Dave Barry: "Class Clown"

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? America's most beloved wiseass, Dave Barry, 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. Barry will be interviewed by Mark Bazer of The Interview Show on WTTW. Books will be sold at the event and Barry will sign them following the program.

This is event takes place at Chicago Hope Academy. The entrance to the auditorium is through the parking lot at 2156 W. Ogden Ave., Chicago, IL 60612. This lot can be used for parking, as well as additional street parking on neighboring streets. Please leave enough time for transportation and parking. The program begins promptly at 6:00 pm CT.

AWM Members: use the code sent to you via email for 15% off your order!

More about Class Clown:

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.

DAVE BARRY is the author of more bestsellers than you can count on two hands, including Swamp Story, Lessons from Lucy, Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys, Dave Barry Turns Forty, and Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up. A wildly popular syndicated columnist best known for his booger jokes, Barry won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. He lives in Miami.

MARK BAZER is the host and executive producer of The Interview Show, a live talk show filmed at The Hideout that ran for six seasons on WTTW, Chicago's PBS station, and was syndicated through American Public Television. The show is currently held at both The Hideout and FitzGerald's and is available as a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Mark also frequently moderates events for Chicago Humanities and is a contributing writer for Chicago magazine. He last interviewed Dave Barry in 1997, so they have some catching up to do.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

2156 W Ogden Ave, 2156 West Ogden Avenue, Chicago, United States