Larry the Cable Guy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Larry the Cable Guy |
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| Born: | February 17, 1963 (age 44) Pawnee City, Nebraska, USA |
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| