For dedicated fans of Dave Barry’s long career in humor, it almost seems superfluous for him to publish a memoir, considering how many of his columns and books feature his own misadventures.
But there’s still more to be told, and fans will enjoy his new book, “Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass.” He spends most of the book recounting the most interesting things that happened to him over his long career, including winning the 1988 Pulitzer Prize, but he starts with his childhood, revealing darker memories, including his father’s alcoholism and his mother’s suicide.
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We talked to Barry recently about his book and his future. And if you’d like to hear him in person, he’ll be in conversation with Paul Levine for a Live Talks Los Angeles event in downtown L.A. on Thursday, May 22. (Learn more here: livetalksla.org/events/davebarry/).
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: You’re 77 years old, an age when most people are happily retired. Yet you’re publishing a new book and now have a new column on the online platform Substack that already has 31,000 subscribers. What made you decide to do that?
Dave Barry: I stopped writing a newspaper column 20 years ago, and I just finished a book. What attracted me to Substack is that you don’t have a deadline and no required length. All those years, writing my newspaper column, I had to write 800 words every week that could go into a family newspaper.
Q: You clearly made a choice to feature your writing career in your memoir, and omit most of your personal life, although you have written about it in the past. Can you talk about that?
A: It was a decision I had to make. And who really cares about my family anyway? People are always asking me where I get my ideas, and I usually say “Costco.” But I got my humor from my mom. And I wanted to talk about where that came from.
Q: Are there any family issues you wish you had written about?
A: I thought about including my (late) sister Kate, who had bipolar disorder. But ultimately decided against it.
Q: You’re originally from Armonk, New York, yet you write often about living in Miami. In fact, you wrote an entire humorbook about living in Florida, “Best State Ever.” Why do you live there?
A: Well, because the Miami Herald offered me a job there, although initially I made it a condition of my working there that I wouldn’t have to live in Miami. But later, we moved there. The weather is great, and it’s the least boring place I’ve ever lived. I’ve written 3 or 4 novels based in Miami. It’s exotic, yet technically still in the United States.
Humor columnist Dave Barry. photo by Michelle Kaufman / Courtesy of Simon & Schuster)Q: Did you have an inspiration growing up for your humor, aside from your mom?
A: Robert Benchley. I just loved his stuff when I was a kid. His humor was very much of the culture of the time.
Q: You write for the first time in the book about your father’s late-in-life alcoholism and your mother’s suicide. Do you find that comics often have dark sides?
A: Yes. There are many people who do humor who are desperately bitter people. But not all. I was happy when I was a child, and that made a difference. I owe my career to my mother.
Q: You wrote an entire book about your dog, Lucy, and in the past, your earlier dogs – Earnest and Zippy – became well-known characters in your stories. Do you have any pets now?
A: Lucy died at age 17, so we are currently dogless. We want to get another: a big dog who’s a rescue. I definitely believe in rescue dogs.
Q: I know your son, Rob Barry, was part of a team that won a 2015 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting at the Wall Street Journal; it must be unusual for a father and son to both win the top award in journalism. Is your wife Michelle still working as a journalist, and did your daughter Sophie join the family business?
A: Michelle (Kaufman) is a sportswriter for the Miami Herald and works harder than anybody I know. Sophie works in fashion marketing in New York. Rob is a journalist but – unlike his old man – he deals in facts.
Q: Hopefully, this is a topic that won’t need to be addressed for many years to come, but have you ever thought about what your final wishes would be?
A: No, not really, except that at my funeral they need to play “Twist and Shout.” The version by the Isley Brothers.
Dave Barry with Paul Levine
When: 8 p.m., May 22, 2025
Where: Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar, 3200 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles
Tickets: $50 general admission ticket + signed book ($46 for virtual attendance + signed book); $25 general admission ticket
Info: livetalksla.org/events/davebarry/
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