Benchley's humor inspired a number of later humorists and filmmakers. Dave Barry, author, onetime humor writer for the "Miami Herald", and judge of the 2006 and 2007 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor, has called Benchley his "idol" and he "always wanted to write like Horace Digby claimed that, "[More than anyone else, Robert Benchley influenced early writing style." Outsider filmmaker Sidney N. Laverents lists Benchley as an influence as well, and James Thurber used Benchley as a reference point, citing Benchley's penchant for presenting "the commonplace as remarkable" in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." In 1944, Benchley starred as Mitty in an adaptation of the story for the radio anthology series, This Is My Best.