''Funny Times'' (''FT'') is an American humor

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

founded in 1985, and still published as of 2022, by the wife and husband team of Susan Wolpert and Raymond Lesser, who were inspired by ''The Comic News'' of

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a po ...

, "a monthly journal of progressive editorial cartoons founded in 1984 by Thom Zajac. ''FT'' political content is often subversive and has a progressive/liberal perspective. In 1997, Sandee Beyerle wandered by the offices of ''Funny Times'' and stepped inside simply because she wanted to get out of the rain. From there she worked her way up to managing editor, and when Ray Lesser retired as editor, Beyerle became the editor.

Format and subscriptions

The monthly ''Funny Times'' publication is printed in the format of a daily newspaper, on newsprint paper, with each of the 24 pages measuring 11 X 17 inches. The only ads it runs are for its own ''FT''-related merchandise. ''FT'' subscriptions have been $26 per year since 2013, which increased to $28 in late 2018. ''Funny Times'' began release of a monthly digital edition, available on iTunes and at the Kindle Store, in October 2012 and February 2013, respectively.

Content

Each ''Funny Times'' issue is organized into sections such as "Relationships", "Dogs", "Politics", "Current Events", and others, with the section categories varying somewhat from issue to issue. Each issue includes cartoons, columns and essays that derive humor from pop culture, current events, politics and day-to-day living. A full page in each issue is devoted to the syndicated column originally developed by Chuck Shepherd,

News of the Weird News of the Weird is a syndicated newspaper column once edited by Chuck Shepherd that collects bizarre news stories. It was created in 1988. , it is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate and published in more than 250 newspapers in the United S ...

, which features dozens of bizarre true stories from around the world. Publisher Ray Lesser frequently contributes his own humorous essays. As of the early 2000s, each issue contained choice selections of such offbeat comic strips as

This Modern World ''This Modern World'' is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Tom Tomorrow (real name Dan Perkins) that covers current events from a left-wing point of view. Published continuously for more than 30 years, ''Th ...

Tom Tomorrow Tom Tomorrow is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins (born April 5, 1961, in Wichita, Kansas). His weekly comic strip, ''This Modern World'', which comments on current events, appears regularly in more than 80 newspapers across t ...

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain/anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman, and first appeared in ''Superboy'' #68 (1958 ...

by Dan Piraro,

Zippy the Pinhead Zippy the Pinhead is a fictional character who is the protagonist of ''Zippy'', an American comic strip created by Bill Griffith. Zippy's most famous quotation, "Are we having fun yet?", appears in ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' and became a ...

by Bill Griffith,

Too Much Coffee Man Too Much Coffee Man (TMCM) is an American satirical superhero created by cartoonist Shannon Wheeler. Too Much Coffee Man wears what appears to be a spandex version of old-fashioned red " long johns" with a large mug attached atop his head. He ...

by Shannon Wheeler,

Tom the Dancing Bug ''Tom the Dancing Bug'' is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Ruben Bolling that covers mostly US current events from a liberal point of view. Tom the Dancing Bug won the 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008,Gardner, Ala ...

by Ruben Bolling, The K Chronicles by Keith Knight, and

Slowpoke Slowpoke or Slow Poke may refer to: * "Slow Poke", a 1951 American country music hit song * "Slowpoke", a song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young * ''Slowpoke'' (comic strip), weekly comic strip by Jen Sorensen * Slowpoke (Pokémon), a fictional s ...

by Jen Sorensen. Other contributing writers and cartoonists have included, circa 2000: * Dave Barry *

Lynda Barry Linda Jean Barry (born January 2, 1956) is an American cartoonist. Barry is best known for her weekly comic strip ''Ernie Pook's Comeek''. She garnered attention with her 1988 illustrated novel ''The Good Times are Killing Me'', about an inte ...

Harry Bliss Harry Bliss (born March 9, 1964, in Rochester, New York) is an American cartoonist and illustrator. Bliss has illustrated many books, and produced hundreds of cartoons and 25 covers for ''The New Yorker''. Bliss has a syndicated single-panel comi ...

* Andy Borowitz * Matt Bors *

Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...

* Bruce Cameron * Sean Chiki * Andrei Codrescu *

Derf Backderf John Backderf (born October 31, 1959), also known as Derf or Derf Backderf, is an American cartoonist. He is most famous for his graphic novels, especially ''My Friend Dahmer'', the international bestseller which won an Angoulême Prize, and ea ...

