You know we’ve hit peak absurdity when Onion headlines barely register as satire anymore. These days, they read more like sobering journalism compared to the relentless chaos real life keeps throwing our way.

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“Study Reveals: Babies Are Stupid.” “World Death Rate Holding Steady At 100 Percent.” “CIA Realizes It’s Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years.”

There’s no mistaking an Onion headline; these are classics. Except, of course, for those moments when reality decides to cosplay them a little too well.

At this point, The Onion has become such a cultural touchstone that we often compare real life to The Onion, not the other way around.

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So how did this satirical powerhouse earn its place as the ultimate benchmark for absurdity? How did a media outlet named after a layered vegetable end up producing one-liners everyone recognizes instantly?

Given how on-point they are with modern humor, you might assume The Onion popped up in the early 2000s.

But the story actually begins in 1988, when University of Wisconsin–Madison students Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson decided to launch a weekly print newspaper for satirical news—yes, The Onion.

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Keck had a newsroom pedigree: both his parents worked for The Hammond Times, and he’d already teamed up with cartoonist James Sturm to sell monthly calendars featuring Daily Cardinal comic characters.

The idea for a full-on satirical paper came from The Daily Cardinal’s annual April Fools’ parody issue.