Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dave Barry, do you realize that you're because of you?
I wanted to be a columnist growing up. I wanted
to be yeah, yeah, No, I mean I wanted to
be something that no longer exists. What you did? What
the ground you broke? Who would have thought that the
calumnists by and large kind of doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So you're saying that I destroyed the profession. No not,
actually I didn't. I didn't break it. I didn't break
the ground. No, well, make sure you get it. I
didn't break the ground like that was. You know, Art
Buckwald and Irma Bomback and Russell Baker were around before
and then before them. There are all these people before them.
I was the end of it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Fortunately, Yeah, yeah, maybe that is it too. How do
you feel about what's become of the calumnists, especially in
a day and age, once people started blogging. I feel
like that was the final nail in the coffin, because
I look around at my newspapers in my hometown. I
did pull it off for a little while, and one
of my editors did say I enjoyed early on. She said,
(01:03):
I enjoyed this week. It was very Dave Barry, Yeah, Yeah.
She described a column of my where I talked about
watching my father, you know, ten to the Lawn and
how the family has like a family Rake. It was
about the family Rake, and she said I love this family. Yeah, yeah,
(01:23):
and she called it very Dave Barry, and I was like, man,
I am on my way. And then that paper got
bought up by a bigger, you know, conglomeration. It got canceled,
and you know, every the game's changed. So does that
mean does that make it into the book? Is class
Clown The Memoirs of a Professional wise ass? How I
(01:44):
went seventy seven years without growing up? Do you acknowledge
the columnists? You've had many other successes, but what's become
of the columnist?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yes, the fact there's quite a bit in my book
about that. It what happened was that the newspaper industry died.
I mean, it's still hanging on, and you know, and
there are some big papers that obviously still thrive, like
the New York Times, but basically the whole business model
of that kept the newspaper industry was so powerful for
(02:16):
so long in this country and made so much money,
which was great for me. That was when I was
coming up in the seventies and eighties, but that ended.
It ended with the Internet. Now everybody can be a columnist,
everybody can have a blog, everybody can have a substack,
everybody can tweet and everybody and whatever. So it's different.
But there's no longer any real chance to do what
(02:36):
I was able to do, and I was very lucky.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Oh yeah, nineteen eighty three to two thousand and five.
That's really something. And the same can probably be said
for like the cartoonists, the comic strip guy, because I
remember my goal was I want to get this syndicated.
I was early nineties, so it was it was still
kind of thriving, and you waited for some to come
(03:00):
around and say, we were going to pick you up
in this newspaper. We're going to pick you up in
this new like you waited.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, indication. Oh yeah, that like the same thing. I
mean that just as there's no the columnists have disappeared,
so of the cartoonists, even comic strips, basically they gotten smaller,
so we can be like postage stamps. Now, yeah, it's
been it's been hard on those groups. Now, you know,
everybody's gone somewhere else, so you can you can find
(03:27):
funny people writing, they're just in different media now.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah. Yeah, And of course the popular TV show was made.
Would you say that was little? How did you ever feel?
I loved Harry Anderson? I mean, I just thought he
was fantastic. I was a fan of his when he
was showing up in Cheers as like Harry the Magician.
I don't know if you'll recall that the hat. Yeah,
I don't think I would have gotten that right on Jeopardy. Uh.
(03:54):
Really talented guy. Have you ever waged in And was
that a truly accurate depiction of your life or loosely
you know, that was loosely based on your life?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Very loosely, I I you're talking about Dave's World, which
was indicated TV show on CBS in the early nineties
for four years, and it was, you know, it was
very loosely based on my life. I told him when
they when they approached me about the ideas, like, I
didn't really, you know, have a sitcom life. I sit
(04:25):
in front of a computer all day trying to be funny.
But they they, they they made it into a show
which was you know, this, this was a guy Harry
Anderson's played a guy named Dave Barry who was writing
for a Miami newspaper. The problem was they couldn't really
show what I really did, which was sit in front
of a computer all day being sad. That it didn't
seem funny enough. They had to have him doing things.
(04:47):
So in the on the TV shows, he's running around
having all these funny episodes, and I'm watching this show
and thinking like, well, when did he write his column?
Because that's all I have to it was. That was,
you know, it was. It was interesting. It was a
little weird because people thought that was really my life,
and people thought I was writing that show and I wasn't.
I was back here at the Miami I recall that
(05:08):
to writing my column.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, feeling like you were somehow hands on in some
way because, like I said, in the early nineties, that's
when I was trying to make things happen, and you
could see bit by bit certain things were shrinking. The
industry was shrinking in certain ways but growing in other ways,
dependent upon where you were in it. I'm dying to
ask you, and again we're I'm with Dave Barry. He's
(05:31):
got a new book out class Clown. Well. I wanted
to talk to you about that too. Were you the
I was actually voted class clown in my yearbook, which
got me absolutely nowhere in life. But were you? I was?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I was elected class clown Buzzontville High School, Bleasonville, New York. Yeah,
class of nineteen sixty five. Well, male class clown. We
had a male and a female class clown.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Oh really? How yeah? Equity? You know, jeez, under that's fantastic.
