Dave Barry

Biography

"What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death." --Dave Barry

Dave was born in 1947, in Armonk, New York. His educational experiences include being elected class clown by Pleasantville High School in 1965, playing in "Federal Duck" (a rock band) in college, and earning a Bachelor of Arts in English from Haverford College in 1969.

His journalism career began as a business writing consultant at the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1983, Dave started working as a humor columnist for The Miami Herald. Dave 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 formed a band for charity: The "Rock Bottom Remainders" (a publishing term for books that don't sell). The band's members, 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 Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude, which is now out of print.

CBS broadcast the situation comedy Dave's World for four seasons, from 1993 to 1997, based on the books Dave Barry Turns 40 and Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, starring Harry Anderson[?] as Dave, and DeLane Matthews[?] as Beth. In an early episode, Dave was cast in a cameo role. The program was cancelled shortly after being moved from Monday to Friday.

Dave's first novel, Big Trouble, was made into a motion picture, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld[?], starring Tim Allen, Rene Russo and 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.

"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base." --Dave Barry

Dave and his wife, Beth, gave birth to a son, Rob, in 1980. In 1996, Dave (having divorced his first wife) married Miami Herald sportswriter[?] Michelle Kaufman; they had a daughter, Sophie, in 1999. All are mentioned regularly in Barry's columns.

Articles written by Dave have appeared in publications such as Boating, Home Office Computing, and Reader's Digest.

When distinguishing fact from hyperbole, Dave frequently asserts: "I am not making this up." His writings center largely on exploding or flaming items (cows, whales, vacuum cleaners, toilets, pop tarts, Barbie dolls, etc.), dogs' lacking intelligence, and amusing government studies. He also frequently runs for President of the United States.

Works

Fiction

• Tricky Business (2002)
• Big Trouble (1999)

Non-Fiction

• The Taming of the Screw (1983)
• Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months With Tools You Probably Have Around the Home (1984)
• Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead (1985)
• Claw Your Way to the Top: How to Become the Head of a Major Corporation in Roughly a Week (1986)
• Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex (1987)
• Homes and Other Black Holes (1988)
• Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States (1989)
• Dave Barry Turns 40 (1990)
• Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need (1991)
• Dave Barry's Guide to Life (1991) includes Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex, Claw You Way to the Top, Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead and Babies and Other Hazards of Sex
• Dave Barry Does Japan (1992)
• Dave Barry's Gift Guide to End All Gift Gudes (1994)
• Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys (1996)
• Dave Barry in Cyberspace (1996)
• Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs (1997)
• Dave Barry Turns 50 (1998)
• Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway: A Vicious and Unprovoked Attack on Our Most Cherished Political Institutions (2001)
• "My Teenage Son's Goal in Life is to Make Me Feel 3,500 Years Old" and Other Thoughts On Parenting From Dave Barry (2001)
• "The Greatest Invention In The History Of Mankind Is Beer" And Other Manly Insights From Dave Barry (2001)

Collected Columns

• Dave Barry's Bad Habits: A 100% Fact-Free Book (1987)
• Dave Barry's Greatest Hits (1988)
• Dave Barry Talks Back (1991)
• The World According to Dave Barry (1994) includes Dave Barry Talks Back and Dave Barry's Greatest Hits
• Dave Barry is NOT Making This Up (1995)
• Dave Barry Is from Mars and Venus (1997)
• Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down (2000)

Collaborations

• Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Chords and an Attitude (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
• Naked Came the Manatee (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

External links

• The Unofficial Dave Barry Website (http://www.davebarry.com/)
• Dave Barry, The Miami Herald (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/)
• IMDB: Big Trouble (http://www.imdb.com/Title?0246464)
• Rock Bottom Remainders, "Don't Quit Your Day Job" Records (http://www.dqydj.com/rbr.htm)

There was a British teen idol, popular in the mid-1960s, named Dave Berry.