Is it me, or is Dave Barry unbelievably unfunny?

[Gringo]

I live in Miami, so we are subjected to his column EVERY DAY.

Now, he seems nice, and personable enough, but his entire repertoire consists of extreme hyperbole applied to everything - that's it, nothing else.

Why is this guy so popular?

[Dookus]

1. eh...

I don't think he's unbelievably funny, but he sure has his moments. Doing what he does as often as he does is pretty hard, so I give him credit for that. But he's not my favorite humorist.

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. It's you...I love Dave Barry, I really do. Especially his rant on Chevy

Suburban Subdivisions. ;)

But that's okay, you can not like him.

[Robb]

3. I can't imagine being funny as often

as he has to come up with a column. And he isn't, so I cut him some slack. About once a month (or less) he really cracks me up, but most of the time he writes like someone who's really, really paid by the word. :)

[gatlingforme]

4. I have been reading Dave Barry for over 15yrs - He's great I

love his writing style.

[MercutioATC]

5. Yes, he is. My parents are real granolas, and subscribed to the

"Mother Earth News". Barry had an occasional column there (some of his first stuff, I believe...late-70's/early 80's). The first I ever saw was a piece on building a redwood hot tub. Hysterical.

[camero]

6. Don't knock hyperbole

Some of it is extremely funny. There's just a lack of really good humorists nowadays. Dave is one of them. Maybe familiarity breeds contempt?

[DS1]

7. He used to make me laugh until my sides hurt

Now everything has a forced feel to it.

[Awsi Dooger]

16. Forced and juvenile

Barry has definitely declined, although I never shared my father's appreciation of his humor to begin with.

The late, great Jim Murray of the LA Times used to sneak in one or two throwaway lines in his sports columns that were more hilarious than Dave Barry at his best.

When I was in Miami for the holidays, my younger sister said Barry had married a much younger Herald sportswriter -- Michelle Kaufmann, I think.

[SoCalDem]

8. He used to be fairly amusing, but

hes pretty much said all he had to say... years ago :)

[camero]

10. I thought his take on the viagra commercials was hilarious.

Look, I can throw a football through a tire. :) Wee

[ClintonTyree]

9. His Clinton Bashing.................

a few yars ago really turned me off. He's one in a long line of 'reporters' from the Herald that have made it big in the offbeat writing genre. The master of course being Carl Hiaasen, who in my opinion layed the groundwork for guys like Berry and to a lesser extent, Dorsey from the Tampa Tribune.
I thought his earlier work was very funny, but he's become increasingly less so over the years.

[ChoralScholar]

11. I never liked his columns much

but his books are pretty funny. "Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States" and "Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway" are two of my favorites.

As for Clinton-bashing... it's not that he's partisan, he pretty well makes fun of all Presidents equally. It's part of his job as a humor writer.

[ThoughtCriminal]

12. I like him in moderate doses

And I swear I'm not making that up.

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

13. Dave Barry in a can.

http://www.peacefire.org/staff/bennett/autodave/

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. MIne... didn't come up quite right.

Recently in Knoxville (motto: "I bet no cat in existence poops as randomly as mine"), residents reported an outbreak of hoola hoops. Perhaps you think there are no hoola hoops in Knoxville. Perhaps you are an idiot.

As the French say, au contraire (literally: "You're so ugly your kids are safe from Michael Jackson!"). I have here in my hands a copy of an Associated Press article sent in by alert reader Allen Walden, whose name can be rearranged to spell "ANLELDELNA W", although that is not my main point. "Allen Walden", by the way, only has the letters "AllenWalen" in in common with "Monica Lewinsky", so there is no other reason to mention Monica Lewinsky in this column.

According to a quote which I am not making up, from Knoxville Mayor Edgar (formally "Mayor Edgar" and informally "Jim"), hoola hoops ranks as a major crisis just behind the Bush Administration, ass-covering and bigotry (insert your "hipocrisy" joke here), as evidenced by the following conversation between Knoxville government employees:

FIRST KNOXVILLE EMPLOYEE: "I'm free! Woo hoo! Se ya... never!"

SECOND KNOXVILLE EMPLOYEE: "fucking dumbass moron"

FIRST KNOXVILLE EMPLOYEE: "Hey, I know you! You're Mr. Fucking Dumbass Moron!"

Fortunately I have a suggestion for Mayor Jim, and that is: disclose George Steinbrenner's dick size.

No, seriously, my suggestion does not involve George Steinbrenner's dick size, although it might involve being the boss of Tobacco Institute scientists. My suggestion is more along the lines of a coup de grace, from the French coup, meaning "indulging", and de grace, meaning "my hobbies". The procedure (you may want to write this down):

1. become Buddhists
2. using a wire

But instead the Knoxville city council (motto: "We'll not let society become a bad remake of "Mad Max" when you pry the coffee mug out of our cold, dead fingers") thinks that they (the hoola hoops) will were the real protagonists of "The Hudsucker Proxy" soon, sending this message to the public, and to the world: "This car has keying-proof paint.".

Speaking of which, "The Knoxville Hoola hoops Outbreak" would be a great name for a rock band.

[ComerPerro]

14. read Big Trouble

Good book, well written, good characters, great plot.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. I think he's very funny

I love his yearly Christmas gift columns.

And his books: Dave Berry Does Japan is HILARIOUS, with some truly poignant and heartfelt observations of that culture. The Taming of the Screw is also deliciously funny. I actually referenced it in a paper once - his line that goes something like "Americans would rather live next to a pornography producing unbathed heroin addict than someone with an unkempt lawn".

And you know, he's right. :-)

But come on, like any artist, one can't expect everything to be pearls. Sometimes pearls are produced only because the artist was willing to wade through a siginificant amount of merde.

[RebelOne]

18. I have been a fan of Dave Barry's for many years.

I never missed his column in the Miami Herald when I lived in South Florida.

[GOPBasher]

19. I'm sorry, but I think he's funny as hell.

I can't stop laughing when I read his column. :)

[Loonman]

20. It's you

n/t