Considering Madison?s small size relative to booming metropolises like New York City and Chicago, the city has a fairly storied comic history. A pair of UW-Madison students founded the satirical newspaper The Onion here in 1988. The late Chris Farley got his start locally at Ark Improv Theatre. Film trio Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker (“Airplane,” “Kentucky Fried Movie”) grew up in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood and attended UW-Madison. Even “The Daily Show” can trace some of its roots to the city. UW-Madison graduate and former Onion editor Ben Karlin played an instrumental role in developing the show?s political tone after joining the staff in 1999 (Karlin has since departed the program).
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