Nonsense Humor Magazine is the student-run humor magazine produced out of Hofstra University.
Nonsense prides itself in being “Hofstra’s only intentional humor magazine.”
Founding edit
Hofstra University's first humor magazine was The Gadfly, which appeared briefly in the early 1960s.
Nonsense was founded in 1983, in the wake of a campus-wide controversy that sprang from an issue of The New Voice college newspaper, which some mistakenly thought was modeled on The Village Voice, but was actually run by conservative honors students. The New Voice's regular issues commonly included surveys. For April Fool's Day, 1982, the New Voice editorial staff voted to radically departed from their usual conservative liening and to print a parody issue called The No Voice, produced in the spirit of the National Lampoon. This issue included a parody article entitled "Hofstra Cock Survey," which was accompanied by a "bar graph" that used silhouettes of penises for bars. At first, some members of SGA was shocked and appalled by the graphic, while others thought it was a silly goof and others merely supported the First Amendment rights of the college staff to print this issue. However, then-Dean of Students Patricia Giardini had all No Voice issues removed from the stands and destroyed, without any type of hearing or consulting any student organizations. This move turned out to have the exact opposite effect from what Dean desired. A groundswell of support came from the Hofstra Faculty and especially the English and Journalism departments. Many faculty member wrote letters stating that the issue was harmless fun, while two others wrote letters which cited Voltaire's famous quote, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Ironically, the "New Voice" went on to win First Place from the prestigious Colum bia School of Journalism national college newpaper contest for academic year 1981-1982. That was unforseeable to the Dean and was the first of many debacles with the administration, a Nonsense tradition that continues to this day (See Controversy and Criticism below).
Inspired by all this, the following year, founding editor Rob Roday ( a fifth year senior) and a group of New Voice staffers went to the SGA, and despite the previous controversy, managed to secure a budget of $300 funding for an on-going humor magazine. Prior to the first layout meeting of the magazine, Nonsense was nameless. In the tradition of Cracked and Lampoon, Nonesense was named as a one word description of what was trying to be accomplished. And to boot, the Masthead only needed 4 Letters. NOSE. SGA Budget director Robert Wilschek remarked at an SGA meeting authorizing the new club, “What’s all this nonsense?” and that is how the publications named was cemented into Hofstra History. The first issue was laid out over Thanksgiving weekend 1983; while it was issue #1, ensuing staffs referred to it as "issue zero," due to its notable lack, in their opinion, of anything remotely funny.
Roday returned the next semester and retook the helm. However, the Nonsense constitution--which states that the editor-in-chief and managing editor must be elected for each semester. Michael Weiss, another founding member, was offended by this move, and enlisted all the people who lived on his dorm floor to vote him in as the new editor. As noted in an early Nonsense history article (issue 38-39/Rolling Stone magazine parody), this likely saved the magazine from being a one-issue wonder.
Rob Roday approves of this charecterization of the founding. However, Rob Wilschek was a senator on the Appropriations Commitee, not its chair, but he did say, "Whats all this Nonsense". By the way, there are still copies of Issue 0, and they are still lacking in anything even remotely funny, except perhaps the submissions guidelines, they are a goof.
Controversy and Criticism edit
Most notable events in the history of Nonsense tend to stem from controversies. Staffs and issues, like the many ex-girlfriends that inspire so much of Nonsense magazine's humor, just come and go. While all are appreciated by the campus community (and, occasionally, even the campus administration), it is usually only when someone is offended by the magazine's content that the off-campus world becomes aware of the magazine. Ironically, the one constant to the magazine has been its ability to ignite controversy, year in and year out.
