The Lunatic is self-proclaimed as "
Cornell's only
Award-winning Humor Magazine", which is true enough, following recognition by the
New York Times, but a bit beside the point, given that it is currently the campus' only humor magazine at all.
As the Lunatic, the magazine dates back to the 1970s, although if you overlook a few multi-year lapses in production and consider it as a successor to earlier works such as the Cornell Widow and, before that, the Cocagne, it is 100 years older (to the day), making it the third-oldest humor publication in the country, after the Yale Record and the Harvard Lampoon.
While DMan's above description of the style as Onionesque might have been accurate in his day, the Lunatic is currently attempting to avoid this format, due to the current overabundance of fake news and the undesirability of being constantly compared to other people's work. Issues are loosely organized around a theme (the Spring 2002 theme is, for example, "religion"), with approximately 70% of the articles and other content dedicated to the theme, with the remainder being running jokes or miscellaneous humor.
The Lunatic is currently printed and bound in magazine format, and relies for financial support on advertising, magazine sales, a minuscule number of subscriptions, alumni contributions, and appropriations from the University's Student Assembly. Most money goes to defray publishing costs, with the remainder going to photo shoots, random pranks, or other expenses. Contrary to the trend DMan notes above, it's not just solvent, but even turned a profit this year. However, his complaint of infrequent publishing still rings true, with the magazine averaging only two issues a year. As a staff writer, I can say with confidence that this is because we are all lazy bastards.