Was Dave Barry ever funny?
Today’s avalanche of books brings the new (on sale August 5) Dave Barry book. This took me aback, because I had forgotten all about Dave Barry, rather like the grody beer-swilling uncle you once thought was so cool. Then you grew up, and he didn’t. That’s what Dave Barry seems like these days: the annoyance on the bookstore shelf.
Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium (So Far) (Berkley Trade Paperback Reprint, $14) features a cover design that illustrates perfectly what I mean: Barry is Photoshopped flashing rabbit ears over the head of President George W. Bush. I’m sure there’s a preschool somewhere where that’s still cutting-edge humor.
And then there’s Barry’s style, which has always relied on juxtaposing the mundane with the absurd and then tossing in some random reference to something that’s adolescent and probably booger-related and hoping against hope that You Get It.
But let’s do this by example, in this entry from June, 2003: “On the literary front, the blockbuster bestseller of the year is the long-awaited fifth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter Reaches Puberty and Starts Taking Really Long Showers. Another best-seller is Sen. Hillary Clinton’s new book, I Can’t Help It If I’m a Saint, in which, with great candor and openness, her ghostwriter reveals the most intimate details of Sen. Clinton’s life, except the parts that might be interesting, which fall within Sen. Clinton’s “Zone of Privacy.”‘
The problems here are about as infinite as Barry’s fascination with lame puberty jokes:
–This is really lazy writing.
–You suspect that Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show” could have made short work out of both events. (Or Joel McHale, or The Onion, or the Websites 236.com or Wonkette. Good Lord, there’s more sophisticated, harder-working humor on icanhascheezburger.com)
–And the Daily Show is on basic cable, and the InterWebs are basically free, whereas Barry is expecting you to shell out $14 for a collection of his end-of-year columns, slightly updated. And while $14 for a belly laugh is no bad deal, this book is just a Dave Barry literary garage sale, and jokes about Martha Stewart and Paris Hilton and Dan Rather really have reached their “sell-by” date.
–And even in a literary garage sale — basically, a writer dumping everything he didn’t get published in the big leagues between two covers and calling it an anthology, or “the collected,” or “the uncollected,” or “stuff no magazine, print or online, would sneeze on these days” — there is occasionally a pink flamingo, an item that’s fun and kitschy and makes you proud to haul it off to the car and pose it in front of your coffee table.
Dave Barry may make a comeback, like Abba or “The Golden Girls.”
But this is no pink flamingo.
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I think Dave Barry has more Pulitzer Prizes than you do.
Having laughed myself silly at more than one Dave Barry book and / or column, my answer to your headline is definitely “Yes.” And I think he’s still funny (though I must admit I haven’t read the book you mention yet). Humor, of course, is subjective, so you may not find it funny, but count me among those who look forward to his latest works. Sorry your mileage varied.
You need to get YOUR head out of whatever you consider serious reading and get a life! Most humans love to have a laugh at the expense of some mindless, meaningless tripe and for this Dave Barry is and always has been very funny. The fact that his work is about the silly, meaningless or irreverent only adds to the satire. If you don’t enjoy laughing, that’s OK, stick to your stuffed shirt material and let the rest of us enjoy a good yuck at Dave Barry’s expense.
interesting perspective…thanks!
Dave Barry gives me gas………..I’ll stick with reading some Lewis Grizzard….
You said,”Dave Barry, rather like the grody beer-swilling uncle you once thought was so cool.” I nearly peed myself when I read that! You are funnier than Dave Barry! I have never been a fan of his humor, but I don’t like any kind of “potty” humor. Nice review! You’ve reminded me NOT to look for his newest dose of catch-all phrases.
Although, with the success of Mama Mia, Abba is making a comeback!