We only had classical. It was exciting to hear you
you snag. That was a good one to snag, right,
I felt that way.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, I mean I felt I earned it bear and square.
But I did get told by more than one teacher,
you know, because I was kind of a wise ass. Well,
it's very funny, but you can't joke your way through life,
which turns out to be inaccurate. You can, in fact,
joke your way through life, because that's what I ended
up doing.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Sure, But the question I really wanted to ask you
It says, at one point you joined a literary rock band,
dying to know the name of the band. I don't
even know what a literary rock band is. I don't
know what that means.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
It's the rock Bottom remainders. It's a band of authors.
Stephen King is in this band, Amy Tan, Mitch Album,
Scott to Row, Roy Blunt Junior, Greg Ailes not a
good Mary Carr.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
On My show a lot too. I'm a huge fan
of his and Stephen King. I just saw his new
What does Stephen King play? But does he play an instrument?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
He plays the guitar, He plays the guitar. This sort
of sort of plays the guitar, and we all sort
of play our instrument now. Actually, Mitch Album is a
very good musician. He's a keyboardist. But yeah, most of
us are not that good. Yeah, we play our genre,
according to Roy Blunde Junior, is hard listening music. That's
our genre. Our genre.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, I literally thought that literary rock band was just
a you were in high school and like you were
the name of your band was Lord of the Flies
or something like that. I didn't realize. I didn't realize
you you know, fountain Head. I didn't realize you were
going to tell me. No, it's a bunch of you know,
famous authors and writers are in this band. That's extraordinary,
(07:43):
real writers. Yeah. Have you ever toured?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, we've we've played all over the country only only
can play everywhere, just one time because nobody ever wants
us back.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, this is fantastic. I can't wait to get a
hold of the book too. What do you want people's
real takeaway to be from Class Clown?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I hope that they find it funny first of all,
most important funny. But maybe you know there are some
parts in there where maybe there's some actual useful life
and life lessons, but mostly funny.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah. I love that. It's how I went seventy seven
years without growing up. I tell my kids all the time.
I have a twenty two year old and a nineteen
year old, and they they either have anxiety about growing
up or they're just chomping at the bit to do it.
And all I ever say to them is, don't ever
do it. Take your time and life is. You've got
a good long life. I had to you. Don't rush
(08:34):
to grow up. I don't think you ever need to.
So I love that sub subtitle right there.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah no rush.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, Well, it's an honor talking to you, Dave Barry.
I can't wait to get my hands on Class Clown
and good luck with it.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Thanks, Benny, I appreciate it.
Dave Barry, do you realize that you're because of you?
I wanted to be a columnist growing up. I wanted
to be yeah, yeah, No, I mean I wanted to
be something that no longer exists. What you did? What
the ground you broke? Who would have thought that the
calumnists by and large kind of doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So you're saying that I destroyed the profession. No not,
actually I didn't. I didn't break it. I didn't break
the ground. No, well, make sure you get it. I
didn't break the ground like that was. You know, Art
Buckwald and Irma Bomback and Russell Baker were around before
and then before them. There are all these people before them.
I was the end of it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Fortunately, Yeah, yeah, maybe that is it too. How do
you feel about what's become of the calumnists, especially in
a day and age, once people started blogging. I feel
like that was the final nail in the coffin, because
I look around at my newspapers in my hometown. I
did pull it off for a little while, and one
of my editors did say I enjoyed early on. She said,
(01:03):
I enjoyed this week. It was very Dave Barry, Yeah, Yeah.
She described a column of my where I talked about
watching my father, you know, ten to the Lawn and
how the family has like a family Rake. It was
about the family Rake, and she said I love this family. Yeah, yeah,
(01:23):
and she called it very Dave Barry, and I was like, man,
I am on my way. And then that paper got
bought up by a bigger, you know, conglomeration. It got canceled,
and you know, every the game's changed. So does that
mean does that make it into the book? Is class
Clown The Memoirs of a Professional wise ass? How I
(01:44):
went seventy seven years without growing up? Do you acknowledge
the columnists? You've had many other successes, but what's become
of the columnist?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yes, the fact there's quite a bit in my book
about that. It what happened was that the newspaper industry died.
I mean, it's still hanging on, and you know, and
there are some big papers that obviously still thrive, like
the New York Times, but basically the whole business model
of that kept the newspaper industry was so powerful for
(02:16):
so long in this country and made so much money,
which was great for me. That was when I was
coming up in the seventies and eighties, but that ended.
It ended with the Internet. Now everybody can be a columnist,
everybody can have a blog, everybody can have a substack,
everybody can tweet and everybody and whatever. So it's different.
But there's no longer any real chance to do what
(02:36):
I was able to do, and I was very lucky.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Oh yeah, nineteen eighty three to two thousand and five.
That's really something. And the same can probably be said
for like the cartoonists, the comic strip guy, because I
remember my goal was I want to get this syndicated.
