While attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to study film, where my focus was primarily on writing and directing, I also began my comedy education with the Second City Theatre. After catching the eye of some cast members, I was urged to move to Chicago so I could continue studying and performing improvisational comedy. After moving to Chicago in 2008 I also enrolled at Columbia College of Chicago to study television, where my focus was again on writing.

In the fall of 2012 I was offered the chance to send a writing packet to The Onion, which later led to my entry in the contributing writer tryout process. Below you can find the original packet I sent, in its entirety, as well as some of my favorite unused headlines. Also below you'll find 'The Spungo', the website I started to practice writing Onion-style headlines which would eventually serve as the foundation for my writing packet:

The Onion satire submission

Unused Headline Contributions

The Spungo

Below are a few of my favorite short form pieces:

'Who’s Going to Read Me the Menu?'

'New York Times Wedding Announcement'

My Tumblr page is a veritable cornucopia of un-used Onion headlines, standup jokes, short stories, and other (funny?) bits:

Jesse Alkire @ Tumblr