One of the columnists I read regularly is Dave Barry. He no longer writes a column, but his old classics get delivered to my email’s inbox every week.
I signed up to receive Dave’s newsletter from the Miami Herald every Tuesday and I look forward to reading them; especially when I’m struggling to find the “funny†for the topic I’ve chosen to write about with my own column.
Dave’s sense of humor makes me laugh out loud. Reading his column is like having a treat for my eyes as well as my mood. While I’m reading, I love anticipating how he will string his words together. His writing style gives me the motivation, inspiration, and sometimes the pick-me-up that my writing day needs.
Not only is he able to point out the obvious and oftentimes the naked truth about women, marriage, parenting, etc. in his columns, he writes what’s funny about real-life stuff that most people tend to overlook as funny. I can relate to many of the things he writes about, and consider that a sign of a good humorist/columnist.
As far as humor columnists go, I consider Dave the master of surprising the reader; not just at the end, but throughout his column. He does a very good job at leading the reader into a predictable direction until he or she knows what Dave’s going say ne xtin his column, then steers the reader completely off the road unsuspectingly. The way he does it is what I like the best about his column. His stuff is a treat to read for me and my humor writing is highly influenced by Dave Barry’s writing style. I oftentimes read his columns for humor inspiration. He’s the kind of writer that I want to read more of when I finish a column.
If you’ve never been exposed to Dave Barry’s sense of humor, you can visit his website and read some of his columns there, read his blog (which is mostly his comments regarding interesting articles sent to him from readers), or read his old classics from the Miami Herald like I do (you can receive them weekly like I do by signing up for his newsletter through the Miami Herald).
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