My name is Brad Dickson and I've been appearing in the World-Herald for more than two years commenting on major sporting events such as the World Series of Beer Pong and the Lithuanian Barrel Jumping Finals, and more recently on local, national and international news.
If you've read the column you know you won't get a lot of hard information, knowledge or insight from it. The World-Herald has plenty of writers who do all that for you. My job is to provide a little laughter and a bit of levity.
I've been writing topical humor for a few years and was a monologue writer for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" for more than a decade. To create my columns I pretty much go over the events of the day, large and small, and try to turn them into something humorous.
Some days are easy, such as when it's announced that Norfolk is getting a women's roller derby team, or when Council Bluffs unveils over an overpass a multi-million dollar sculpture possibly made of old Buick carburetors. In my line of work you live for those moments.
Frankly, I was a little surprised the paper asked me to come on full time. I grew up in Omaha — my first job was delivering the World-Herald, and Hank Fishcoff on North 73rd Street you still owe me 1.13 in unpaid collections — and to me The World Herald was not a place you looked for comedy. The paper was so staid even some of the comics were serious.
I can't think of a better place to do what I do than Omaha, a city where eventually every citizen will get to serve a stint as mayor.
I'll do my best to entertain you and to give you a look at the news with a humorous slant. Please feel free to offer suggestions. I'm always looking for grist for the column. If you hear about a mandolin-playing kangaroo in Budapest or an NBA mascot who gets his zipper stuck on the backboard, I want to know about it.
If you want to get in touch send me an email at brad25r@aol.com or a tweet — I'm @brad_dickson on twitter.
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