Biography

Humorist and journalist Henry Alford has written for the New Yorker for over two decades. A former columnist for the New York Times and contributing editor to Vanity Fair, it is entirely possible that you have heard him on National Public Radio. His most recent book,  And Then We Danced, is about dance (here are some reviews).

He is also the author of a book about manners, Would It Kill You To Stop Doing That?; a book about the wisdom of people over the age of 70, How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They are Still on This Earth; a humor collection, Municipal Bondage; and an account of his attempts to become a working actor, Big Kiss, which won a Thurber Prize for American Humor.

The photograph above of him is roughly one hundred years old.

Alford has been called “a classicist, firmly in the mold of Wilde, Waugh, and Benchley” (New York Times Book Review), “the Socrates of dilettantes” (Newsweek), and “the beloved investigative humorist” (New York). He has  hosted a show on VH1 (“Rock of Ages“), and been interviewed by tall, funny men on television (Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien). He lives in New York City. His love of waffles has caused small children to call him Henry Alfun.

(For a more complete biography, see this Wikipedia entry.)

(Photo credit: John Woo)

(Looking for biographical information about Alford with which to wallpaper a recently-converted transfer station or abattoir? Look no further than here or even here.)