The Onion Is Painfully Unfunny

The so-called satire site The Onion’s purchase of InfoWars was always meant to serve as a bit of a humiliation ritual. The first bit of content from Tim Heidecker, the comedian who is now spending his time making sub-par content for Facebook liberals as an Alex Jones impersonator, has been released and it is even more unfunny than you likely imagined.

EMERGENCY UPDATE FROM INFOWARS CREATIVE DIRECTOR TIM HEIDECKER https://t.co/0aEc2cNYey pic.twitter.com/UNevaI5JIG
— Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker (@OfficeHrsLive) May 2, 2026

I’m not going to white knight for Jones and cry that InfoWars is dead. I was not a viewer and can’t say that I ever read the site. The only defense I could make (and only exposure I have apart from the occasional clip in my feed on X) of the guy comes from the podcast appearance he made with Joe Rogan during the COVID lockdowns because of the controversy at the time. At the time, I thought that he was so outlandish that it would be hard to admit that he wasn't an entertaining figure, whether he intended it that way or not.

The same cannot be said of the parody of the show, despite the low-hanging fruit. It is painfully unfunny, even though the impression itself is rather uncanny. Reactions from those online are pretty bleak.

I don't think anybody had high hopes for the Onion's "takeover" of Infowars, but even by Tim Heidecker's non-existent standards this is just utterly risible.pic.twitter.com/BeFkodvx6j
— RAW EGG NATIONALIST (@Babygravy9) May 2, 2026

They went through all this trouble just to have the InfoWars crew maintain their audience, and to make slop like this that geriatric libs will share on Facebook one time and then never look at again https://t.co/umMZYqLdiQ
— The Middle-earth Mixer (@MiddleearthMixr) May 2, 2026

There’s insane amounts of material and The Onion can’t make it work…

This is the state of comedy the Left created https://t.co/vj1aM6XuwK
— Pub (@PubWanghaf) May 2, 2026

It’s interesting to watch Tim do Alex jones because he nails his cadence and mannerisms and all the little things that make for a good impression but he has absolutely nothing funny to say https://t.co/ufdKUx9vnZ
— HowlingMutant (@Howlingmutant0) May 2, 2026

My initial reaction after viewing it was “where are the jokes?” I know that the Left isn’t the greatest at comedy, but this is poor even by their standards. Perhaps it has to do with the evergreen comment from the venerable Norm Macdonald over why SNL’s impressions of Trump never really land comedically: “you can’t play someone and have contempt for them at the same time.”

Of course, the show makes a lot more sense when you consider the reality that the intent was never actually comedy. The purchase of InfoWars did what it set out to do: it has given a punching bag for people on the Left. The usual suspects of left-wing outlets either have or will publish pieces mocking Jones and his viewership, which might be the most beaten dead horse on the internet. The joke will even get old to the Left in about a month or two.