Will Durst Will Durst (born on March 18, 1952) is an American political satirist. He has been called a modern mix of Mort Sahl and Will Rogers. Early life Durst was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He went to 14 different schools before graduating from ...

* Bob Eckstein * Tim Eagen * Mitra Farmand * Lauren Glattly * Martha Gradisher *

Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...

* Garrison Keillor * Keith Knight *

Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American author, journalist, and comedian. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key ...

Peter Kuper Peter Kuper (; born September 22, 1958) is an American alternative comics artist and illustrator, best known for his autobiographical, political, and social observations. Besides his contributions to the political anthology '' World War 3 Illust ...

Molly Ivins Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins (August 30, 1944 – January 31, 2007) was an American newspaper columnist, author, political commentator, and humorist. Born in California and raised in Texas, Ivins attended Smith College and the Columbia Univers ...

Carol Lay Carol Lay (born 1952) is an American alternative cartoonist best known for her weekly comic strip, ''Story Minute'' (later to evolve into the strip ''Way Lay''), which ran for almost 20 years in such US papers as the ''LA Weekly'', the ''NY Press' ...

*Peter McKay *Raymond Lesser *

Chris Monroe Christine Monroe (born April 17, 1962) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, and author best known for her weekly comic strip “Violet Days,” which appears in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Duluth News Tribune. "Violet Days" has been in pri ...

* Carlos Montage * Michael Moore * Janet Periat * K. A. Polzin * Bev Potter *

Hilary B. Price Hilary B. Price (born 1969) is an American cartoonist. She is known for creating the comic strip ''Rhymes with Orange'', which is published digitally on her website and in over one hundred newspapers across the United States. At the age of 25 ...

Phil Proctor Philip Proctor (born 1940) is an American actor, comedian and a member of the Firesign Theatre. He has performed voice-over work for video games, films and television series. Career Of the four members of Firesign Theatre, Proctor has had t ...

Ted Rall Frederick Theodore Rall III (born August 26, 1963) is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cart ...

Rita Rudner Rita Rudner (born September 17, 1953) is an American comedian. Beginning her career as a Broadway dancer, Rudner noticed the lack of female comedians in New York City and turned to stand-up comedy, where she has flourished for over three deca ...

Lenore Skenazy Lenore Skenazy () is president oLet Grow a non-profit promoting childhood independence and resilience, and founder of the Free-Range Kids movement. She is also a speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist, author, and reality show host. A mother w ...

* Terry Stawar * Tom Toro * P.C. Vey *John Walsh * Kim Warp * Roz Warren * Jon Winokur *

Matt Wuerker Matt Wuerker () is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American political cartoonist and founding staff member of ''Politico''. Career Wuerker graduated from Lewis & Clark College with a BA in 1979. While there, he served as the chief editorial cartoonist ...

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', whi ...

As of 2021, works by a few of the above cartoonists and writers still appeared regularly in the Funny Times.

Other publications

In 2002, Funny Times published the book ''Funny Times: The Best of The Best of American Humor: The Funniest Cartoons, Columns, and Essays from the Funny Times Newspaper'' (

Three Rivers Press Three Rivers Press is the trade paperback imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. It publishes original paperback titles as well as paperback reprints of books issued initially in hardcover by the other Crown imprint ...

, ). As of 2018, the book is no longer offered by FT but is still available elsewhere, secondhand. From January 2007 to September 2013, the Funny Times website featured the "Cartoon Playground", in which anyone with Internet access could create and instantly post their own comic strips using artwork drawn by Matt Wuerker. Some of the more frequent contributors to the Playground Cartoon section included individuals going by such names as: CIAgent, Claustrophobic, cta, Danger Dan, Demosfoni, Ducky, Earthmuffin, Elephant Man, Ellie May, Eric Per1in, Fracturedfish, Hal, Just Bean, Konrad Schwoerke, Lo Bottomy, Mr Smartypants, Queen Bean, Rick Dickulous, Sophie, Yankees with Hope, and Zack. These people sometimes communicated to each other using cartoons, turning the 'Cartoon Playground' into something like a social networking site. Some of the very best of these reader-created cartoons were, for a while, featured in the monthly print edition. As of 2020, for several years the Funny Times website has featured the "Cartoon of the Week", which is also emailed weekly to subscribers.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.funnytimes.com 1985 establishments in Ohio Cleveland Heights, Ohio American comedy websites Newspapers published in Cleveland Publications established in 1985