"The Funniest Man in America"
Born and raised in New York, Dave Barry was elected Class Clown by classmates at Pleasantville High School. He was a columnist at the Miami Herald for 25 years, where he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and his column was syndicated in more than 500 newspapers across the globe. He has penned over 30 books for children and adults, including an imaginative collection of prequels to the classic story Peter Pan, written with Ridley Pearson. The New York Times has dubbed him “the funniest man in America.”
In his newest book, You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About, Barry tackles everything from family trips, bat mitzvah parties and dating, the differences between male and female friendships, the deeper meaning of Fifty Shades of Grey, and a father’s ultimate sacrifice: accompanying his daughter to a Justin Bieber concert (“It turns out that the noise teenaged girls make to express happiness is the same noise they would make if their feet were being gnawed off by badgers”).
Dave also played lead guitar in a literary rock band called the Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members included Stephen King, Matt Groening, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, and many more. Barry often describes their music as having “one of the world’s highest ratios of noise to talent.”