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1!!Trivia for the website:
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3* ColbertBump: If a writer posts an obscure Website/YouTube video, it's almost guaranteed to reach a million views, such as John Cheese's [[http://web.archive.org/web/20180823012117/http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-9-most-brilliant-pieces-comedy-hiding-youtube/ The 9 Most Brilliant Pieces of Comedy Hiding on YouTube]].
4* CreatorsApathy: The Top 8 Video Games of 2012. Eight different Cracked writers chose a game they feel represents 2012. Almost every entry admits they either aren't gamers or they haven't actually played the game they chose.
5* CreatorBreakdown: In 2015, David Wong agreed to participate in a Website/{{Reddit}} "Ask Me Anything" Q&A thread. The thread was soon filled with people asking questions like "What was the catalyst that began Cracked's transformation from witty satirical site to a second-rate version of ''Salon''?" Wong threw what could only be described as a temper tantrum, and using Facebook and Twitter he urged his fans to come to the Reddit thread and intercede on his behalf. However, Reddit has strict rules against brigading (inciting a group of people to downvote something you disapprove of), and as a result Wong managed to get his Reddit account banned.
6* CreatorDrivenSuccessor: After the second Great Purge, former ''Cracked Podcast'' host Alex Schmidt launched a new podcast called ''Secretly Incredibly Fascinating'' that was clearly made in the late ''Cracked Podcast's'' image. He even opened the first episode with the same tagline as the ''Cracked Podcast,'' "A podcast about why being alive is more interesting than you think."
7** Likewise, Cody Johnston and Katy Stoll's Website/YouTube show ''Some More News'' is clearly this to Cody's ''Some News'' series on Cracked.
8* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: In order to be sensitive to the situation after the 2013 Boston Bombings, [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20384_the-5-major-cities-most-likely-to-be-spectacularly-destroyed.html 5 Cities That Will Be Wiped Off the Map by Natural Disasters]], an article on possible natural disasters that could take down cities, was temporarily removed.
9** Unfortunately, they fell victim to this when they added Creator/RobinWilliams to "Ten Celebrities You Didn't Know Were Huge Nerds" (spoilers: it's one of their anti-nerd articles) sometime shortly after his tragic death, mocking him being a fan of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' by saying it's an anime that "[[EvenNerdsHaveStandards people with body pillows]] [[DudeNotFunny say is for losers]]".
10** Cracked did an article on the [[https://www.cracked.com/article_38810_mecca-lecca-hi-mecca-hiney-ho-15-trivia-tidbits-about-pee-wees-playhouse.html 15 Trivia Tidbits About "Pee-wee's Playhouse"]] on July 29, 2023, two days before Creator/PaulReubens succumbed to cancer. To make up for the loss of Reubens, they did another article in tribute to him entitled "[[https://www.cracked.com/article_38881_rip-paul-reubens-and-the-ageless-pee-wee-herman.html RIP Paul Reubens and the Ageless Pee-wee Herman]]".
11* ExecutiveMeddling:
12** In the comment section of ''[[http://www.cracked.com/article_21766_the-poop-unicorn-5-other-bizarre-mythical-creatures.html The Poop Unicorn and 5 Other Bizarre Mythical Creatures]]'', the author, [[http://www.cracked.com/members/RyanTerris/ Ryan Terris]] mentions that a lot of stuff had to get cut to make it funnier and shorter. For example, he was originally going to mention that the term "unicorn" originally referred to [[http://scienceheathen.com/2012/11/27/elasmotherium-the-origin-of-unicorn-legends-survived-until-at-least-50000-years-ago-possibly-until-much-more-recently/ the now-extinct Asian rhino.]] But it had go through a lot of editing, reediting, and drafts.
13** [[Website/{{Bogleech}} Jonathan Wojcik]] claims that Cracked had a strong style guide when writing articles which he had to adhere to, which annoyed him in part because Wojcik is an AnimalLover and NightmareFetishist and didn't enjoy adhering to the "MONSTER BUGS THAT WILL KILL YOU AND SHOULD DIE" stance that the site tended to take.
14* FakeAmerican: Despite being "America's Only Humor & Video Site," quite a few of their writers aren't American but will sometimes try to pretend they are--usually with {{Eagleland}} type 2 results.
15* FalselyAdvertisedAccuracy: Oftentimes their articles, even if they're cited, end up being either gross misrepresentations of the facts or even flat-out lies. A particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} example is in their article "If Oscar Speeches Told the Truth" where they claim the screenplay to ''Film/GoodWillHunting'' wasn't really written by Creator/MattDamon and Creator/BenAffleck, and the citation they link to ''directly contradicts their entire point''.
16* InMemoriam: The [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/8-bizarre-horrors-found-in-squarest-comic-book-ever/ 8 Bizarre Horrors Found in the Squarest Comic Book Ever]] by Creator/{{Seanbaby}} was a dedication to [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/ArchieComics Archie Andrews]], who died via HeroicSacrifice towards the end of ''ComicBook/LifeWithArchieTheMarriedLife'']].
