CRYING LAUGHING: THE STORY OF THE ONION is a feature length comedy documentary about the rich, turbulent and unprecedented history of The Onion, tracing its trajectory from college humor rag, to media conglomerate, to its present-day incarnation, struggling to remain the most dependable and consistent source of American humor and satire.
About the Filmmakers
Ben Steinbauer is an award-winning film, television, and commercial director. His debut feature documentary, Winnebago Man, Michael Moore called, “One of the funniest documentaries ever made!” and Roger Ebert named it one of his favorite films of 2010. His new comedy documentary, Chop & Steele, premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. Steinbauer was named “one of Texas’ best directors” by Texas Monthly and is co-owner of the Emmy-award winning production company, The Bear.
Joe Pickett directed the award-winning documentary Dirty Country, has toured the world with The Found Footage Festival and got sued for pranking morning news shows with Chop & Steele. Plus, Joe has worked at The Onion. He started in 1994 delivering the print edition out of his rusty Toyota Tercel and has since worked in both the business and editorial offices. He also played on the Onion softball team and was there for the bench-clearing brawl against The New Yorker. Joe has literally fought for The Onion.
