3.12.2004

Merry Barry
My pal Claire Zulkey recently interviewed Dave Barry.

An excerpt:

Who are some of your favorite humor writers?
Steve Martin, Carl Hiaasen, Roy Blount Jr., Gene Weingarten, the late great Robert Benchley, the Onion people, and a bunch more whose names escape me now because EVERYTHING escapes me now except body fat.

When and why did you begin your blog? Is it a burden to keep up in addition to the columns and the books and the other projects?
I started it in early 2003 or thereabouts because Ken Layne ordered me to. Yeah, sometimes it's a hassle, but I'm learning not to fret about it when I have actual paying work to do.

With comedians, it seems like the funnier, the more morose in real life. Does that work with writers as well or do writers get to eschew that, along with blazers with pushed-up sleeves?
I think humor writers are generally much happier than standup comedians. I don't know why, exactly, but we seem to be less neurotic. Maybe it's because we tend to have more normal home lives, as opposed to traveling constantly and having to deal with hecklers.