Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up
America's most beloved wiseass finally tells his life story with all the humor you'd expect from a man who made a career out of making fun of pretty much everything.

How does the son of a Presbyterian minister wind up winning a Pulitzer Prize for writing a wildly inaccurate newspaper column read by millions of people?

In Class Clown, Dave Barry takes us on a hilarious ride, starting with a childhood largely spent throwing rocks for entertainment-there was no internet-and preparing for nuclear war by hiding under a classroom desk. After literally getting elected class clown in high school, he went to college, where, as an English major, he read snippets of great literature when he was not busy playing in a rock band (it was the sixties).

He began his journalism career at a small-town Pennsylvania newspaper where he learned the most important rule of local journalism: never confuse a goose with a duck. His journey then took a detour into the business world, where as a writing consultant he spent years trying, with limited success, to get corporate folks to, for God's sake, get the point. Somehow from there he wound up as a humor columnist for The Miami Herald, where his boss was a wild man who encouraged him to write about anything that struck him as amusing and to never worry about alienating anyone.

His columns were not popular with everyone: He managed to alienate a vast army of Neil Diamond fans, and the entire state of Indiana. But he also developed a loyal following of readers who alerted him to the threat of exploding toilets, not to mention the fire hazards posed by strawberry pop-tarts and Rollerblade Barbie, which he demonstrated to the nation on the David Letterman show. He led his readers on a crusade against telemarketers that ultimately caused the national telemarketers association to stop answering its own phones because it was getting-irony alert-too many unwanted calls. He has also run for president multiple times, although so far without success.

He became a book author and joined a literary rock band, which was not good at playing music but did once perform with Bruce Springsteen, who sang backup to Dave. As for his literary merits, Dave writes: “I'll never have the critical acclaim of, say, Marcel Proust. But was Marcel Proust ever on Carson? Did he ever steal a hotel sign for Oprah?”

Class Clown isn't just a memoir; it's a vibrant celebration of a life rich with humor, absurdity, joy, and sadness. Dave says the most important wisdom imparted by his Midwestern parents was never to take anything too seriously. This laughter-filled book is proof that he learned that lesson well.
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Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up
America's most beloved wiseass finally tells his life story with all the humor you'd expect from a man who made a career out of making fun of pretty much everything.

How does the son of a Presbyterian minister wind up winning a Pulitzer Prize for writing a wildly inaccurate newspaper column read by millions of people?

In Class Clown, Dave Barry takes us on a hilarious ride, starting with a childhood largely spent throwing rocks for entertainment-there was no internet-and preparing for nuclear war by hiding under a classroom desk. After literally getting elected class clown in high school, he went to college, where, as an English major, he read snippets of great literature when he was not busy playing in a rock band (it was the sixties).

He began his journalism career at a small-town Pennsylvania newspaper where he learned the most important rule of local journalism: never confuse a goose with a duck. His journey then took a detour into the business world, where as a writing consultant he spent years trying, with limited success, to get corporate folks to, for God's sake, get the point. Somehow from there he wound up as a humor columnist for The Miami Herald, where his boss was a wild man who encouraged him to write about anything that struck him as amusing and to never worry about alienating anyone.

His columns were not popular with everyone: He managed to alienate a vast army of Neil Diamond fans, and the entire state of Indiana. But he also developed a loyal following of readers who alerted him to the threat of exploding toilets, not to mention the fire hazards posed by strawberry pop-tarts and Rollerblade Barbie, which he demonstrated to the nation on the David Letterman show. He led his readers on a crusade against telemarketers that ultimately caused the national telemarketers association to stop answering its own phones because it was getting-irony alert-too many unwanted calls. He has also run for president multiple times, although so far without success.

He became a book author and joined a literary rock band, which was not good at playing music but did once perform with Bruce Springsteen, who sang backup to Dave. As for his literary merits, Dave writes: “I'll never have the critical acclaim of, say, Marcel Proust. But was Marcel Proust ever on Carson? Did he ever steal a hotel sign for Oprah?”

