Marin Lately, a New Satire Publication, Skewers Marin County

U.S.|Outsiders Love Mocking Marin County. Now, It’s Laughing at Itself.

On the surface, Marin County has it all.

Rolling hills, redwood forests, golden beaches and panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay, set in a prime location just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

It has tremendous wealth and sublime weather. Residents can surf, mountain bike and paddle board all in the same weekend.

What Marin County did not have until recently was a public space to ridicule the flip side of all that supposed perfection: the progressives who try to outdo one another in righteousness, and the relative lack of ethnic, economic and political diversity.

Every king needs a court jester, and one has finally arrived here in the form of Marin Lately, a satirical online publication. It’s like The Onion, but filled with inside jokes that only Bay Area residents might appreciate. Or “Portlandia,” the television series about Portland, the Oregon city similar in spirit to Marin.

Add to it a dash of mystery reminiscent of the television series “Bridgerton,” in which the townspeople pore over Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers while speculating about who among them is dishing their dirt.

At yard parties and around the Marin Country Mart, everyone seems to be asking the same question: Who is behind Marin Lately? If anyone knew, they weren’t telling. Until now.