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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2006 > March > 23 > Entry
DAVE BARRY IN DAYTON: He’s still kinda funny!
Humorist Dave Barry kicked off the 2006 Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop at the University of Dayton Thursday evening by cluing in about 350 fellow scribblers on how to make people laugh — along with a bunch of other silly stuff.
• On where he got his sense of humor: “I had a very funny mother. She was what they called, in the 1950s, a housewife — but she was a dark, edgy housewife.�
• On UD: “You know, I’ve been to many universities, but I’ve never been to one that has parking. The real world really isn’t like college, because the real world has parking.�
• On grueling book tours: “Publishers send you on them because they believe that the book will be worth more if the author is dead.�
• On being at the beginning of a writing career: “As somebody who’s been on the bottom rung, and gotten past it, I have this to tell you: Neener, neener, neener!�
• On his first newspaper job: “It was a paper called the Daily Local News … no kidding … and if a guy in town grew a zucchini that looked like Marlon Brando, that was front-page news. Well, if you think about it, lots of zucchinis look like Marlon Brando.â€?
• On where to find humorous material: “Everybody who wants to be a humor writer should have kids.�
• Or: “Get a dog. The main point of all columns about dogs is that dogs are stupid.�
• Or: “Move to Miami. Miami is the funniest place in the United States…. The official motto of Florida is: ‘Florida. You can’t spell it without the Duh.’â€?
• On using his kids as column fodder: “I got a chance to drive the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, and I picked up my son in it at middle school…. Now, you may say, ‘Dave — you scarred your kid for life, just to get a column out of it.’ Yeah, but it was worth it.â€?
• On making the mistake of provoking Neil Diamond’s fans by making fun of their idol: “You think Salmon Rushdie got in trouble….â€?
• On giving up his syndicated column a year ago: “You know, people still come up to me in Miami, where I live, and say, ‘I love your column, and I read it every day.’ So maybe you don’t actually have to go to all the trouble.�
Comments
By Barb =:)
March 24, 2006 8:12 AM | Link to this
Oh the “real life has parking” comment…apparently, he hasn’t been to downtown Dayton on a work day.