ISSUE 5 --Newsday Parody
After the initial incident that caused Nonsense to be founded (See above), the magazine next courted condemnation in October, 1984 with Issue 5, a parody of Long Island newspaper, Newsday. While Nonsense has always sported extensive satire of Hofstra University and its campus culture, it began skewering national and world events and pop culture with this issue, its first full-issue parody. The issue was warmly received by most staffers of the real paper, but alas not all. Newsday staffers, who adored the parody, invited the senior editors to tour the real Newsday offices, promised them a story about the parody in the newspaper, and reportedly nearly guaranteed them jobs upon graduation. However, reportedly an editor named Harvey Aronson started yelling at Editor In Chief (EIC) Michael Weiss, Managing Editor (ME) Evan Rudowski and Associate Editor (AE) Mike Eitelberg about content in the magazine, primarily a parody of a children's feature, "Kidsday," that was retitled "Yidsday." When the editors replied that they, too, were Jewish, Aronson replied that it only made the situation worse. The promised article and jobs never materialized as a result, although Rudowski did eventually work at Newsday years later.
ISSUE 8 -- John F. Kennedy: The Promise Ridiculed
Rudowski courted more trouble the following semester, when he was EIC for issue 8, a parody of the event program for a Hofstra University Presidential Conference on John F. Kennedy. The event, titled "The Promise Remembered," was attended by journalists, scholars from around the world, and numerous members of Kennedy's administration. However, Nonsense recast the event as The Promise Ridiculed, and the issue sported content such as Splatt's list of coincidences between himself and JFK: Kennedy lived in the White House; Splatt is white. Kennedy was assasinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. Splatt has three brothers--Lee, Harvey and Oswald.
When the administration found out about the pending issue, many foresaw a potential disaster--if visiting dignitaries walked out offended, it would be covered extensively by the national press. Rudowski and Eitelberg (now ME) were pulled out of class and reportedly told off by administrators who insisted that they withhold the issue until the conference was over. One overheated administrator then demanded to speak to the Nonsense faculty advisor; Rudowski pointed across the room at the Presidential Conference coordinator and chairman of the Politicial Science department, Dr. Paul Harper. "He's right over there," said Rudowski. Eitelberg later recalled, "It looked like Harper wanted to be anywhere else but there." Harper, to his credit, balanced the needs of both parties, and negotiated a compromise where Nonsense would be distributed on the North Side of campus (dorms, student center) during the conference, and on the South Side (academic buildings where the conference was held) once the conference was over.
The story was picked up by Newsday and CBS Channel 2 New York evening news, reported by J.J. Gonzalez. As a result, many attendees of the conference, including Kennedy's former press secretary, Pierre Salinger, came to the Nonsense office and asked for issues. Salinger even posed for photos with the staff as he read the magazine.
ISSUE 13 -- F-ck And Suck
Issue 13 (February, 1986) saw Nonsense enter one of its darkest periods, as it featured a cartoon that nearly shuttered the magazine for good. Kathleen Kelly--a graduate student at Hofstra--had become a high-profile anti-abortion activist, often using an abortion she'd had as an example of why the practice should be outlawed. Kelly ran for Hempstead Town Council under the Right-To-Life party, which made her a public figure, and thus 'fair game' for political satire. Cartoonist Lyle Booth (who created early Nonsense mascot Sid The Cat, predating 'Snuffy' by many years) penned a cartoon portraying the activist as "Krazy Kelly," a rifle-toting psycho that would gun down anyone attempting to get an abortion.
Kelly, understandably upset, complained to the student judiciary board, who, according to Newsday columnist Paul Vitello, "prepared for a First Amendment case by trying disputes over parking tickets and dormitory brawls." The board ordered Nonsense to print appologies in both the campus newspaper, The Chronicle, and the news magazine, The New Voice. Nonsense refused, however, and asked for an appeal. The Deans of Students refused the appeal and the magazine's budget of almost $9,000 was frozen until they appologized. The editors still refused, and the case was put on hold until the following semester; by then, Eitelberg (EIC for issue 13) had graduated, Booth had quit Nonsense and the new staff had inherited a controversy it never created.
Nonsense won the right to an appeal and managed to release a few issues despite the unresolved controversy. William "Nauga" Harrison became EIC and the staff cranked out September 1986's dreaded Terrorism (AKA "Cobra") issue, featuring Sylvester Stallone on its cover. With an expanded paper size and woefully unfunny content, the issue nearly beat issue zero as the worst issue ever. Meanwhile, the administration was talked down to accepting a half-page appology in Nonsense instead of the other campus publications. The apology's layout was made deliberately boring, and the text was suitably sarcastic, featuring nuggets such as "We maintain that [Kelly is] a peaceful person and in no way connected to violence against abortion centers." The magazine printed the apology deep in the issue, instead of on page 3 as it had promised.
