Blue Collar Comedy Tour
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The Blue Collar Comedy Tour was an American comedy troupe, featuring Jeff Foxworthy with three of his comedian friends,
Bill Engvall William Ray Engvall Jr. (born July 27, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Engvall has released a number of stand-up comedy albums through Warner Records and the defunct BNA Records. His most commercially successf ...
,
Ron White Ron White (born December 18, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and author, best known as a charter member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Nicknamed "Tater Salad", he is the author of the book ''I Had the Right to Remain Silent But ...
, and
Larry the Cable Guy Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963), known professionally by his persona Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, country music artist, and former radio personality. He was one of the members of the ...
, who had replaced fellow comedian Craig Hawksley, who performed in the first 26 shows on the tour. The troupe toured together for six years beginning in January 2000 at
Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
, before finishing in 2006 at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C. The troupe also created the CMT show ''Bounty Hunters''.


Origin

Jeff Foxworthy had already established himself as a well known,
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
-winning comedian, best known for his jokes and stories about life as a
redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
. According to Foxworthy, he got inspired to make the tour when he read a review for the movie ''
The Original Kings of Comedy ''The Original Kings of Comedy'' is a 2000 American stand-up comedy film directed by Spike Lee and featuring the comedy routines of Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac. Filmed in front of a live audience at the Char ...
'', and noting that the review considered the movie appealing to more of an "urban, hip" audience, which Foxworthy felt left out his usual demographic of rural audiences. Foxworthy had cast best friend Engvall in the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
version of ''
The Jeff Foxworthy Show ''The Jeff Foxworthy Show'' is an American sitcom television series created by Tom Anderson, starring comedian Jeff Foxworthy and based on Foxworthy's stand-up comedy routine. It originally aired from September 12, 1995 to May 5, 1997 on ABC (s ...
'', White was brought on as his comedy is based around personal experiences retold in his smoking, drinking Southern United States persona, as well as being a former opener for Foxworthy. According to White, when he was presented with the original tour concept, he admitted that he thought the idea "was retarded." Originally, Craig Hawksley was the fourth member of the tour, but after the original tour, was uncomfortable about performing in front of large audiences and chose to leave the tour. Foxworthy then asked Larry, who he had featured on his nationally syndicated, weekly, country radio show ''The Foxworthy Countdown'', to join. Each show initially featured White and Larry each doing 15-minute sets, followed by Engvall and Foxworthy each doing 30-minute sets, then the four comedians would gather together, sitting on stools on stage, doing varying comedy routines and jokes (such as Engvall's "Here's Your Sign" jokes and Foxworthy's "You Might Be A Redneck" routine) to close the show. Foxworthy, due to his high popularity at the time, was always the last performer. By 2004, with Larry's popularity growing, the order was shifted to Engvall, followed by White, followed by Foxworthy, then Larry, though now all of the comedians had more equal length sets. The tour that featured these four "good ole boys" proved to be such a hit that they recorded a live album in November 2001 and the first DVD called ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie'' in the spring of 2003. The movie underperformed at the box office, but gained high ratings when aired on
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
. The movie would spawn two direct-to-video sequels: ''The Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again'', and ''The Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One For the Road''. By 2006, each of the comedians had become so popular, that they became too busy with their own individual comedy specials and other media to keep the tour going.


DVD

After the success of the tour, album and live DVD, the comedians recorded a second live DVD called ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again'' and a series on
The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
called '' Blue Collar TV''. Ron White was on the second DVD, and although he was not a regular on the TV show, he did make guest appearances. A third Blue Collar movie was produced for Comedy Central titled ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road'', which premiered on the channel in June 2006. ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for The Road'' was released on DVD in June 2006.


Films

* '' Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie'' (2003) * '' Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again'' (2004) * ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road'' (2006)


Satellite radio

In March 2006, the group started a Blue Collar Comedy channel on
Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...
titled '' Blue Collar Radio''. The station features not only various stand-up acts from the four members but various acts from other working class-esque comedians such as Brian Regan,
Rodney Carrington Rodney Scott Carrington (born October 19, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, country music artist and songwriter. He has released six major-label studio albums and a greatest hits package, on Mercury Records and Capitol Records. His ...
,
Kathleen Madigan Kathleen Madigan is an American comedian and TV personality. In addition to her stand up comedy performances, she is a regular guest on a variety of U.S. television programs. Early life and education Kathleen Madigan is one of seven children in ...
,
John Caponera John Caponera (born 1959) is an American comedian and actor. He starred in the 1994 TV series '' The Good Life'' with Drew Carey as Caponera's co-star. (Carey recalls Caponera as "one of the nicest, funniest, and hardest-working guys I've ever kn ...
, Rodney Dangerfield,
Ray Romano Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Ray Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'', for which he received an Emmy Award, and as t ...
, and others as well. When
Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...
merged with
XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its s ...
, this brought more coverage of the channel. Now known as '' Jeff & Larry's Comedy Roundup'', it can be heard on
Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
97.


''Them Idiots Whirled Tour''

As of 2011, Foxworthy, Engvall and Larry still do comedy tours together under the title ''Them Idiots Whirled Tour''. This is keeping true to their claim that ''One for the Road'' was the last ''Blue Collar'' tour, thus respecting the fact that Ron White is not part of it. A CD and DVD of the new show from the
Consol Energy Center PPG Paints Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Pittsburgh, that serves as the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). It previously was the home of the Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League (2010), Aren ...
in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania was released on March 13, 2012.


See also

* '' Blue Collar TV'' * ''
The Original Kings of Comedy ''The Original Kings of Comedy'' is a 2000 American stand-up comedy film directed by Spike Lee and featuring the comedy routines of Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac. Filmed in front of a live audience at the Char ...
'' * The Comedians of Comedy


References


External links

*
Interview for Bill Engvall's book, ''Just a Guy''

Them Idiots tour site
{{Authority control Blue Collar Comedy Tour Blue Collar Comedy Tour Comedy tours