In the age of parody Twitter accounts and Saturday Night Live celeb impersonations, satire is everywhere, but it’s a difficult thing to master. Lucky for us, we have our very own campus publication that creates top-notch satire just for Florida State students, run by some of the funniest folks on campus.
Founded by Aubrey Burrough and Houston Barber in 2014, The Eggplant FSU is modeled after popular satirical news site The Onion. The Eggplant maintains a staff of about 10 to 15 writers that produce comedic news articles, op-eds, columns, Tweets, horoscopes and more. Managing these writers are junior Creative Writing/Political Science major Meagan Martinez and senior History/International Affairs major Mallory McGovern, who both do hilarious stand-up comedy in addition to editing the publication and being pretty cool people. We sat down with (okay fine, emailed) these two fabulous co-Editors in Chief to get some insider info about The Eggplant and some of their upcoming events!
Her Campus (HC): In a nutshell, what’s The Eggplant?
Mallory: The Eggplant is Florida State’s only independent, entirely student-run satire publication. Our main purpose is writing satire articles Monday through Friday about student life, local and national news and popular culture. We’ve also expanded into hosting our podcast (the Eggcast), running comedy shows, hosting writing workshops, and maintaining a pretty good Twitter and Instagram presence, if I do say so myself.
HC: What sets The Eggplant apart from other comedy publications and/or media associated with FSU, such as Black Sheep and Barstool?
Meagan: Currently, The Eggplant is the only FSU-based publication that actively posts satirical articles. We also do live events where our staff writers can make themselves more publicly known by doing stand-up and other forms of live comedy.
Mallory: Not to be that guy, but The Eggplant is the only comedy publication for FSU students that is truly independent. There’s no bigger corporate body or school organizational oversight that keeps us from speaking our minds and creating great comedy. We also really value having a staff full of different types of people with different ideas of what’s funny, so our brand is a lot less homogenous and a lot more creative.
HC: How did you first get involved?
Meagan: I’d heard about The Eggplant from a high school friend whose older sister already went to FSU. I decided to apply for the spring semester of my freshman year and got hired. I was the only person they hired and was also the only freshman on staff, so it was really intimidating, but eventually, I was able to break out of my shell and contribute enthusiastically to the publication.
Mallory: I actually applied my freshman year (spring of 2017) and was rejected. After getting over being sad about it, I applied in the fall of 2018 (junior year) and made the staff.
HC: As co-editors, what are you responsible for?
Mallory: Our primary responsibilities are editing our weekly articles and running our weekly meetings. We help writers with anything they need in terms of graphics, additional jokes or general grammar edits. The editors also handle bigger picture things like maintaining enough money to keep the website going, coordinating events, and making sure The Eggplant has a good presence on campus.
Meagan: We also manage the social media accounts along with two of our staff writers. I would also like to think that we’re somewhat like “morale captains” in that we try to keep everyone engaged and enthusiastic.
HC:Tell us a little bit about the writing and publishing processes each week.
Meagan: We have staff meetings every Sunday where our writers pitch headlines and tweets. After everyone reads their pitches, Mallory and I review them (with input from the staff) and decide which ones will be written for that upcoming week. We really emphasize that the publication process should be collaborative.
Mallory: We have writers submit their articles (and graphics) the night before the day they will be published, and the article is then open for the editors and staff to edit and make suggestions. Once we get the article to a good place, we have the writer pick a caption for the article, and either Meagan or I will post it to the website and then our Twitter and Instagram.
HC: What kind of topics do you like to focus on in your articles and social media?
Meagan: Unsurprisingly, we focus a lot on FSU-related content. This can range from controversies surrounding the University to silly occurrences that students can find relatable to their everyday lives. We also like to write about world events if we think they’re relevant enough. In terms of social media, we focus on the same things, but we also try to incorporate any new trends or memes.
Mallory: My personal favorite is student life, which can include anything from a power-ranking of Calvin’s baristas to plotting revenge on the guy who brings Chick-Fil-A to Strozier and makes you hungry.
HC: What would you like to see for the future of The Eggplant?
Meagan: Going forward, I would love for The Eggplant to become more of a multi-media publication rather than focusing solely on articles. Of course, writing will always be our central focus, but I also think there are a lot of other great outlets for us to spread our message and get more comedy out into the world. Mallory and I revived the podcast this year which I’m really happy about, and we’ve also worked a lot on our branding by developing new merchandise – hit us up if you want some! I think our next big goal is to create some video content, which if done right could be really successful for us.
Mallory: I want for The Eggplant to keep attracting writers that love comedy inside and out. A lot of the people on The Eggplant started their involvement with comedy through writing satire when they may have not felt comfortable jumping right into something like standup or improv. The Eggplant has helped me grow a lot as a person and comedian, and I want that same experience for others.
Upcoming Events with The Eggplant:
BROKEN RESOLUTIONS with The Eggplant & Club Downunder: A Night of Improv, Stand-Up, and the Life Advice You Desperately Need! The event will be held at the Moore Auditorium on Friday, Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.). Upcoming shows include a Comedy show in late Feb. and The Eggplant Birthday Show in April.
Get social with The Eggplant!
Like The Eggplant on Facebook and follow them on Instagram and Twitter.
All images courtesy of Meagan Martinez, Mallory McGovern and The Eggplant FSU.
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