Class Clown

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

De: Dave Barry

Narrado por: Dave Barry

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.

©2025 Dave Barry (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

More than good enough, though less than the very best memoirs

If you like Dave Barry and miss hearing him, this is a slam dunk. He is as funny and relatable as ever, and the flexibility of a book keeps him from some of the tropes and repetition his weekly column required 20+ years ago. Some of those columns are excerpted throughout the book, though it is a standalone original work without those.

The first couple chapters, about his parents, are as good as memoir gets. He captures the Baby Boomer childhood experience as well as Bill Bryson in Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, which is the highest praise I can give in that respect. He also processes and describes his parents in moving and honest personal style. Those chapters rate 7 stars out of 5. Proustian, dare I say it.

Then he acknowledge his first two marriages but makes the decision — understandable! — not to give those parts of his life the same honest treatment. From then the book shifts into something lesser. It’s a fine, humorous review of his career. But it lacks the honesty and reflection of truly great memoir. That’s fine! But I would love if Dave gave his marriages and parenthood and siblings the same treatment he gives his parents, even if just with instructions to publish it when they’re all dead. He’s that good a writer.

Reflections on the newspaper industry as it once was, and on his experiences with TV and Hollywood, were also unexpected treats.

The narration by author is good. He chokes up a bit at the parts where you will choke up a bit too, and that honesty and openness is both effective and appreciated.