The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy team up for Netflix special
Alpharetta’s Jeff Foxworthy is a great stand-up comic, but he is also a smart businessman who has been able to leverage his humor on multiple platforms beyond the live stage. Over the years, he has sold tens of millions of albums, CDs, “You Know You’re a Redneck” calendars, “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” DVDs and books.
He and his pal Larry the Cable Guy recently launched a comedy channel on Sirius/ XM satellite radio. And now he’s adding a Netflix special to his massive resume with Larry the Cable Guy called “We’ve Been Thinking.”
“I keep finding ways not to go away,” Foxworthy cracked in a recent interview.
He said Netflix approached him and Larry to tape a special. Already, the two longtime friends had been collaborating on comedy pieces for Sirius/XM, and their agent suggested they tour together.
For the special, each comic does an individual set followed by a Q&A with both of them together on stools. “I was scared doing a Q&A, but it’s worked out great,” he said.
His modesty and gratitude about his skills and good fortune makes Foxworthy especially endearing: “We can still sell out places. Every night, we get a standing ovation. I can’t believe I’m getting away with this!”
The Netflix special is not the entire concert, which was shot at the classic Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. Foxworthy said he forced himself to watch himself and suggested edits. But he didn’t bother seeing the final cut.
“I can’t stand watching myself!” he said. “I’ve always been that way. When I taped ‘The Tonight Show,’ that night when I would come out, I’d walk out of the room. My wife would say, ‘Come watch! It’s funny!’ I’d say, ‘No. I can’t!’ “
Rather than watch himself to learn whether something is funny, he merely learned on stage doing sets in small clubs. “I’m not an egomaniac,” he said. “The audience knows better than I do. Sometimes something I think is hilarious gets crickets. Then something I think isn’t all that great works great.”
He is scheduled to be on “The Tonight Show” on Aug. 26, and host Jimmy Fallon asked him to do a few minutes of stand-up. Although he has appeared many times on the show, he said he hasn’t done traditional jokes like that in 15 years. He said doing such a short set is a challenge. “I don’t even feel like I’m warmed up in five minutes.”
And you might think he’s a redneck because his favorite way to relax is watching “Duck Dynasty” reruns or fishing on a lake. Nope. He likes to go to his property south of Atlanta near Callaway Gardens, jump on a tractor and plow the fields. He recently spent 11 hours doing just that.
Sure, the tractor has air conditioning and a radio, but it’s a tractor nonetheless. “That’s my escape,” he said. “I actually feel like I accomplish something when I’m on a tractor.”
His wife, Pamela, laughs, he said.
She’d say, “You hire someone to cut the grass in our little yard. But you go on a tractor and mow hayfields for hours and hours.”
“It’s not the same thing,” he said. “I actually have fantasies of taking my plow and mowing the grass on the median on the highway.”
For more of the interview with Jeff Foxworthy, go to the Radio and TV Talk blog on ajc.com.