1999, ISBN 0-609-80461-8)
    • "The Onion's Finest News Reporting, Volume One" (co-editor with Robert D. Siegel, co-writer) (2000, ISBN 0-609-80463-4)
    • "Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of The Onion" (co-writer) (2001, ISBN 0-609-80834-6)
    • "Homeland Insecurity: The Onion Complete News Archives, Volume 17" (co-editor with Carol Kolb, co-writer) (2006, ISBN 0-307-33984-X)
    • Our Dumb World (editor-in-chief, co-writer) (2007, ISBN 0-316-01842-2)
  • "45: A Portrait of My Knucklehead Brother Jeb" by George W. Bush (co-written with Peter Hilleren) (2015, ISBN 978-1455592852)
  • How To Write Funny (writer) (2014, ISBN 978-1499196122)
  • How to Write Funnier (writer) (2019, ISBN 978-1796818222)
  • How to Write Funniest (writer) (2020, ISBN 979-8652464264)
  • "Destined For Destiny: The Unauthorized Autobiography of George W. Bush" (co-writer with Peter Hilleren) (2006, ISBN 0-7432-9966-3)
  • You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day (credited to "Dr. Oswald T. Pratt and Dr. Scott Dikkers") (1999, ISBN 0-7407-0025-1)
  • Jim's Journal cartoon collections (all strips and books credited to "Jim")
    • I Went to College and It Was Okay: A Collection of Jim's Journal Cartoons (1991, ISBN 0-8362-1867-1)
    • I Got a Job and It Wasn't That Bad: The Second Collection of Jim's Journal Cartoons (1993, ISBN 0-8362-1709-8)
    • I Made Some Brownies and They Were Pretty Good: The Third Jim's Journal Collection (1995, ISBN 0-8362-1776-4)
    • I Got Married If You Can Believe That: The Fourth Collection of Jim's Journal Cartoons (1996, ISBN 0-8362-1029-8)
    • I Feel Like a Grown-Up Now: The Fifth Jim's Journal Collection (1998, ISBN 0-8362-5184-9)
    • The Pretty Good Jim's Journal Treasury: The Definitive Collection of Every Published Cartoon (1999, ISBN 0-7407-0007-3)
    • I Finally Graduated from High School: The Sixth Collection of Jim's Journal Cartoons (2014, ISBN 978-1499149500)
    • The Pretty Good Jim's Journal Treasury: The Even More Definitive Collection of Every Published Cartoon (2016, ISBN 978-1535199889)
  • "Plebes" cartoon collections (all strips and books credited to "L. T. Horton")
  • "Kimberly Crotchet, Librarian of Tomorrow (co-writer and artist with James Sturm), 1988, self-published.[7]
  • "Commix" (co-writer with James Sturm, Chris Ware, J. Keen, Kathryn Rathke, Jay Rath, J. Keen), 1988, self-published.[7]

Filmography

Film Year Note
Spaceman 1997 feature
The Astounding World of the Future 2000 short
E-Day! 2001 short
The KIll 2002 short
Bad Meat 2003 feature
Ape Trouble 2010 short
Bright Lights, Big Steam 2010 short
Tycoon Tyke 2010 short

References

  1. ^ "Not Necessarily the News – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. January 23, 2000. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  2. ^ Williams, Taryn, Onion co-founder extols the virtues of humor Archived April 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Yale News, December 2001. Retrieved August 2011
  3. ^ Biasco, Paul, Nothing Fake About The Onion's Move Chicago Tribune, March 2012 Retrieved May 2016
  4. ^ Biasco, Paul, Second City, Onion, Team Up Huffington Post, April 2013 Retrieved May 2016
  5. ^ Burns, Rachel (August 28, 2019). "How The Onion Founder Scott Dikkers Teaches Comedy with ActiveCampaign". Active Campaign. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  6. ^ "Podcast". How To Write Funny. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Librarians in comics, www.ibiblio.org