# Dave Barry retires; I am not making this up **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749 "2005-01-02T22:40:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/1 "2005-01-02T22:40:32Z")
I searched but didn’t see another thread on [this](http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/10546245.htm?1c): > [@](#): > > So this is a great job. And yet I’m quitting it, at least for now. I want to stop before I join the horde of people who think I used to be funnier. Honestly I haven’t read him regularly in a few years, but I used to without fail. I can’t think of another writer who’s made me do that cackling, gut-holding laugh as many times as he has. The article says he may come back; I hope he does, and I hope he enjoys whatever he does in the meantime. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/2 "2005-01-02T23:08:19Z")
My newspaper said he was taking a yearlong sabbatical (during which time the newspaper would rerun old columns). I haven’t read what you tried to link to; it wants me to register. His columns _have_ been getting a little repetitive/predictable lately. If he comes back refreshed, or if he writes more novels, I’d consider the time off a Good Thing. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/3 "2005-01-02T23:22:02Z")
This is kinda old news, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/4 "2005-01-02T23:32:47Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > This is kinda old news, isn’t it? Well, yeah, but his last original column (for at least a while) ran today. I, too, will miss the booger jokes, and never ever thought or said, “You used to be funnier.” ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/5 "2005-01-03T00:58:35Z")
Actually, the headline on his column caught my eye today - it was indeed news to me. Of course, that tells you that I probably don’t regularly read his column and keep up on his activities. So I can’t be the only one this was news to this morning, can I? ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/6 "2005-01-03T01:09:46Z")
He has a blog, but it’s mostly links, not writing. Looks like he’s still keeping it up, at least for now. [http://weblog.herald.com/column/davebarry/](http://weblog.herald.com/column/davebarry/) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/7 "2005-01-03T01:37:01Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > (during which time the newspaper would rerun old columns). Christ…first Schulz, now Barry. Another twenny years and all the papers will be running is recycled shit from dead/retired guys. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/8 "2005-01-03T02:01:26Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Christ…first Schulz, now Barry. Another twenny years and all the papers will be running is recycled shit from dead/retired guys. … not the **Chicago Reader** … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/9 "2005-01-03T02:08:21Z")
That’s it, then. Like Larson, Watterson, and Breathed, he’ll come back for a year or so, then decide that he’d rather spend his time doing whale demolitions, and we’ll never hear from him again. Damn. That blows. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/10 "2005-01-03T02:09:14Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Christ…first Schulz, now Barry. Another twenny years and all the papers will be running is recycled shit from dead/retired guys. What’s wrong with that? | | | / ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/11 "2005-01-03T02:10:22Z")
Check sig link ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/12 "2005-01-03T02:55:50Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > That’s it, then. Like Larson, Watterson, and Breathed, he’ll come back for a year or so, then decide that he’d rather spend his time doing whale demolitions, and we’ll never hear from him again. Huh? I didn’t follow Larson’s career, but Watterson stopped drawing _Calvin & Hobbes_ in 1995 and AFAIK has not been heard from since, except to write the text for the _C&H Sunday Pages_ exhibition and book in 2001. And IIRC, Breathed stopped _Bloom County_, started up _Outland_ a few years later, stopped it after just a year or two, and then just started up _Opus_ in 2004. What’s all this about whale demolitions, anyway? Was Larson or one of the others involved in that attempt to blow up a beached whale carcass? (Seems unlikely to me.) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/13 "2005-01-03T03:04:25Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Huh? > > I didn’t follow Larson’s career, but Watterson stopped drawing _Calvin & Hobbes_ in 1995 and AFAIK has not been heard from since, except to write the text for the _C&H Sunday Pages_ exhibition and book in 2001. And IIRC, Breathed stopped _Bloom County_, started up _Outland_ a few years later, stopped it after just a year or two, and then just started up _Opus_ in 2004. > > What’s all this about whale demolitions, anyway? Was Larson or one of the others involved in that attempt to blow up a beached whale carcass? (Seems unlikely to me.) Both Watterson and Larson took a year off during their strips run, when they came back to drawing the strips, they only stayed a short period of time before they retired again, this time permantly. The whale demolitions is a reference to a video clip Barry had on his website, showing the folks in WA state trying to dispose of a beached whale carcass by blowing it up. Can you say, flying sushi? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/14 "2005-01-03T03:52:22Z")
I had forgotten about Watterson’s sabbaticals. Now that I look it up, he took two, one from May 5, 1991 to Feb. 1, 1992, and the second April 3 - Dec. 31, 1994. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/15 "2005-01-03T04:23:27Z")
It wasn’t news to me, but it was still a little sad to read his last column today. And was it just me, or did he not leave us with a _single_ band name? (With the possible exception of “Rollerblade Barbie,” which I actually kinda like but don’t see the folks at Mattel being happy about . . .) > [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > My newspaper said he was taking a yearlong sabbatical (during which time the newspaper would rerun old columns). My understanding from today’s column is that he is, indeed, taking a year-long sabbatical, but what will happen at the end of said year is still up in the air. I don’t know whether the _Washington Post_ requires registration; I have a feeling the answer is “yes,” but you’re welcome to try [this link](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35015-2004Dec29.html). ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/16 "2005-01-03T04:23:38Z")
Dave Barry was hilarious in the 1980s - much more political and punchy. If he recognises that he’s lost that edge, good for him. Maybe in future he’ll come up with a good book occasionally, or do screenplays with Carl Hiaasen? Something like that. I won’t miss the column - I rarely get all the way through it these days. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/17 "2005-01-03T12:28:36Z")
Here’s a link to the last column through the [New York Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/01-02-2005/news/story/267236p-228950c.html) I don’t think they require registration. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/18 "2005-01-03T12:58:41Z")
Does anyone outside America think Dave Barry is actually FUNNY? His column used to be syndicated in The Daily Yomiuri {an English language newspaper} in Japan, and among anyone but North Americans, they elicited nothing but stony silences, with faint overtones of pity: “Have you ever taken a two-year old on a plane? Poopy Diapers! Woo-hoo! Band name! The 9/11 terrorists didn’t need knives, they could have used Poopy Diapers! Boogers! Band Name! Have I reached 1000 words yet? Poopy Booger Diapers! Band Name! I am not making this up, I’m being paid by the word. Woo-hoo!” ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/19 "2005-01-03T13:30:48Z")
This is alarmingly close to a “Write Your Own Dave Barry Column” that Dave included in his book _Dave Barry In Cyberspace._ ( **Disclaimer** : I like Dave’s stuff, although he’s absolutely right: He used to be funnier.) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749/20 "2005-01-03T15:54:45Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > I haven’t read what you tried to link to; it wants me to register. Have you tried [this?](http://www.bugmenot.com/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dave-barry-retires-i-am-not-making-this-up/282749.md?page=2)