Dave Barry, the former Miami Herald humor columnist, has a voice heard through massive syndication, a funny book empire and a rocking group with other writers of note, a one-time sitcom based on his life and a Pulitzer Prize to prove it. He also has a criminally side-splitting blog at his website, Davebarry.com, a self-described "terrible" rock band with writers Stephen King, Amy Tan and others, a series of bestselling children's books (Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves and Peter and the Secret of Rundoon) co-written with Ridley Pearson, and the ability to mild-manneredly poke fun at pretty much anything.

The guy laments a political season that had "17,000 leading presidential contenders, plus, of course, Dennis Kucinich; held roughly 63,000 debates, during which they spewed out roughly 153 trillion words; and yet the only truly memorable phrase emitted in any political context was, "Don't tase me, bro!" But, oddly enough, the comic madman who comes to SUNY-New Paltz on Wednesday, November 12 in the school's Wellness Center Gymnasium wants this unending source of material to stop. "Of course Palin will not go away anytime soon, so yes, I want it to stop," said Barry. "The only one who will really disappear would be Biden - only, of course, if he wins."

"Look, my job is to sit around in my underwear and make things up, so the only real-life advice I have for college students is to, well, not graduate. Always take a credit short, at least for a while!"

In much the same way as one asks a great musician about what they listen to, one must wonder what makes Barry chuckle. "Lots of stuff. South Park makes me laugh; Family Guy, often. Jon Stewart makes me laugh...Carl Hiaasen...My 7-year-old daughter makes me laugh, but not always intentionally. I like to see things as funny, partly because that's the way I've always been. That's something I've learned to do. That's how I make a living, thinking, 'What's funny about this?'"

Considering that the election season is upon us, we often have heard about Barry's numerous runs for national office. His platform, at least in part, contains this gem regarding our voting process: "I would keep the Electoral College, but turn it into a real college, with a football team and fraternity houses smelling of beer and vomit."

After his 8 p.m. presentation, a dessert reception with Barry will be held for premium seat attendees. Tickets are available online at www.newpaltz.edu/speakerseries. The Parker Theatre box office is open for in-person and phone sales: (845) 257-3880. Bleacher seating general admission ticket cost is $10; reserved floor seating ticket cost is $25; and reserved floor seating ticket cost for faculty, staff, students and seniors is $20. Premium seat tickets, which include the post-event dessert reception with Barry, cost $35.