17* LifeImitatesArt: The photoshop contest [[http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_85_if-video-games-were-realistic/ If Video Games Were Realistic]] included a photoshop of a ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' guitar with 18 frets (each with six sub-buttons) and six strum bars, [[DontExplainTheJoke mocking the fact that playing Guitar Hero is much simpler than playing a real guitar]]. Not a year later, Harmonix announces that ''VideoGame/RockBand 3'' will include a "Pro Mode" for instrument, which will use special controllers designed to perfectly simulate playing the actual instrument. Now take a look at their [[http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/06/rb3-pro-guitar-awesome-rm-eng.jpg Pro Mode guitar]]..
18* PlayingAgainstType: In the miniseries ''WebVideo/RomDotCom'', Michael Swaim (best known as the sociopathic half of ''WebVideo/AgentsOfCracked'' and the dangerous, insane member of the foursome in ''WebVideo/AfterHours'') plays the ''[[OnlySaneMan voice of reason]]''.
19* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Mack Leighty, aka "John Cheese", was fired and had all of his articles removed after it came to light that [[https://medium.com/@taliajane/how-i-became-my-own-ronan-farrow-87e847632d50 he was using his high position to sexually harass female writers on the site]]. Although the articles were later reuploaded.
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21!!Trivia for the magazine:
22* CreatorBacklash:
23** According to Facebook posts, Ed Steckley hated ''Mr. Precious'', saying that he only intended for it to be a one-shot but the editors kept pressuring him into making more. It's also noted that the aforementioned Kulpa constantly shoehorned in word balloons, despite Steckley intending for the comic to be pantomime.
24** Then-future ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' artist Tom Richmond seems mostly ashamed of his short tenure with ''Cracked'' at the TurnOfTheMillennium. His first approved piece was a parody of ''Film/Godzilla1998'' that he wrote himself with the intent of sending to ''MAD'' as a sample. After they turned it down, he sent it in to ''Cracked'', and was surprised when they actually ran it! However, Kulpa did not resize the art properly, causing it to appear vertically distorted. Other issues included low payment (despite Kulpa calling him a "flagship" artist, Richmond still only got the same per-page amount as everyone else), his art getting repurposed for front covers without compensation or credit, and his parody of ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' getting downgraded from color to black-and-white at the last minute... in favor of a ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' spoof. Thankfully for Richmond, his poor treatment at ''Cracked'' drove him to try again at ''MAD'', who accepted him.
25* ExecutiveMeddling:
26** Paul Laikin, a former writer in the 1950s and 1960s, came back to become editor in 1985. He was kicked out after only two issues due to his refusal to have John Severin draw anything, submitting sloppy cover art painted by his son, crediting writings to other family members to give them bonuses, and recycling content from ''Sick'' and other humor mags to get more money out of existing material. His successor Mort Todd managed to turn things around a bit by attracting underground cartoonists like Dan Clowes, Bob Fingerman, and Peter Bagge, but publishers rejected his attempts to use such artists to make for a DarkerAndEdgier feel. Editor duties were passed onto Lou Silverstone (a former ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' writer) and Andy Simmons (son of ''Magazine/NationalLampoon'' writer Matty), and things seemed okay for a while.
27** But then came Dick Kulpa (of ''Magazine/WeeklyWorldNews'' fame). Under his editorial oversight, many new artists and writers were brought in, and as a cost-cutting measure, payments were done flat-rate instead of page-by-page. As a result, many of the veteran artists such as John Severin and Walter Brogan ended up quitting. Kulpa commissioned cluttered tabloid-style cover art (some of which he drew himself), constantly recycled material (sometimes even on the front cover, and almost always without compensation), forced more grossout and TotallyRadical material in, altered others' content with unnecessary captions and/or art, and made a ton of editing mistakes from cutting off captions to improperly resizing art. Kulpa was literally running the mag from his kitchen table, constantly [[ScheduleSlip delaying releases]], and overall ruining the mag through his lack of experience. Scott Gosar took over as editor in 2004, but by then it was too little, too late.
28* FollowTheLeader: By far, ''Cracked'' was the most prominent ''MAD'' clone: a parody mag with an {{Expy}} of Alfred E. Neuman in Sylvester P. Smythe.
29* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Print archives of the magazine were destroyed in an anthrax attack.
30* TheOtherDarrin: Many of their recurring featured were passed along to several artists throughout the years, although some moreso than others:
31** The first few Nanny Dickering interviews were drawn by John Severin. Art duties were passed to John Langton, B.K. Taylor, and then Sururi Gümen before it became largely the domain of Bill Ward. After he left, Rob Orzechowski became the main artists, but others contributed on occasion as well (including Severin).
32** "Shut-Ups" jumped artists several times, although Charles Rodrigues and Don Orehek tended to get most of them.

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