ISSUE 24 -- Religion
Editor In Chief S. Scott Lessig took office in early 1987, kicking off what was largely seen by staff, readers and even the administration (sometimes) as the first Golden Age of Nonsense. It was not a perfect run, however, and the magazine fell into problems with the "Religion" issue (Dec. 1987), when the editors were called into a meeting with then-Dean of Students Maureen Murphy over articles such as "Shalom Sesame", a record review of JU2, a Virgin Slims cigarette ad and more. Murphy was particularly outraged by two items; the first was a Nonsense free Christmas card inside the issue, which read "Sing and rejoice with all your lovin'; Mary's got one in the oven." Rather than worrying that it would be upsetting to Christians, Murphy stated that it was in fact offensive to the campus' Jewish population, reportedly telling the editors, "Don't you see? 'Mary's got one in the oven.' Jesus was Jewish! This is a direct relation to the Holocaust." Murphy was also upset by a The Far Side cartoon parody, captioned "Deer Crossing," which depicted a deer on a cross. As Nonsense legend has it, the Dean pointed at the cartoon and yelled "What's so funny about a moose on a cross?!" This soon after became a popular catchphrase in the Nonsense office. Lessig retired as EIC with the May, 1988 issue, the magazine's most successful parody to that time, "Tame," which parodied Time magazine.
More updating to come, covering between 1988 and 1990.
Starting as editor in September, 1988, Editor-in-Chief David Streich initiated an effort to network with other college humor magazines, starting with publications at Spectator Humor Magazine (St. John's University (New York City)), The Lunatic (Cornell University), Stanford Chaparral (Stanford University) and a handful of others, by trying to set up a trading network, sharing their latest issues with other publications. While the staffs of Nonsense and the Spectator met up once in 1987 to compare notes and crack each other up, most other college humor magazines were not interested in networking, although they did briefly trade issues. Harvard Lampoon (Harvard University) didn't even acknowledge that they had been contacted. Some students at MIT, however, had seen a few issues and this led to yet another controversy.
In 1990, MIT’s humor magazine Voo Doo ran a parody of the Alan Moore graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke called “Batmon: The Killing Toke”. Many at Nonsense, including Editor-in-Chief David Streich noticed it as being a very similar parody to an article Nonsense had done a year earlier with the exact same name. Streich and Nonsense threatened legal action against the MIT magazine, but in the end accepted a printed apology. A newspaper article of the controversy can be found here: [1]
Early in 1997 (and at least once before), Hofstra University shut Nonsense down for printing what was considered “Offensive Material”. Issue 76, “The Calendar Issue” featured a picture of a gate on campus with a sign that said “Please Don’t Feed The Jews” but had a man reaching through the gate with a bagel where two hungry-looking staff members stood. Many students complained, and regardless of the fact that most of the staff were Jewish, the club was temporarily shut down. It was re-started again before the end of the year.
Once again an issue in January 2003 almost prompted the school to shut the club down. Issue 112, “The America Issue” featured a back cover parodying a Monopoly “Get Of Jail Free” card referencing the outrageous amounts of rapes that occurred the semester beforehand. This issue was pulled from circulation early (after approximately 100 had already been distributed) and destroyed.
Publication history edit
The normal issue of Nonsense is around 16 to 24 pages and usually gets published 3 times a semester and 6 times a year. During intervals in the past the issues have changed size from around comic book dimensions to newspaper size printing. Most issues of Nonsense have been printed completely in black & white (save for the covers and center-spread), but recently full color has become the norm. Nonsense used to accept advertisements, and while occasionally one or two appear on a back cover or page in the issue, they generally now run advertisement free.
Unlike some other humor publications Nonsense does not and never will charge a fee per issue. All funding comes from either the advertisements mentioned above or Hofstra University student activity fee appropriations.
