Sacramento’s Political Funny Bone Comes of Age
Popular monthly celebrates 18th anniversary

The Humor Times, a monthly political satire magazine launched in Sacramento in 1991 and now available worldwide, is celebrating its 18th anniversary with the April issue, out now.

Appropriately enough for a publication bent on tickling readers’ funny bones, its birthday was April Fools Day, 1991. Without warning, the California capitol suddenly was home to one of the nation’s funniest publications – an irreverent, take-no-prisoners, no-holds-barred review of the news, featuring editorial cartoons from the best artists in the country, humor columns by the likes of veteran political comedian Will Durst and others, “fake news” ala The Onion, and much more.

The free monthly was immediately well-received, and coming on the heels of the launch of the weekly Sacramento News & Review, it was a welcome departure from the staid political coverage of the past. Beginning with a circulation of 10,000, it quickly grew to nearly 40,000 in a few short years. The circulation was concentrated in certain areas, notably the downtown-midtown area, and so became a favorite of downtown politicos and office workers.

The Humor Times eventually converted from a free paper to a subscription-based publication at the start of 2008. According to publisher James Israel, the economic downturn that began in 2007 “caused local businesses to begin tightening their belts, and unfortunately, that meant less advertising for us.” The magazine, while “never threatening to bust into the Fortune 500,” nevertheless held its own up to that point.

“We never could attract much in the way of big corporate advertising accounts,” said Israel, “being that we were not the dominant weekly or daily in the area, the two types of papers that tend to attract the big ad bucks.” As the recession began to take hold, and advertising dollars dwindled, it became obvious to Israel that the Humor Times could no longer afford to just give away the magazine for free.

“But there is one other publication like ours making it as a national subscription magazine, and I believe we can match their success with a little luck and financial backing,” said Mr. Israel. The Funny Times is a few years older and now boasts over 75,000 subscribers. “Naturally, we have what I consider a better product, and with a national marketing push like they had, I think we could grow to the same level or bigger,” Israel added, “so we will continue to seek investors.”

For now, the Humor Times is on a solid financial footing, and according to Israel, is happy to be where they are, with a dedicated following of readers from all over the country. A large percentage of its subscribers are from the Sacramento area, and the company tries to remain in the local public eye by co-sponsoring and tabling at events, having booths at fairs and festivals, stocking the magazine for sale at area outlets, and occasionally placing sample back issues around town.

The 18th anniversary issue is available now in Sacramento at Newsbeat, Big Brother Comics, the Book Collector, World’s Best Comics; in Davis at Bizarro World; and online at humortimes.com. Subscriptions are $18.95/year (12 issues – a dollar less when ordered online), and a 3-issue trial subscription is available for only $5.95. An online PDF version of the paper is available for download by subscription as well, for $9.95 a year.