Lights, Camera, Inaction: The Onion’s Take on TED

Written by

Jared Bloom

Compelling speakers. Powerful visuals. A captive audience. And remarkably stupid ideas.

This is the premise of “Talks,” a two-month-old video series from the comic geniuses at The Onion. “Talks” pokes fun at all of the pageantry of presentation events like PopTech, TED, and TechCrunch—with the speakers, the audience, and the format itself all getting their due. And, for the inquisitive, you’ll finally get answers to burning questions like “What is the Biggest Rock?” and “Compost-Fueled Cars: Wouldn’t that be Great?”

For the folks at Duarte, “Talks” hits a bit close to home. On the one hand, the fact that the series exists is evidence that presentations have become so influential that they merit parody (like TV news, morning shows, and sports media). That said, watching these videos is a sobering reminder that even great storytelling and beautiful slides can’t save a terrible idea like, “Loudness Equals Power.”

Check out all the The Onion Talks on their YouTube page, or start watching below: