# Talk:Joe Biden (The Onion)

Should this be moved to Diamond Joe per WP:NATURAL? – Anne drew 15:27, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

He's not always "Diamond Joe" in The Onion, though, and the character is more properly identified as "Joe Biden" regardless of whether he also has a nickname or two. I'm not sure when or where the nickname "Diamond Joe" was introduced (it probably wouldn't be too hard to track down tho, tbh) but it was not used in the character's full-fledged debut article, and there are numerous other examples where it doesn't get used.
That said, I'll admit the title is slightly awkward. I followed the convention used to disambiguate fictional characters in TV shows: "[Character Name] (Media Title)", like "Michael Scott (The Office)". More recently, I've thought "Joe Biden in The Onion" might be a better title. "Joe Biden (The Onion)" follows from the (widespread) interpretation of the Onion Biden as a distinct character in his own right; on the other hand, "Joe Biden in The Onion" is more open to understanding it as a portrayal of a real person—which of course it fundamentally is—yet it doesn't altogether exclude consideration of the character as "a character" either. —BLZ · talk 20:58, 6 August 2019 (UTC)
Since this is a situation somewhat similar, we could follow the Stephen Colbert (character) format, perhaps with something along the lines of "Joe Biden (The Onion character)", which also creates the distinction BLZ was mentioning. —Cerebral726 (talk) 14:15, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
The natural dab here would be Uncle Joe, as has been noted by 3rd party publications (e.g.). More importantly, this doesn't seem to be anything that couldn't be dealt with as a (brief) subsection of Joe's own page, for all the work its compilers put into it. To the extent it's a separate thing, it's just Joe Biden as a meme or character in popular culture; The Onion is part of that portrayal but not the end of it. — LlywelynII 14:09, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

Somebody please explain to me why The Onion's depiction of Joe Biden is notable enough to have it's own Wikipedia article? Are there any other Wikipedia pages that cover The Onion's depiction of a public figure? For instance, after the 2000 election The Onion had a series of articles depicting Al Gore as a depressed loser having lost the election but you don't see a Wikipedia article about that. There's no Donald Trump Onion article either and he gets just as much coverage as Joe Biden. Somebody please explain this to me. Why is this worthy of it's own article over other things parodied in The Onion? This all feels political. I don't understand?--Dr who1975 (talk) 17:37, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

The answer lies in the unusually high level of popular and critical success attained by the Onion's version of Biden, which has attracted far more sustained commentary than their portrayal of any other public figure. They may have portrayed Al Gore in a consistent style for a period of time, but they certainly didn't render Gore as an ice sculpture—and more to the point, their portrayal of Gore has not been the subject of enduring commentary. Maybe there could be articles about other Onion characterizations, and maybe those would stand on their own two legs—no one's tried, to my knowledge. You could compare Saturday Night Live parodies of Donald Trump and Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin, which stand as examples of recent satirical portrayals (or series of portrayals) that drew substantial commentary from secondary sources. There's also an entire "Cultural depictions of politicians" category.
There could be other articles about other satirical portrayals of other politicians, they would just have to establish their notability just like this article does. Off the top of my head, Saturday Night Live parodies of Gerald Ford would probably be noteworthy enough to merit its own separate article, given the reputedly outsize impact made by the SNL depiction of Ford as a clumsy pratfalling bumbler. Same goes for George H. W. Bush and The Simpsons, in light of his famous remark that "American families [should be] a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons" and the show's subsequent portrayal of the senior Bush over several otherwise-unrelated episodes. I've also thought that there could be an article on Will Ferrell's depictions of George W. Bush, which started on SNL but carried over to other media, including a Broadway show. —BLZ · talk 20:04, 7 July 2020 (UTC)