Inside the toughest room in the world.

As Ira Glass said, “it’s perhaps the toughest room on earth.” Every week, The Onion writer’s room whittles 600 potential headlines down to just 16. And that’s the paper. When you pitched a story, if it got a laugh, it was likely too silly or over the top and wouldn’t make the cut. But if the room went silent, and then the editor stops and calmly says, “yeah, ok, that’s funny,” you knew you had it. A feeling I will always hold on to.