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'{{Infobox Website | name = Cracked | logo = [[File:Cracked.com logo.svg|200px]] | screenshot = | caption = | url = {{url|1=http://www.cracked.com|2=cracked.com}} | commercial = | type = [[Entertainment]] [[website]] | registration = | owner = [[Demand Media]] | author = | launch date = 2007 | current status = Active | Alexa Rank = [http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/cracked.com 590] | revenue = | slogan = America's Only Humor Site Since 1958 }} '''Cracked.com''' is a humor website that was spun off the last attempt to revive [[Cracked (magazine)|''Cracked'' magazine]]. It began in its current form in 2007. ==Attempted relaunch of ''Cracked''== In early 2005, then ''Cracked'' owner [[Dick Kulpa]] sold the magazine to a group of Arab, Asian, and American investors who announced plans to revive ''Cracked'' with a new editorial focus and redesign.<ref>"Newswatch: Cracked Purchased by Mideast Group," ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' #267 (Apr./May 2005), p. 45.</ref> Its first steps included naming entrepreneur [[Monty Sarhan]] as both CEO and publisher. Sarhan also announced ambitious plans to expand the ''Cracked'' brand into other media.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} A flurry of new staff announcements followed, including former [[Marvel Comics]] promotions chief Sven Larsen as associate publisher, and Justin Droms and former Marvel editor-in-chief [[Tom DeFalco]] as editors. [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]] producer [[Thom Mount]] joined the company's [[board of directors]], and [[Zena Tsarfin]], former managing editor of the [[Hip hop music|hip-hop]] magazine ''[[XXL (magazine)|XXL]]'', was named to that position at ''Cracked''. Named as contributing editors were comics Darren Kane<!-- Kane was formerly lk'd but his bio was deleted on AFD, and presumably will never again be an article. Do not re-lk w/o previously unheard evidence of his notability being offered at [[Talk:Darren Kane]] --> and [[Jesse Falcon]], former ''[[Spy (magazine)|Spy]]'' staffer [[Jonathan Yevin]], and former ''Cracked'' editor-in-chief [[Mort Todd]]. [[Michael Hobson]], the former publisher of [[Marvel Comics]] and [[Scholastic Books]], was named a senior advisor, and [[Neal Pollack]] was named an "Editor-at-Large."<ref>"Newswatch: Pollack on Board at Cracked," ''The Comics Journal'' #271 (Oct. 2005), p. 46.</ref> In 2005, [[Geoff Wolinetz]], Nick Jezarian and [[Josh Abraham]], co-founders of a "literary whimsicality" site, YankeePotRoast.org, were named as contributing editors, and Jack O'Brien and former ''National Lampoon'' managing editor [[Jay Pinkerton]] joined as full-time editors. In 2006, actor-comedian [[Michael Ian Black]] was also named as another "Editor-at-Large."{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} ==Todd vs. Sarhan== Several months after rejoining ''Cracked'', Todd parted company with the revamped magazine, complaining to ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' about low pay rates and [[work-for-hire]] issues of [[copyright]]. Todd complained, "With each visit to the offices I got more dispirited as I saw the direction the mazagine was taking.[''sic''] As has been well publicized, ''Cracked'' was, instead of ripping off ''[[Mad (magazine)|MAD]],'' going to rip off ''[[Maxim (magazine)|Maxim]]''... A lot of 'revolutionary' humor ideas they've come up with are ones that have been overplayed for decades and ones I rejected for good reason 20 years ago [as ''Cracked''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s editor]".<ref>"Newswatch: Cracked Launches Website, sans Todd," ''The Comics Journal'' #272 (Nov. 2005), p. 37-38.</ref> Sarhan wrote in part: {{cquote|My impression of Mort was that he was stuck in a time warp, wanted to relive his personal 'glory days' when he edited ''Cracked'' and didn’t get what we were trying to do.... A Contributing Editor is a freelancer with whom we have a relationship with [''sic'']. That is all that the title means here at ''Cracked''. He's a person who is a regular contributor to the mazagine, [''sic''] but he is not on staff.... Mort decided to quit as a Contributing Editor because, he said, he had a few TV projects in development. My personal opinion is that he was stuck in the ''Cracked'' of the past and that he didn't like being a freelancer, answering to editors far younger than him here at ''Cracked'' and having his ideas regularly rejected. If your work isn't going to get published, it makes no sense to stay.... Anyone who has spent five minutes on this website knows that we are not a ''Maxim'' clone. It's a ridiculous assertion. We focus on comedy and humor, not women in bikinis. Yes, it's true that we look to ''Maxim'' as a guide for some things. After all, since it's [''sic''] launch over eight years ago, it has gone on to become one of the most successful mazagine [''sic''] titles ever. Who wouldn't want to emulate that success?<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=284|title= Statement on the Departure of Mort Todd}}{{dead link|date=January 2011}}</ref>}} ==Relaunch== The company spent most of 2005 accumulating contributors for its planned relaunch. In October 2005, the company introduced Cracked.com, a website featuring humor articles, videos, comics, blogs, and a forum.