First distributed anonymously by mail and fax in 1989, by 1994 various versions of it began to appear on the World Wide Web.
In 1989, The Dysfunctional Family Circus was created anonymously and began circulating as a series of booklets found in record and book stores, coffee houses, and nightclubs in several U.S. and European cities, notably San Francisco, Chicago, New York, London, and Madrid.
[citation needed] Often called "DFC", the Dysfunctional Family Circus was first brought to the World Wide Web by Mark Jason Dominus around March 1994.
Bil Keane was aware of the site's existence from early on and initially had no objection to it, stating that the jokes were sometimes better than his own.
His publisher later sent a cease-and-desist letter, which was initially ridiculed on the website, but after a telephone conversation between Galcik and Keane, Dysfunctional Family Circus was taken down.
Recurring themes included incest and child abuse jokes; aspects of the art itself, such as the featureless void (as Keane's comics frequently lacked a background); and Jeffy's Hypno-Hair (the character's wavy hair was used in parodies to hypnotize others in the family).
Another parody theme was to portray the parents as unfaithful to each other, including Thel claiming to not know who any of the children's real fathers are and Bil having an unseen homosexual lover "Uncle" Roy.
In September 1999, Galcik received a warning letter from King Features Syndicate (publishers of The Family Circus), citing copyright violations on the site.
In his closing statement, Galcik said while he believed that Dysfunctional Family Circus could be defended as a work of interactive parody, he had developed a grudging respect for the long and continual effort by Bil Keane.