Humorist Dave Barry did his best to inject a bit of levity into the depressed building industry with his keynote address today at the opening ceremony of the 2010 International Builders' Show in Las Vegas.

Barry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose syndicated column ran for 25 years in more than 500 newspapers, mused on myriad topics, including:
• His adopted hometown of Miami: "Where I moved in 1996 . . . from the United States".
• Toilets. Barry, who railed against low-flow fixtures years ago, obviously didn't read our latest report on toilets, in which several 1.28 gallon-per-flush models earned high marks. (Do a Web search for "Dave Barry toilet police." That's Barry wielding a sledgehammer over a toilet.)
• A bizarre 1970 incident involving a dead beached whale that Oregon Highway Patrol decided to blow up. Barry admitted the exploding whale offered no real advice for or connection to the building industry, though we're not so sure about that.

Barry's 30-minute monologue in front of a half-empty hall got plenty of laughs, something the show's estimated 50,000 attendees can likely use. (The National Association of Home Builders had estimated show attendance at 70,000.) But even as "Don't Stop Believin'" played over the PA, you definitely got the sense that the building industry faces a long journey before the housing market recovers.

—Daniel DiClerico