"A sense of humor is 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."

-          Dave Barry

The humor writer Dave Barry has announced he has retired.  He will write no more columns.

Famous opening lines –

-          Without my eyeglasses, I have a great deal of trouble distinguishing between house fires and beer signs.

-          I have received a disturbing letter from Mr. Frank J. Phillips, who describes himself as both a patriot and a Latin teacher.

-          Obviously, we—and when I say "we," I mean people who no longer laugh at the concept of hemorrhoids—need to come up with some kind of plan for dealing with the yuppies.

-          Like most Americans, I was thrilled to death last February when our wealthy yachting snots won the coveted America's Cup back from Australia's wealthy yachting snots.

-          At the Miami Herald we ordinarily don't provide extensive coverage of New York City unless a major news development occurs up there, such as Sean Penn coming out of a restaurant.

Rules for comic writing –

-          "Put the funniest word at the end of sentence."

-          "Put the funniest sentence at the beginning of the story."

-          …  change subjects as frequently and jarringly as possible, often beginning with the second sentence of the article.

Full appreciation here –

Dave Barry - Elegy for the humorist

Bryan Curtis - Posted Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 - SLATE.COM

From Rick, the News Guy in Atlanta -

That's a shame.  He's a "hack" writer in the very best sense of the phrase, in that he's very, very good at what he does because he works very hard at it. Oddly, he's not the funny live, as in on TV, but he's an extremely funny writer.

My favorite line of his, which I think was either in a piece about house-cleaning or the difference between the two major genders, goes something like this:

"The difference between men and women, when it comes to cleaning up the house, is that women can spot dust when it's still at the molecular level, while men don't notice dust until it grows large enough to support commercial agriculture."

We’ll miss him.

See items here -

January 2, 2005 - Reconciliation and Polar Bears

February 15, 2004 - Political Comedy This Week