Funny Times (newspaper)

Funny Times

Editor	Sandee Beyerle
Categories	Humor magazine
Frequency	Monthly
Publisher	Susan Wolpert and Raymond Lesser
Total circulation (2018)	60,000[1]
Year founded	1985 (1985)
Country	United States
Based in	Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Language	English
Website	www.funnytimes.com
ISSN	1045-0491

Funny Times (FT) is an American humor newspaper founded in 1985, and still published as of 2018, by the wife and husband team of Susan Wolpert and Raymond Lesser, who were inspired by The Comic News of Santa Cruz, California, "a monthly journal of progressive editorial cartoons" founded in 1984 by Thom Zajac.^[2][3][4] FT's political content is often subversive and has a progressive/liberal perspective.

In 1998, Sandee Beyerle wandered by the offices of Funny Times and stepped inside simply because she wanted to get out of the rain. Really. That led to a job as gopher, secretary and first reader. From there she worked her way up to managing editor^[4], and when Ray Lesser retired as editor, Sandee 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^[4] 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 at least through 2018.^[4][5] Funny Times began release of a monthly digital edition, available on iTunes and at the Kindle Store, in October 2012 and February 2013, respectively.^[4]

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, ISBN 9780609809198). As of 2018, the book is no longer offered by FT but is still available elsewhere, secondhand.^[6]

Since January 2007, the Funny Times web site has featured the "Cartoon Playground", in which anyone with Internet access can 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 have 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 communicate 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.

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 News of the Weird, which features dozens of bizarre true stories from around the world, compiled by Chuck Shepherd. Publisher Ray Lesser frequently contributes his own humorous essays, and an essay by Dave Barry can be found in virtually every issue. Each issue contains choice selections of such offbeat comic strips as This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow, Bizarro by Dan Piraro, Zippy the Pinhead by Bill Griffith, Too Much Coffee Man by Shannon Wheeler, Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling, The K Chronicles by Keith Knight, and Slowpoke by Jen Sorensen.

Other contributing writers and cartoonists have included:

References

External links

• Official website