Student-led Parody News Organization Serves as Creative Outlet
“News From Last Thursday” is what founder Max Lasser describes as “college parody newspaper bootcamp.” Lasser, a first-year political science student from Greenville, S.C., participated in comedy in high school, and he said it was important to him that he continue practicing comedy in college. Lasser said he recognizes and believes in people’s potential to be boring, however, he also believes in everyone’s ability to become funny.
“I feel like it’s a common misconception that you can’t teach people to be funny because you can,” Lasser said. “I think people can practice at being funny. I feel like a lot of people who end up being funny are funny because they were weird at one point in their life. I think I’m funny because I was really weird as a kid. I was just really socially awkward and overweight.”
After winning USC’s stand-up comedy competition last October, Lasser embarked on the journey to create News From Last Thursday.
“We felt like it was something that could be creatively interesting and that there’s a lot of energy,” he said. “We kind of just wanted to do something new with comedy on campus. There wasn’t much written comedy going on.”
The name of the online publication reflects the image Lasser hopes they portray.
“We thought it was funny — like news from last Thursday — because the idea is that we were kind of lazy and hungover and we were just going to report the news a week late,” Lasser said.
News From Last Thursday features satirical news articles — local, national and the downright fictional.
“I think we’re doing a really good job being funny,” Lasser said. “I wouldn’t publish it if it wasn’t funny.”
Through word of mouth, Joe Corey, a first-year history student, learned about News From Last Thursday and checked it out. He says he checks the site once or twice a week to read new articles.
“I think it’s a type of media we could use here at USC. It puts a refreshingly humorous spin on stories that are oftentimes taken too seriously,” Corey said.
Established a mere two months ago, NewsFromLastThursday.com has published a
considerable number of articles, due mainly to the dedication of its small
staff according to Lasser.
Staff writer Amy Soukup, a first-year political science student, said News From Last Thursday is hard work, but that it’s worth it to her.
“News From Last Thursday gives you a really good creative outlet if you want to do creative writing but you’re stuck with a lot of classes where you don’t need to be creative — you need to be smart,” Soukup said. “That said, I think our humor is pretty smart, and while we make a lot of jokes that I think you could see as offensive, I think we also do a really good job of making sure they’re actually funny.”
Lasser and Soukup agreed that content suggestions are critically examined.
“We shoot down a lot of ideas,” Lasser said, and Soukup added: “We shoot down a lot of things that are too horrible to publish.”
The staff meets regularly to plan content and refine work with brainstorming sessions on Mondays and draft workshops on Thursdays. Articles are published Monday through Friday.
“We originally tried to put an article up every day and we just got completely burnt out because there was no mental break, it was News From Last Thursday all the time, it was way too much,” Lasser said.
The website launched Feb. 24. Lasser said launch week was one of the hardest he has ever had, but that things have calmed down considerably since. Again he credits his staff for their hard work.
“The thing is we don’t really have any leverage to keep people involved,” Lasser said. “Like if you don’t do an article, nothing’s going to happen because we’re new and we don’t pay. But, people who do actual work, do a lot of work.”
Lasser and Soukup agreed that the process from conception to publication would break down if the whole team didn’t pool resources.
“One of the reasons we don’t publish bylines is that writing articles is such a collaborative process,” Lasser said.
Lasser and his staff have big plans for the future of News From Last Thursday. Though the website already has a small following — nearly 300 people are fans of News From Last Thursday’s Facebook page — their top priority is publicity.
“We’re moving forward next year with a better knowledge of what works for publicity,” Lasser said.
During the site’s launch, staff members passed out ironic fliers as a part of their “Fake Pamphlet Promotion Day” on Greene Street. Lasser said the fliers gave the website a lot of attention, but that their efforts in spreading the word about News From Last Thursday died out some.
As well as publicizing the publication better, plans to increase coverage and add new content like videos and webcomics to NewsFromLastThursday.com are in the works. Lasser said they also hope to publish News From Last Thursday in a new, tangible medium.
“I want people to know that next year we’re going to do a print format, hopefully,” Lasser said. “We’re working on trying to find people to print it, the key is the funding.”
To accomplish their goals for the upcoming year, they are looking to expand the staff and increase student involvement.
“Basically if you really want to be involved with News From Last Thursday, there’s probably a position for you,” Lasser said. “We really need writers right now.”
Lasser is optimistic for the upcoming year.
“We feel like there’s a lot of excitement from the freshmen coming in because, you know, we’ve started talking to them,” Lasser said. “We thought we’d put ‘News From Last Thursday since 1804’ as a joke because, you know, what do they know? We’re excited to be kind of established, though.”
If I were a journalism professor, specifically one in a somewhat well-known southeastern university teaching a Journalism principles class, hypothetically, I would grant this one of my highest marks. Just sayin.
Me effing too. Hypothetically.
Also, you should update this way more often. It’s funny.