Class Clown isn't just a memoir; it's a vibrant celebration of a life rich with humor, absurdity, joy, and sadness. Dave says the most important wisdom imparted by his Midwestern parents was never to take anything too seriously. This laughter-filled book is proof that he learned that lesson well.
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Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up

Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up

by Dave Barry

Narrated by Dave Barry

Unabridged — 7 hours, 10 minutes

Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up

Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up

by Dave Barry

Narrated by Dave Barry

Unabridged — 7 hours, 10 minutes

FREE

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Overview

America's most beloved wiseass finally tells his life story with all the humor you'd expect from a man who made a career out of making fun of pretty much everything.

How does the son of a Presbyterian minister wind up winning a Pulitzer Prize for writing a wildly inaccurate newspaper column read by millions of people?

In Class Clown, Dave Barry takes us on a hilarious ride, starting with a childhood largely spent throwing rocks for entertainment-there was no internet-and preparing for nuclear war by hiding under a classroom desk. After literally getting elected class clown in high school, he went to college, where, as an English major, he read snippets of great literature when he was not busy playing in a rock band (it was the sixties).

He began his journalism career at a small-town Pennsylvania newspaper where he learned the most important rule of local journalism: never confuse a goose with a duck. His journey then took a detour into the business world, where as a writing consultant he spent years trying, with limited success, to get corporate folks to, for God's sake, get the point. Somehow from there he wound up as a humor columnist for The Miami Herald, where his boss was a wild man who encouraged him to write about anything that struck him as amusing and to never worry about alienating anyone.

His columns were not popular with everyone: He managed to alienate a vast army of Neil Diamond fans, and the entire state of Indiana. But he also developed a loyal following of readers who alerted him to the threat of exploding toilets, not to mention the fire hazards posed by strawberry pop-tarts and Rollerblade Barbie, which he demonstrated to the nation on the David Letterman show. He led his readers on a crusade against telemarketers that ultimately caused the national telemarketers association to stop answering its own phones because it was getting-irony alert-too many unwanted calls. He has also run for president multiple times, although so far without success.

He became a book author and joined a literary rock band, which was not good at playing music but did once perform with Bruce Springsteen, who sang backup to Dave. As for his literary merits, Dave writes: “I'll never have the critical acclaim of, say, Marcel Proust. But was Marcel Proust ever on Carson? Did he ever steal a hotel sign for Oprah?”

Class Clown isn't just a memoir; it's a vibrant celebration of a life rich with humor, absurdity, joy, and sadness. Dave says the most important wisdom imparted by his Midwestern parents was never to take anything too seriously. This laughter-filled book is proof that he learned that lesson well.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

03/17/2025

Pulitzer-winning humorist Barry (Swamp Story) looks back at his childhood hijinks, journalistic exploits, and notable columns in this revealing if bumpy memoir. Aiming to account for what led him to “fame and fortune,” he starts with his Presbyterian minister father and darkly comic mother. Amusing anecdotes about his parents (“Don’t drown, kids!” his mother shouted “in the cheerful voice of a fifties TV-commercial housewife” as her children went for a swim) give context to Barry’s natural comedic impulse and bring a levity that counterbalances otherwise harrowing recollections of his father’s alcoholism and his mother’s suicide. Barry also offers a riotous chronicle of his rise in journalism, from chasing two-bit local stories about “an unusually large zucchini” to writing an anything-goes weekly humor column at the Miami Herald. Recalling how he gave “bat urine” as a tasting note at a Waldorf Astoria sommelier contest and paid $8,000 to rent a helicopter for the perfect shot of the 1987 Long Island garbage barge, Barry captures a fantastically uninhibited “Golden Age of Journalism Expense Accounts.” Selections from Barry’s columns sometimes serve to bolster his recollections—like his final devastating meeting with his mother—but more often bog the narrative down, particularly a punishing chapter dedicated to his coverage of every presidential election from 1984 to 2020. It makes for an uneven mix of heartfelt reflection and greatest hits compilation. (May)

Scott Turow

"Dave Barry, who decades ago retired the trophy as America’s funniest writer, is a great writer, period — a master of every word. Class Clown is rib-achingly funny, but also wise and tender and piercingly honest, the story of a life dedicated to the truths that so often can only be spoken through humor."

