Humorist Dave Barry Taking a Break From Syndicated Column

By: Dave Astor Dave Barry is taking an indefinite leave of absence from The Miami Herald and his humor column starting in January, according to a story in today's Herald.

Barry, 57, could not be reached for comment this morning. His spokesperson told E&P that Barry would evaluate his column-writing future after about a year. According to the Herald article, Barry will remain in south Florida in 2005, spend more time with his family, continue to write humor and children's books, and finish work on the screen adaptation of his book, "Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys."

The Herald added that Barry had a hectic summer covering the political conventions and Olympics, as well as doing a book-promotion tour. He has authored 25 books.

"I've never not had a column in a week in all of 30 years, even when I went on vacation," Barry told the Herald, where he has worked full time since 1983. He went on to win the 1988 Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary , and is now syndicated to more than 500 newspapers via Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services (KRT) and Tribune Media Services (TMS).

"Dave is one of a kind," Walter Mahoney, vice president of worldwide sales for TMS and KRT, told E&P. "He's one of the most talented writers I've seen in my 30 years in syndication -- and one of the funniest individuals I've ever met. We're going to miss him. Hopefully he'll come back stronger than ever."

Mahoney said it was too soon to tell what TMS/KRT will do in the meantime. Among the possibilities are offering reruns of Barry's columns and/or trying to sell other columns to fill Barry's space.

Stacy Deibler, an assistant editor at TMS, said she'll miss looking at Barry's weekly column. "He's very consistent and always funny," she told E&P.

Deibler has edited Barry's column (after it's read by KRT) for nearly a decade, and has seen some changes in the feature. She noted, for instance, that Barry several years ago started doing the column one week in advance rather than two in order to make it more timely.

The editor added that Barry's column is a little more "mature" than before. "There's more about family and colleagues," Deibler said. "It's not as focused on himself. I think this makes the column better, though some people might miss that it's not as zany as it used to be."

Barry, who will do his usual year in review before his leave begins, told the Herald that readers will be able to get their humor fix from other columnists and outlets. "And they can actually read the news, which is hilarious," he added. "That's all I read. 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.' They can do that without me."