Robert Siegel served as editor-in-chief of The Onion from 1996 to 2003. Growing up in the Long Island suburb of Merrick, NY, Siegel dreamed of one day leaving New York for the bright lights of Madison, Wisconsin, where he hoped to make it big in comedy. In 1994, he did just that. Within months of arriving in Madison, he joined the staff of The Onion, then a free local weekly few had heard of beyond the borders of Dane County.

Siegel is co-writer on the script for The Onion movie scheduled for release this summer or fall. Siegel is also one of the authors of Our Dumb Century, a New York Times number-one bestseller and winner of the 1999 Thurber Prize For American Humor. He is co-editor of The Onion’s Finest News Reporting, also a bestseller. Siegel lived in Madison until January 2001, when The Onion’s writing staff relocated to New York.

Prior to joining The Onion, Siegel had worked as a substitute teacher, museum docent, and office temp. He has no background or experience in journalism, save a brief 1991 stint as women’s-field-hockey beat reporter for the University of Michigan’s student newspaper.