More than just a redneck

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After 36 years, comedy legend continues to generate laughs, in the simplest way

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  • The setup for a Jeff Foxworthy performance in 2020 is very ordinary: a stool, a water bottle and a microphone. A simple set for a simple man. Photos by Kevin Hensley/editor@grahamstar.com
    The setup for a Jeff Foxworthy performance in 2020 is very ordinary: a stool, a water bottle and a microphone. A simple set for a simple man. Photos by Kevin Hensley/editor@grahamstar.com
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Jeff Foxworthy performs at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort on Saturday.

Cherokee – It has often been said that comedians get their best material from their everyday lives.

Jeff Foxworthy subscribed to that very formula in 1984, and 36 years later the Hapeville, Ga., native is still creating new ways to solicit laughter from his audience.

“My daughter came to see me in a little club in Atlanta the other night and she said, ‘Dad, you’ve done something really cool: the people that are millennials are laughing, and the people that are 65 are laughing,’ “ the 58-year-old Foxworthy said. “That’s awesome. That’s what I want to do. I want to connect with people.

“I have always had a passion for comedy. The first night I got on stage, I had no idea what I was doing. I was a nervous wreck. But I knew a minute and a half into it, ‘This is it. This is what I want to do.’ I still feel that way.”

Foxworthy has resoundingly reached a wide audience. He is a multi-platinum recording artist, the host of a syndicated game show (Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?), a self-titled sitcom that ran for two seasons in the 1990s, and he joined Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White on the wildly successful Blue Collar Comedy Tour.

While it took for a while for Foxworthy to find his niche, it was a happen occurrence that sparked an idea.

“I grew up a rural kid; I always hunted and fished,” he said. “As I’m doing comedy, I’m wearing jeans and boots, and driving a pickup truck. I’m talking about deer hunting when I’m not on stage. It was always good natured, but it was always, ‘Eh, Foxworthy, you’re just an old redneck from Georgia.’

“One night, I’m playing at a comedy club in Lavonia, Mich., and after the show, we were sitting around the bar, and they were kidding me about being a redneck. The club was attached to a bowling alley that had valet parking. I said, ‘OK, stop. If you don’t think you have rednecks in Michigan, go look out the window. People are valet parking at the bowling alley.’

“I went to my hotel and I thought, ‘OK, I’m looking for a way to make people laugh. I know what I am, but apparently, a lot of people don’t. Here’s 10 ways to tell.’ I tried it the next night, and not only were people laughing, but they were pointing at each other.”

The rest is history.

‘The redneck guy’

“I certainly wasn’t smart enough to know that this was going to be a hook, book or calendars,” Foxworthy said. “I dug my heels in because early on, I would take trips to New York and I would have guys telling me, ‘Yo, Jeff, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but you gotta take voice lessons. You gotta lose that stupid accent.’ And I would tell them, ‘Well, where I come from, you have the stupid accent.’

“I was real stubborn about it. A quarter of the country talks this way. Leno isn’t losing his accent. Seinfeld isn’t losing his accent. Why should I lose mine?’

“I wrote 10 (one-liners), then I wrote 30, then I wrote 100, then I wrote 300. Then I thought, ‘This would make a good book.’ I got turned down by the first 14 publishers, and the 15th one called me up and said, ‘Hey, this is kinda funny. How does $1,500 sound?’

“Later, I was sitting at his desk and asked him, ‘How many do you think we’ll sell?’ He said, ‘Oh, I bet we’ll sell 5,000 of them.’ That book sold 4.5 million copies. That’s what made people go, ‘Oh, it’s that guy. He’s the redneck guy.’ “

Foxworthy brought his routine to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort on Saturday. Performing in front of a packed crowd inside the Event Center, Foxworthy had fans in stitches for 90 minutes. The comedy was clean and, most of all, relatable.

“Comedy is like the girlfriend you can’t figure out, which makes her intriguing,” he joked. “After 36 years, I still don’t know, but I figure that the audience is always right.

“Sometimes, I throw something out there and it gets nothing. And then I’ll throw something out – that I think is stupid – and people snot on themselves. That’s what’s always kept it fresh and interesting.”

Anecdotes about packing for trips, his own twist on the “Facts of Life” and even a tale of his 83-year-old mother wanting to obtain a concealed-carry permit had the audience rolling.

“I was very lucky; early on, I found the thing that worked for me,” Foxworthy said. “Instead of sitting around, going, ‘What’s funny?’ I just kind of trusted that if I thought something, or my wife said something, or my family did something, I just trusted that other people are saying and doing the same thing. That’s the template I always run it through.

“If you go back through and listen to an old record, it was kind of a snapshot of whatever was going on in my life. In the beginning, it was dating. Then it was about being a newlywed. Then, it was about having a baby. But now, the kids have grown up. We’re no longer taking care of them, but now we’re taking care of the parents. I think they passed each other in the driveway.”

Something for everyone

Foxworthy will be followed at Harrah’s by a visit from Bret Michaels and Warrant on Friday. The 3,000-seat Event Center has certainly became a melting pot of talents.

“Our entertainment lineup is intended to appeal to a wide audience with diverse interests,” said Brian Saunooke, regional vice president of marketing for Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos. “We have hosted top-tier talent representing genres – including country, classic rock, R&B and comedy – as well as other entertainment favorites, like Jack Hanna’s In the Wild, Theresa Caputo and The Price is Right.”

Upcoming confirmed acts include Sebastian Maniscalco (Friday, March 13), In This Moment with Black Veil Brides (Saturday, March 28), .38 Special (Friday, May 15) and The Charlie Daniels Band with the Marshall Tucker Band (Saturday, May 23). For details, visit caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee/shows.