The Secret of Dave Barry’s Humor: Class Clown Memoir and Florida Tales

The James Altucher Show

James Altucher

Society & Culture, Talk Radio, Writer, Philosophy, Comedy, Chess, How To, Entrepreneurship, Jay, James, The James Altucher Show, Altucher, Author, Jay Yow, Education, Jay The Engineer, Business, James Altucher

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A Note from James:

One of the funniest guys I’ve ever spoken to—Dave Barry. I always love talking to him. He’s been America’s top humorist since the early ’80s with a syndicated column in 500 newspapers and a long list of bestselling books. This is his third time on the podcast, and his latest book, Class Clown: Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass, is out now.

We get into everything—his process, his adventures, and his signature style of humor that’s made him a legend. It’s always fun with Dave.

Episode Description:

James sits down with Dave Barry to explore the surprising journey behind his new memoir, Class Clown. Dave shares how his humor evolved from playful everyman columns to a more personal, story-driven style. They talk about his outrageous adventures, from picking up his son in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to getting booed by telemarketers and dedicating a sewage station in his honor. They also break down the shifting landscape of writing, how syndication shaped Dave’s career, and why modern humor feels trapped in political silos.

This is a rare chance to hear how one of America’s greatest humorists built a career by doing things to write about them—and why his readers became his closest allies.

What You’ll Learn:

Why Dave Barry was initially reluctant to write a memoir.
How performing outrageous stunts became central to his writing.
The critical role of reader engagement in building the success of his humor column.
How the writing industry—and the path to building an audience—has radically changed.
Dave’s candid perspective on modern political humor and why neutrality feels impossible today.

Timestamped Chapters:

[00:00] Introduction to Dave Barry
[01:00] Writing a Memoir: The Journey Begins
[02:00] The Humorist’s Approach: Balancing Persona and Reality
[03:00] Adventures in Journalism: Creating Stories by Living Them
[05:00] Tactical Humor: Rivalries, Stunts, and Getting Involved
[08:00] When Humor Becomes the Story: Telemarketers and Public Reaction
[12:00] Building a Community: How Dave Engaged His Readers
[17:00] The Syndication Era: How Writing Used to Pay
[23:00] The New Writing Economy: Substack and the Digital Shift
[28:00] Assault Humor and the Loss of Neutral Comedy
[31:00] What’s Next: Substack, Slowing Down, and Florida’s Wild Identity
[35:00] Writing Novels vs. Columns: Dave’s Fast-Paced Storytelling Style
[41:00] Stand-Up Comedy and the Influence of Nate Bargatze
[44:00] Comedy Club Lessons: James on Bombing and Recovery
[46:00] Criticism: Dave’s Approach to Bad Reviews
[47:00] Farewell: Dave’s Thoughts on Humor, Writing, and Legacy

Additional Resources:

📖 Class Clown: Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass by Dave Barry
📖 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
🎤 Nate Bargatze Official Website
🎤 Jim Gaffigan Official Website
🎤 Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72
🎤 P.J. O'Rourke’s Official Website (archived)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	One of the funniest guys I've ever spoken to, and I always enjoy speaking to Dave Barry.
0:08.3	He's basically been America's top humorist for about five decades since the early 80s.
0:15.6	And he had a column that was syndicated in 500 newspapers, so written a ton of books.
0:20.4	And this is his third time on the podcast.
0:21.9	But his latest book is Class Clown,
0:24.8	the memoirs of a professional wise ass.
0:27.1	We get deep into it in this episode.
0:30.9	This isn't your average business podcast,
0:33.7	and he's not your average host.
0:35.9	This is the James Altiger Show.
0:48.9	So Dave, Barry, author of a memoir.
0:52.5	You've written all these books,
0:53.6	now you finally write a memoir.
0:55.1	What kind of, why did you do that? Several reasons. Probably the most kind of commercial one was,
1:02.1	like, I need all. I'd finished the book a couple years ago, a novel. And I was talking with my editor
1:09.3	and my age, the way you do, like, what's going
1:11.7	next book going to be. And gradually, we came around to memoirs or popular. People like memoirs.
1:18.3	I was initially reluctant, but they convinced me that it was a good idea. Why were you reluctant?
1:23.6	Because, like, all my life, you know, I've written a lot about myself, but it's know written a lot about myself but it's always been
1:28.5	not really about myself it's kind of using me as the every man character to write humor so i made a lot
1:35.7	jokes i kind of present a persona the humor you know the wacky humor guy persona but there's always
1:41.4	been a little distance between me and, you know, the written word
	...

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