Robert Kirby (humor columnist)

Quick Facts

Intro

Journalist and writer

Writer Journalist

Work field

Journalism Literature

Gender

Male

The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Robert Kirby (born 1953 in California) is an American writer. He is the longtime humorist for the Salt Lake Tribune, often focusing on quirks of Utah and Mormon culture.

Biography

Kirby was born into a military family. After completing high school he served a two-year mission in Uruguay for his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he learned to speak Spanish. Upon his return he pursued a career in law enforcement. His first work as a policeman was with the Grantsville Police Department and later Springville, Utah police department (1979). While taking night classes at nearby Brigham Young University Kirby began writing columns for the local newspapers, first the Springville Daily Herald, and later the Utah County Journal (writing under the pen name Officer "Blitz" Kreeg).

In 1989 Kirby decided to leave police work and devote himself to full-time writing. He has written a column for the Salt Lake Tribune since 1994, and has written at least nine books.

Kirby is a popular convention speaker, and travels widely to appear at conventions and meetings.

His newspaper columns have won several regional awards.

Samples of his newspaper column humor are widely available online.

Writing style

Kirby, who is active in the LDS Church, often writes about its teachings and how its members interpret those teachings in their daily lives. Since most of the Salt Lake Tribune's readership is non-Mormon, Kirby attempts to explain (usually in a humorous way) the Mormon way of thinking to outsiders. He refers to himself as an "OxyMormon". This approach either alienates those Latter-day Saints who feel their beliefs should not be satirized, or endears itself to the reader. Despite this discordant reception, Kirby has never faced church discipline and was once quoted favorably in the LDS Church's General Conference.