The Washington Post - Donald Liebenson

Class Clown is the prolific writer’s first real memoir, and it’s as poignant as it is funny. . . . Barry is to humor what Stephen King is to horror."

Mary Karr

"Dave Barry is incapable of writing a dull sentence. But he doesn’t skim over the dark parts—personal or professional—in this memoir, and his joie de vivre left me feeling more buoyant than when I set out. CLASS CLOWN is destined to become a classic."

The Washington Post - David von Drehle

"[Barry] he honed his comedy with craftsmanship worthy of P.G. Wodehouse or Dorothy Parker, and he became the most popular humor columnist of his generation. . . . Barry reconstructs his life more than remembers it, stitching his story together from things he wrote at the time. Because those pieces were so wonderfully funny, sampling them again is a delight for his fans."

Mitch Albom

Everyone who meets Dave Barry says ‘he’s the funniest guy I know.’ But the story behind this funny guy is also - surprise! - funny. And heartfelt, tender, colorful, fascinating, and really, really funny. You’ll love it!"

Steve Martin

"Hilarious, laugh-out-loud, riotous, incredibly funny. I wish Dave worked for me so I could make him stand in front of me and amuse me constantly. But for now, we have this wonderful book. It's really really delightful and a great read."

The New York Times - Dwight Garner

"[Barry's] prose style hasn’t matured. . . . It’s as ideally sophomoric as ever, if more rueful around the edges, what with civilization aflame and all that. . . . . Class Clown, as funny books go, is a home run."

Amy Tan

"Dave Barry is by far the greatest author of his generation. And I’m not just saying that because he kidnapped my dog.

Stephen King

"Laugh-out-loud funny, and as a bonus: heartfelt and incisive."

"Weekend Edition," NPR - Scott Simon

"Class Clown is funny, and that makes some of the recollections that are darkest and probably hardest stand out."

Booklist

"Well, it’s about time. At the age of 77, Pulitzer Prize–winning humor writer and novelist Barry has written a memoir. And it’s a hell of a lot of fun. . . . He seems genuinely humble, genuinely astonished at how he’s made an entire career out of writing funny stuff, and genuinely a nice guy. Hilariously funny, too."

S.E. Hinton

"Right now I’m reading a whole lot of Dave Barry because of the election. You can’t read a page without laughing."

Library Journal

04/18/2025

Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist and novelist Barry (Swamp Story) reflects on his life and literary career in this wise-cracking memoir. Barry explains his early years and how his parents shaped his sense of humor and reluctance never to take things too seriously. He also remembers how one larger-than-life boss at the Miami Herald launched the young man who was voted class clown in high school into a journalism career where humor and amusement always took center stage. Barry's memoir is equal parts CV of his literary career and highlight reel of his most amusing humor columns, plus the funniest of the hate mail he's received, illustrated with excerpts throughout. From local newspapers to campaign trails to The Oprah Winfrey Show, Barry has covered a lot of ground in his decades-long career. Not many people can say they're in a rock band with Stephen King or had Bruce Springsteen sing backup vocals for them, but Barry can. VERDICT Lifelong fans of Barry will enjoy the familiar rhythm of his humorous (and sometimes satirical) storytelling, and first-time readers will enjoy his candid, unpretentious voice and hilarious anecdotes spanning nearly 80 years.—Alana R. Quarles

Product Details

BN ID: 2940191078748
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: 05/13/2025
Edition description: Unabridged
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