Dave Barry, The Miami Herald‘s humor columnist for the last 20 years, is leaving the paper in January for an indefinite leave of absence.
Barry said he wants to spend more time with his family. He said he may return in a year. Read the Herald story here.
“Learning that Dave wants a breather is like hearing that Peter Pan joined the AARP,” said Herald Executive Editor Tom Fiedler. “Since Dave’s columns began appearing every Sunday in The Herald , an entire generation has been born, raised and reached adulthood, yet his unique sense of humor never grew up and never got old.”
Barry, 57, intends to stay in South Florida with his wife Michelle Kaufman, who is a Herald sportswriter, and their daughter Sophie, to write humor and children’s books and to do a movie “Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys” with British comic John Cleese.
Barry won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1988, the only humor writer ever to win the award.
“I just read the papers and go ‘Well, that’s stupid’. And I write 800 words and when it boils down to it, it’s ‘Well, that was stupid,'” Barry said.
“They can do that without me.”