Nae Cațavencu is a character in Ion Luca Caragiale's 1883 comedy O scrisoare pierdută ("A Lost Letter").

In its current form, Academia Cațavencu was founded in 1991,[1] by a team of humourists, investigators, and literates headed by poet and former dissident Mircea Dinescu.

Dinescu was editor-in-chief until 1998, when he resigned and went on to create his own publications, Aspirina săracului ("The poor man's aspirin" – a joking reference to sexual intercourse), and Plai cu boi (Land of the Dumb), a monthly satirical magazine parodying the style of Playboy.

The alleged perpetrators were representatives of the then-governing Social Democratic Party (PSD), whose (mostly former Communist) high members (including founder and former President of Romania Ion Iliescu) were protagonists of the Cațavencu special issues.

Apart from political issues, Academia Cațavencu organises and/or sponsors a number of cultural and environmental initiatives: They also develop their own stereotypes and nicknames of the politicians, such as: