Photo by Elizabeth McQuern
Photo by Elizabeth McQuern
ST. MARTEEN – Award-winning Caribbean humor column, ‘Just Being Funny’ by Onicia Muller turned three this February.
‘Just Being Funny’ (JBF), which is best described as chicken soup for the naive skeptic’s soul debuted on February 11, 2017, in The Daily Herald’s WEEKender. Each entry is a wild ride with hilarious quotables and pop culture references.
This is Muller’s second long-running column for the newspaper. She says she is determined to keep JBF fresh and in circulation for at least five years. “If the people continue to love it, I’ll tap into my inner Tyler Perry and make Black history by running it for a really long time.”
According to Suzette Martinez Standring, a past president of The National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC), 34% of columns run for less than five years. The average column lifespan is seven years.
“I was about six months into JBF when I realized I could run out of high-action adventures. So, I decided to switch gears by highlighting my observations and silly thoughts.” Muller’s comedy speaks to politically-active Millennials and Gen-Xers who identify as both righteous and ratchet.
Should her humor column run for seven years, Muller has to write 364 entries.“I’m not afraid of running out of ideas now that my storytelling and comedy skills are more fine-tuned. It’s easy to write 500 words on everyday misadventures like waxing my upper lip, hugging hobos, or fighting a Jamaican school girl for a library book.”
Onicia Muller
Onicia Muller is a prolific writer who works in a multitude of formats including authoring humor cards for American Greetings.
In an interview for Rebellious Magazines’ Chi–Town Comedy Chat series, entertainment journalist Laurie Fanelli described the St. Maarten-born comedian as “A ray of sunshine with a dark sense of humor, Onicia Muller knows how to weave a hilarious tale about the human condition with a thoughtfulness that demands deep consideration.”
In 2018 she received IGNITE Caribbean’s 30 Under 30 Caribbean American Emerging Leaders award for her work as a cultural influencer. That same year, Women In Comedy named Onicia as an “awesome Chicago female comics you should be following right now.”
Early in her career, she opened for Majah Hype, the Caribbean King of Comedy. The Chicago-based Caribbean comedian has since been a featured act at several stand-up showcases including Chicago’s top all-female comedy shows the kates and Mother Cluckers.
Read all-new entries of ‘Just Being Funny’ every Saturday in The Daily Herald’s WEEKender or subscribe to Onicia’s newsletter at OniciaMuller.com for a monthly dose of funny stories and stand-up comedy.
