Funny Times is an American humor newspaper founded by the husband and wife team of Raymond Lesser and Susan Wolpert in 1985. Each issue is organized into sections such as "Relationships", "Dogs", "Politics", "Current Events", and others. The categories change somewhat from issue to issue.
The monthly publication is printed in the format of a daily newspaper. It is printed on newsprint paper, with each page measuring 11 X 17 inches. Every issue is exactly 24 pages in length, and the only ads it runs are for its own Funny Times-related merchandise. The political content is often subversive and has a progressive/liberal perspective.
FT's editors have also published a book called "Funny Times: The Best of The Best of American Humor."
FT Subscriptions are currently $25 per year. FT currently has about 75,000 subscribers. It includes cartoons, columns and essays that derive humor from pop culture, current events, politics and day-to-day living. It devotes a full page in each issue to the syndicated column News of the Weird, which features dozens of bizarre true stories from around the world, compiled by Chuck Shepherd. Editor Ray Lesser frequently contributes his own humorous essays, and an essay by Dave Barry can be found in virtually every issue.
Each issue contains choice selections of such offbeat comic strips as This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow, Bizarro by Dan Piraro, Zippy the Pinhead by Bill Griffith, Too Much Coffee Man by Shannon Wheeler, Life in Hell by Matt Groening, Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling, The K Chronicles by Keith Knight, and Slowpoke by Jen Sorensen.
Other contributing writers and cartoonists include:
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Since January 2007, the Funny Times web site has featured something called the "Cartoon Playground", in which anyone with Internet access can create and instantly post their own comic strips using artwork drawn by Matt Wuerker. Some of the more frequent contributors to the Playground Cartoon section include individuals going by such names as: CIAgent, Claustrophobic, cta, Danger Dan, Demosfoni, Ducky, Earthmuffin, Elephant Man, Ellie May, Eric Per1in, Fracturedfish, Hal, Just Bean, Konrad Schwoerke, Lo Bottomy, Mr Smartypants, Queen Bean, Rick Dickulous, Sophie, Yankees with Hope, and Zack. These people sometimes communicate to each other using cartoons, turning the 'Cartoon Playground' into something like a social networking site. Good cartoons are put on the "editor's pick's" feature of the site. Some of the very best of these reader-created cartoons are featured in the monthly print edition.