What you describe sounds like the old Cracked model, which worked for a surprisingly long time. The Onion was funny for a long time after they sold out; what s

What you describe sounds like the old Cracked model, which worked for a surprisingly long time. The Onion was funny for a long time after they sold out; what seems to have tanked their comedy is an editorial decision in the last few years to become more politically engaged, and to start "punching up". You can date this to the time when they ditched the absurdist persona of Biden as a washed-up drifter they'd been building up all through the Obama years.