TWO WILD AND CRAZY LUNATICS

OK, so one of my idols is Dave Barry.  I admit it.  A hilarious, great writer, often tending toward off-color bodily function man humor.  Anyone who knows me would tell you that’s not my cup of tea, normally.  At least the gross-out bodily function/man humor part; the rest is exactly my cup.  (NO SEX-RELATED CUP JOKES HERE, PLEASE.)  But really, the guy is just so darn funny, how can you not love him?  And guess what, he’s kind of a good writer, too.  And it seems I’m not the only one to think so—turns out, he won a Pulitzer Prize!  Restores my faith in humanity, that does, I tell you.

So the other day, I was looking through the Events Calendar for my favorite book store in the world, The Poisoned Pen, in Scottsdale.  The owner, Barbara Peters,

Barbara Peters

has this just unbelievably great program she started many years ago, where she has authors of new books come in and do a talk and a book signing.  And boy, has she grown the program over the years.  There’s a Coffee and Crime Club, there’s a Hardboiled Crime Club, there’s even a Nancy Drew Club, if you can believe it.  (If she creates a Trixie Belden Club, I’ll think I’ve died and gone to heaven, I swear.).  There’s now a book signing/author appearance virtually every day or evening.  Sometimes twice a day!  And sometimes there are even added fun festivities to accompany the author—an afternoon tea, a pot-luck dinner.  One Saturday evening, my friend Deb and I brought our pot luck dishes (Deb: granola cookies, me: peanut butter fudge) and watched a special viewing of the latest PBS Mystery series.  I believe it was an episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett that evening, and we were even served an extra bonus of the latest Foyle’s War, which PBS was about to run in a week or two.  So neat!  Anyway, every event is fun and full of people who love to read and interesting authors and, usually, the interesting and extremely well-read (and well-traveled) Barbara Peters, who is a great interviewer, to boot.  So it’s always a treat, even if you’ve never heard of the author.

So like I said, I was checking out their Events Calendar the other day.  And who do I see coming up?  Dave Barry.  Wait, Dave Barry?!!  Whoop dee doo!  He was coming on the upcoming Friday night to talk about his latest book, LUNATICS!,
along with his co-author Alan Zweibel.  Who is Alan Zweibel, you ask?  (I did.)  Well.  Turns out, he’s no slouch, himself.  No Pulitzer, no, but how about the Thurber Prize for American Humor?  One of the original writers of Saturday Night Live?  How about the originator of the characters Roseanne Roseannadanna
and John Belushi's Samurai?  Writer on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show?  Monk?  Curb Your Enthusiasm? 700 Sundays (Billy Crystal’s one-man show)?  How ‘bout that?   So, just to be clear: this is one funny guy.

And Alan Zweibel plus Dave Barry?
Makes for two funny guys.

So Steve and I were lucky enough to go to The Poisoned Pen last Friday and enjoy these two funny guys.  And let me tell you, they’re not just funny on paper.  They’re pretty darn funny sitting on stools, too.  It was just a real treat.  They told funny (duh) stories about their careers, about each other, about writing the book, and about just stuff in general.

(Including quite a few stories, told gleefully by Dave, about Alan’s large head.  Go figure.  And even that was—wait for it—funny.) 

After they talked, we all lined up, cattle that we are (and I have to say some sheep—who just couldn’t quite seem to understand how to line up numerically by the NUMBER WE WERE HOLDING), to get a moment in person with the Two Funny Guys and get their autographs on our own personal copy of their new book.  (Called LUNATICS!  Did I mention that?  Yes, I know I did.)  A really cool thing was that these guys are about as regular and down-to-earth as you can get.  Very friendly, very nice, very approachable.  And yet, by the time I got to the front of the line (I was Number 10), my palms were sweating, my heart pounding.  I mean, Dave Barry!  And (now that I know who he is), Alan Zweibel!  A great moment to come.

I explain to Dave and Al how to write humor

So as I stood in line, I prepared to be my most interesting, mature, impressive, sophisticated self.  And when it was my turn?  I sat down and started babbling like a school girl.  I mean, I knew I only had about two minutes to express my admiration while, at the same time, letting them see how cool I am, as well. And as a result, I believe they hardly got a word in edgewise.  But they were both so kind and pretended to find me normal, signed my book (with a very nice little note that I won’t quote here, because if I do, I’m sure I’ll hear from hundreds of others saying that’s exactly what they wrote in their book—and I couldn’t stand to hear it), and both shook my hand at the end.  What a thrill!  And guess what?  In person, face-to-face, talking to me, they were nice, quick-witted, and yes, funny, darn it.

Dave shakes my hand.  See how nice? 

So thank you, Barbara.  Thank you, Alan. And thank you, Dave.  And thank you to Steve, my photographer for the evening.  An evening to remember and laugh about for a long time!  How cool is that? 

Just my humble (but always correct) opinion.

(By the way, have you ever met your idol?)