Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9406190149
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: E-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO BOOK PAGE EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The funniest stuff in Dave Barry's columns almost always comes right before or after the words "I am not making this up." As the title indicates, that's the basis of this collection and it's one of his best. Most of the pieces in it come from his recent columns, but not all of them. Some longer features have appeared only in the Miami Herald's Tropic section.
For my money, the best pieces in the book are "The Unkindest Cut of All," a laugh-out-loud examination of circumcision and censorship; his John Grisham parody, "Courtoom Confessions" and all of the bad rock song columns, beginning with "Mustang Davey."
The longer articles are about taking his boat to Bimini, visiting China, and his own in-depth investigation of the UFO sightings in Gulf Breeze, Fla. The curious mindset of the UFO crowd, some of whom are being taken seriously these days by people who really ought to know better, provides wonderful grist for Barry's mill.
Confronted by a phenomenon that is simultaneously so bizarre and so ordinary, Barry downplays his natural inclination for exaggeration and lets the humor spring from the situation.
But even then, he gets in a few of his familiar comic jabs. This is what he has to say about the idea that the government has been covering up a UFO crash in Roswell, N.M., and hiding the bodies of space aliens since 1947:
"I must admit that I found that story a tad hard to believe myself. It's not that I don't believe the government would try to hide dead aliens; it's that I don't think the government would succeed, since every time the government tries to do anything secretly, as in the Iran-contra arms deal, it winds up displaying all the finesse and stealth of an exploding cigar at a state funeral. If there really were dead aliens, I figure, there also would be daily leaks about it from High-Level Officials, and huge arguments among influential congresspersons over whose district the multimillion-dollar Federal Dead Alien Storage Facility would be located in."
That's the kind of insight - about both UFOs and government - that can be revealed through one sharp paragraph of humor more clearly and effectively than it could be through a hundred pages of conventional reportage or opinion.
Truth may or may not be stranger than fiction, but in Dave Barry's hands, it sure is funnier.
by CNB