In 1991, Savage was living in Madison, Wisconsin, and working as a manager at a local video store that specialized in independent film titles. There, he befriended Tim Keck, co-founder of "The Onion", who announced that he was moving to Seattle to help start an alternative weekly newspaper titled "The Stranger". Savage "made the offhand comment that forever altered life: 'Make sure your paper has an advice column – everybody claims to hate 'em, but everybody seems to read 'em'." He typed up a sample column, and to his surprise Keck offered him the job.