Comprehensive information and links about Dave Barry

Dave Barry (born July 3, 1947Dave Barry is a bestselling American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist who wrote a nationally syndicated column for the

Biography

Barry was born in Armonk, New York, where his father, David Barry, Sr., was a Presbyterian minister. He was educated at Pleasantville High School, where he was elected class clown in 1965, and at Haverford College, where he played in Federal Duck (a student rock band) and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1969. As the son of a minister and an alumnus of a Quaker-affiliated college, Barry avoided military service during the Vietnam War by registering as a religious conscientious objector even though, as he declared in a 2001 interview with the , he had decided he "was an atheist early on."

His journalism career began as a reporter with the , in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he "covered a series of incredibly dull municipal meetings, some of which are still going on." In 1975, Barry joined Burger Associates, a consulting firm. He taught effective writing to business people. In his own words, he "spent nearly eight years trying to get his students to stop writing things like `Enclosed please find the enclosed enclosures,' but... eventually realized that it was hopeless." In 1983, Barry was hired by Gene Weingarten as a humor columnist for the . Barry won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1988, "for his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns."

For a 1992 American Booksellers Association convention, several authors including Barry formed a band for charity: The Rock Bottom Remainders ("remainder" is a publishing term for a book that doesn't sell). The members of the band, which has at various times included Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Mitch Albom, Kathy Goldmark, Roy Blount Jr., Barbara Kingsolver and Matt Groening, "are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud," according to Barry. The band's road tour resulted in the book , starring Harry Anderson as Barry, and DeLane Matthews as his wife, Beth. In an early episode, Barry was cast in a cameo role. The program was canceled shortly after being moved from Monday to the Friday night death slot.

Barry's first novel, , was made into a motion picture; directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, it starred Tim Allen, Rene Russo and alum Patrick Warburton, with a cameo by Barry. The movie was originally due for release in late 2001, but was postponed shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack because the story involved smuggling a nuclear weapon onto an airplane.

His was also made into a film, in 2005; it premiered at several film festivals, to mediocre notices, and is available on DVD, though a theatrical release seems unlikely.

Barry and his first wife, Beth, had one child, Robert, in 1980. The Barrys divorced in the mid-1990s. In 1996, Barry married sportswriter Michelle Kaufman; they had a daughter, Sophie, in 2000. All are mentioned regularly in Barry's columns, though his divorce was notably not discussed. Barry's initial meeting and courtship with Michelle were, however, widely thought to have been dramatized in an epilogue to his novel , but with names changed: Barry is cast as 'RayAdverb' (an anagram of 'Dave Barry'), and Michelle is represented as 'MsPtato'.

Barry once picked up his son Rob from Junior High School while driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Articles written by Barry have appeared in publications such as inspirational book series. One of his columns was used (without his permission or objections, or possibly even his knowledge) as the introduction to the book "Pirattitude: So you wanna be a pirate? Here's how."

When distinguishing fact from hyperbole, Barry frequently asserts: "I swear I am not making this up." Among his favorite topics are exploding or flaming items (cows, whales, vacuum cleaners, toilets, pop tarts, Barbie dolls, etc.), dogs lacking intelligence, and amusing government studies. Barry also has libertarian political leanings. He labels various posts on his blog with long abbreviations, such as OIYDWYMTTY(NY)G ("", an observation Barry often applies to phrases which pop up in his writing, such as "Italic Squirrels"), no doubt poking fun at unnecessarily long internet abbreviations. Barry's website contains a fairly sizeable list of things "which would be a great name for a rock band".

Barry has defined a sense of humor as "a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge."

Barry helps organize the Tropic Hunt, an annual puzzlehunt in Miami.

On October 20, 2004, Dave Barry announced that he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence of at least a year from his weekly humor column with the in order to spend more time with his family. He said that he would continue writing humor and children's books and working on filming the screen adaptation of his book, . On December 28, 2005, Barry said in an interview with "Editor and Publisher" that he will not be resuming his weekly column, though he will continue some features such as his yearly gift guide, year in review, his weblog, as well as an occasional column. [1]

Many Dave Barry quotations occur in the fortune cookie collections of Linux distributions; he is also often misattributed as the author of humorous material on the Internet.28: Dave Barry got to meet the baby today, at his book signing in Palo Alto. I am not making this up: he said she was cute."Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months With Tools You Probably Have Around the HomeDave Barry Hits Below the Beltway: A Vicious and Unprovoked Attack on Our Most Cherished Political Institutions"My Teenage Son's Goal in Life is to Make Me Feel 3,500 Years Old" and Other Thoughts On Parenting From Dave Barry"The Greatest Invention In The History Of Mankind Is Beer" And Other Manly Insights From Dave Barry (1994) with Stephen King, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Al Kooper, Ridley Pearson, Roy Blount, Jr., Joel Selvin, Amy Tan, Dave Marsh, Tad Bartimus, Matt Groening, Greil Marcus, Tabitha King, Barbara Kingsolver, Michael Dorris (1998) with Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, James W. Hall, Edna Buchanan, Les Standiford, Paul Levine, Brian Antoni, Tananarive Due, John Dufresne, Vicki Hendricks, Carolina Hospital, Evelyn Mayerson