I was early nineties, so it was it was still
kind of thriving, and you waited for some to come
(03:00):
around and say, we were going to pick you up
in this newspaper. We're going to pick you up in
this new like you waited.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, indication. Oh yeah, that like the same thing. I
mean that just as there's no the columnists have disappeared,
so of the cartoonists, even comic strips, basically they gotten smaller,
so we can be like postage stamps. Now, yeah, it's
been it's been hard on those groups. Now, you know,
everybody's gone somewhere else, so you can you can find
(03:27):
funny people writing, they're just in different media now.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah. Yeah, And of course the popular TV show was made.
Would you say that was little? How did you ever feel?
I loved Harry Anderson? I mean, I just thought he
was fantastic. I was a fan of his when he
was showing up in Cheers as like Harry the Magician.
I don't know if you'll recall that the hat. Yeah,
I don't think I would have gotten that right on Jeopardy. Uh.
(03:54):
Really talented guy. Have you ever waged in And was
that a truly accurate depiction of your life or loosely
you know, that was loosely based on your life?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Very loosely, I I you're talking about Dave's World, which
was indicated TV show on CBS in the early nineties
for four years, and it was, you know, it was
very loosely based on my life. I told him when
they when they approached me about the ideas, like, I
didn't really, you know, have a sitcom life. I sit
(04:25):
in front of a computer all day trying to be funny.
But they they, they they made it into a show
which was you know, this, this was a guy Harry
Anderson's played a guy named Dave Barry who was writing
for a Miami newspaper. The problem was they couldn't really
show what I really did, which was sit in front
of a computer all day being sad. That it didn't
seem funny enough. They had to have him doing things.
(04:47):
So in the on the TV shows, he's running around
having all these funny episodes, and I'm watching this show
and thinking like, well, when did he write his column?
Because that's all I have to it was. That was,
you know, it was. It was interesting. It was a
little weird because people thought that was really my life,
and people thought I was writing that show and I wasn't.
I was back here at the Miami I recall that
(05:08):
to writing my column.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, feeling like you were somehow hands on in some
way because, like I said, in the early nineties, that's
when I was trying to make things happen, and you
could see bit by bit certain things were shrinking. The
industry was shrinking in certain ways but growing in other ways,
dependent upon where you were in it. I'm dying to
ask you, and again we're I'm with Dave Barry. He's
(05:31):
got a new book out class Clown. Well. I wanted
to talk to you about that too. Were you the
I was actually voted class clown in my yearbook, which
got me absolutely nowhere in life. But were you? I was?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I was elected class clown Buzzontville High School, Bleasonville, New York. Yeah,
class of nineteen sixty five. Well, male class clown. We
had a male and a female class clown.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Oh really? How yeah? Equity? You know, jeez, under that's fantastic.
We only had classical. It was exciting to hear you
you snag. That was a good one to snag, right,
I felt that way.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, I mean I felt I earned it bear and square.
But I did get told by more than one teacher,
you know, because I was kind of a wise ass. Well,
it's very funny, but you can't joke your way through life,
which turns out to be inaccurate. You can, in fact,
joke your way through life, because that's what I ended
up doing.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Sure, But the question I really wanted to ask you
It says, at one point you joined a literary rock band,
dying to know the name of the band. I don't
even know what a literary rock band is. I don't
know what that means.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
It's the rock Bottom remainders. It's a band of authors.
Stephen King is in this band, Amy Tan, Mitch Album,
Scott to Row, Roy Blunt Junior, Greg Ailes not a
good Mary Carr.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
On My show a lot too. I'm a huge fan
of his and Stephen King. I just saw his new
What does Stephen King play? But does he play an instrument?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
He plays the guitar, He plays the guitar. This sort
of sort of plays the guitar, and we all sort
of play our instrument now. Actually, Mitch Album is a
very good musician. He's a keyboardist. But yeah, most of
us are not that good. Yeah, we play our genre,
according to Roy Blunde Junior, is hard listening music. That's
our genre. Our genre.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, I literally thought that literary rock band was just
a you were in high school and like you were
the name of your band was Lord of the Flies
or something like that. I didn't realize. I didn't realize
you you know, fountain Head. I didn't realize you were
going to tell me. No, it's a bunch of you know,
famous authors and writers are in this band. That's extraordinary,
(07:43):
real writers. Yeah. Have you ever toured?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, we've we've played all over the country only only
can play everywhere, just one time because nobody ever wants
us back.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, this is fantastic. I can't wait to get a
hold of the book too. What do you want people's
real takeaway to be from Class Clown?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I hope that they find it funny first of all,
most important funny. But maybe you know there are some
parts in there where maybe there's some actual useful life
and life lessons, but mostly funny.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah. I love that. It's how I went seventy seven
years without growing up. I tell my kids all the time.
I have a twenty two year old and a nineteen
year old, and they they either have anxiety about growing
up or they're just chomping at the bit to do it.
And all I ever say to them is, don't ever
do it. Take your time and life is. You've got
a good long life. I had to you. Don't rush
(08:34):
to grow up. I don't think you ever need to.
So I love that sub subtitle right there.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah no rush.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, Well, it's an honor talking to you, Dave Barry.
I can't wait to get my hands on Class Clown
and good luck with it.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Thanks, Benny, I appreciate it.
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