The staff of Nonsense fluctuates in numbers but usually remains around 25 to 30 dedicated members. The current Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor’s of Nonsense are Marc Butcavage and Ryan McEvoy respectively.
Glossy edit
In October of 2006, Nonsense printed their first issue in full glossy, a long-standing dream of editors past. Having printed on assorted less-than-satisfactory newsprints for the previous 23 years, 16 pages of full glossy markls a milestone in the magazine's history. The issue (No. 130, The Party Issue) also marked the editorial debut of the Tebbel and Psillas team.
Snuffy edit
Under early 1990s editor in chief Al Rotches came the first appearance of Nonsense’s mascot, Snuffy the Seamonkey.
Snuffy first appeared in May 1991 with issue 45. [2] The inspiration came from staff member Paroo Brown’s abandoned sea monkey tank, which found its way to becoming a fixture in the office. The first appearances of Snuffy were just in the “O” of the logo, but eventually Snuffy moved on to starring on covers in many different poses over the years, largely developed by artist Amy Dresser [3].
Today, Snuffy is still used occasionally, depending on the editor. His presence on covers is limited, as many feel that all the uses of Snuffy have been exhausted and the only way to make Snuffy useful again is to downplay his involvement.
20th anniversary edit
In November 2003, Nonsense celebrated its 20th anniversary. In honor of the events newly-elected Editor-in-Chief Michael Glennon attempted a revival of the humor and structure erected by Rotches, which over the past several years had reverted back to inside jokes and “Dick and Fart” Humor. Glennon and his small staff, starting with issue 114, vowed and succeeded in changing the humor to the more intelligent side and reminiscent of other notable humor publications such as National Lampoon, The Onion and 1960s and 70s Mad Magazine. He also helped revive an inter-humor magazine exchange program with other college humor publications around the United States, and strived to make Nonsense once again a credible and desirable force on Hofstra’s campus.
Glennon’s hard work finally paid off when issue 116 “The Nonicle”, an inspired Onion-like parody of campus newspaper The Chronicle became the most popular Nonsense issue to date.
Office edit
The first issue of Nonsense Humor Magazine was laid out in the Men's Bathroom on the second floor of the student center.* Since then, it has thankfully moved to a better location.
The Nonsense office is currently located at 201 Student Center, 200 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549. It is home to a chair that's really a toilet and a huge, plastered ass that issues can pass through. Also worth seeing is our "William Q. Florio Memorial Issue Archives." As of fall, 2006, it was reported that the giant plaster ass was destroyed tragically during a prank war with Student Government Association President Peter DiSilvio. Nonsense, incidentally, won the prank war via a surrender.
- Hey, it's been a quarter century, but I distinctly recall laying out the first issue on a closet laid sideways in Mike Weiss's dorm room, which had better atmosphere than the Student Center men's room despite the lesser acoustics. (This may have been the same closet later featured in a Dorm of the Month shoot--Rich Duckworth, proprieter, I believe, though of course it could have been Splatt.) The men's room did serve as our occasional office and a photo shoot location, what with all those pretty tiles. --Ira Hellman, Original Coup d'Etatist, Newsday parodist, penner of Nonsense's first fight song ("The Ballad of Jimmy Shuart") and witness to history (and only lived with the mag's name because Rob Roday & co. came up w/the budget money; I'd wanted "The Hofstra Ragg")
Notable Alumni edit
- Jeff Belanger, author, researcher/writer for Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel
- Matthew Barry, On-Air Talent, Pixy 103 WPXC
- Butch D'Ambrosio, Playwright and writer for Mad Magazine
- Brian McGuinness, Stand-up comedian in New York City
- Ricky Roxburgh, Stand-up comedian in New York City
- Billy Scafuri, member of Harvard Sailing Team sketch comedy troupe
- Clive Young, author of Crank It Up (Backbeat Books, 2004)
- Mike Weiss, Stand-up comedian in New York City.
See also edit
External links edit
- Official Nonsense Website (Currently Down)
- Temporary Nonsense Website (Currently unupdated)
- A Round-Table Discussion by the 1990 Nonsense Staff from around 2003
Category:College humor magazines Category:Satirical magazines Category:Hofstra University Category:Humor