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://humor.about.com/od/ezines/a/cracked.htm|title= Mike Durrett: Online content}}</ref> Although the redesigned print magazine had originally been slated to debut in January 2006, this did not occur and the print version's launch was pushed back by several months. On August 15, 2006, the revamped ''Cracked'' magazine finally appeared. The first issue was a significant departure from ''Cracked''{{'s}} previous incarnation, notably in its sharp reduction of comics and illustrated content. The new format was more text-heavy, and was overtly indebted to modern "lad mags" like ''[[Maxim (magazine)|Maxim]]'', ''[[Stuff (magazine)|Stuff]]'' and ''[[FHM]]'', although the media website [[Gawker.com]] wrote, "Very little remains of the old ''Cracked'' – a ''Mad'' ripoff that had tread water in various incarnations for almost half a century. Much was made of the new direction now ripping off ''Maxim'' instead, but aside from a "look and feel" resemblance in terms of layout, the much more obvious (attempted) homage runs to ''[[Spy (magazine)|Spy]]''."<ref>{{cite web|author=Contact Chris Mohney: Comment |url=http://www.gawker.com/news/cracked/cracked-at-last-195032.php |title=Cracked: Cracked at Last |publisher=Gawker.com |date=2006-08-18 |accessdate=2012-04-26}}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' 's Peter Carlson harshly reviewed the debut, listing some of the issue's contents and then adding, "Are you chuckling yet? Me neither." <ref name="Fractured Funny Bone">{{cite news| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/28/AR2006082801452.html | work=The Washington Post | title=Fractured Funny Bone | first=Peter | last=Carlson | date=2006-08-29 | accessdate=2010-04-30}}</ref> Later, Carlson quoted ''Cracked'''s [[Michael J. Nelson]], who'd contributed a short guide to the worst comedy movies ever. Wrote Nelson in his article, "Bad comedies are worse than anything else in the whole of human history." Added Carlson, "Reading ''Cracked'', you understand exactly what he means." <ref name="Fractured Funny Bone"/> The new ''Cracked'' had hoped to position itself as a publication that covers the world of comedy, as well as providing its own comedic content. The debut cover featured a [[Photoshop]]-manipulated image of actor [[Tom Cruise]] as the title character from the hit comedy film ''[[The 40-Year-Old Virgin]]''. However, after just three poor-selling issues, the failing magazine was canceled in February 2007.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wednesday |url=http://www.theapiary.org/archives/2007/02/cracked_magazin.html |title=Cracked Magazine Crumbles |publisher=The Apiary |date=2007-02-28 |accessdate=2012-04-26}}</ref> Citing distribution problems for its demise, editor Jay Pinkerton claimed that the remaining staff would be focusing its energies toward the ''Cracked'' website, as well as unspecified book projects. The company's website, Cracked.com, continues. ==Rebirth as Cracked.com== The Cracked.com site was purchased by [[Demand Media]] in June 2007<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.demandmedia.com/brands/cracked/ |title=Cracked.com |publisher=Demand Media |date= |accessdate=2012-04-26}}</ref> and has been edited by Jack O'Brien since its debut in 2006. David Wong was added as an associate editor later that year; his Pointless Waste Of Time site and its fora were absorbed into Cracked.com. Oren Katzeff became Cracked.com's General Manager in November, 2007. The Cracked site is best known for its humorous lists and compilations, for example, "The 9 Most Obnoxious Memes to Ever Escape the Web",<ref>Knight, David. [http://www.cracked.com/article_16248_the-9-most-obnoxious-memes-to-ever-escape-web.html "The 9 Most Obnoxious Memes to Ever Escape the Web"] Cracked.com; May 15, 2008</ref> or "The 6 Most Insane Game Shows From Around the World".<ref>Moorehouse, Trevor. [http://www.cracked.com/article_15804_the-6-most-insane-game-shows-from-around-world.html "The 6 Most Insane Game Shows From Around the World"] Cracked.com; January 11, 2008</ref> The Cracked site also includes a blog, videos, forums, a writer's workshop, a weekly Image Manipulation contest, called Photoplasty, and a daily "Craptions" contest where users add captions to odd photographs. The site includes columns by [[Seanbaby|Sean "Seanbaby" Reiley]], [[Daniel O'Brien (comedian)|Daniel O'Brien]], Robert Brockway, Cody Johnston, Soren Bowie, Chris Bucholz, host and writer of the web series ''Hate by Numbers'' [[Gladstone (comedian)|Gladstone]], John Cheese, Christina Hsu, and head writer and performer of the sketch comedy group "[[Those Aren't Muskets!]]" Michael Swaim. In 2010, the web series ''Agents of Cracked'' featuring O'Brien and Swaim won the Audience Choice Award at the [[2nd Streamy Awards|second annual]] [[Streamy Awards|Streamys]]. Cracked.com released its first book, ''You Might Be A Zombie And Other Bad News'', in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wong |first=David |url=http://www.cracked.com/you-might-be-a-zombie/ |title=Cracked Book - You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News |publisher=Cracked.com |date= |accessdate=2012-04-26}}</ref> Published by the Penguin Group's Plume division, the book features twenty articles that had previously appeared on the website,{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} and eighteen that are new to the book. It peaked at #9 on the [[New York Times]]' secondary "Paperback Advice & Misc." best sellers list in January 2011.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-01-23/paperback-advice/list.html | work=The New York Times | first=Jennifer | last=Schuessler | title=Hardcover}}</ref> ==Featured Columnists== * [[Daniel O'Brien (comedian)| Daniel O'Brien]] * Soren Bowie * Robert Brockway * Chris Bucholz * [[Gladstone (humorist)|Gladstone]] * Michael Swaim * [[Seanbaby]] * Cody * Christina H. * David Wong * Jack O'Brien * John Cheese * Luke McKinney * Brendan McGinley * Adam Tod Brown ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== * [http://www.cracked.com ''Cracked'' website] [[Category:Internet properties established in 2007]] [[Category:Comedy websites]] [[Category:American websites]] [[Category:Entertainment websites]]'