This week veteran punmaster “Big” Steve Lewis announced his retirement from the New York Post. His one hundred and sixty-four-year stint as head punmaster for the New York City tabloid will reach its conclusion at the end of the month this year. At some point in the 19th century the New York Post decided to break from the established journalistic tradition of concise and neutral headlines in favor of insanely tasteless puns and devoted eighty-five percent of its hundred million dollar publishing budget into forming a crack team of punmasters to write its most memorable headlines. The job of punmaster has seen many illustrious showbiz figures from Milton Berle to Ben Stein to Chris Rock, but Big Steve Lewis has been at the head of the pack for the last century and a half. In honor of his retirement, here’s three of our favorite puns.
LIE-TANIC! – “Unsinkable” loser ship SINKS under pressure. Failure captain outsmarted by iceberg. (April 15, 1912)
MO ATTA BLUES – Loony Mo Atta sent straight to hell, says Priest. (September 12, 2001)
ARCHDUPE! – Phony Phranz Pherdinand shot like a loser! Prez Wilson says Franz shot by Bat People (June 29, 1914)
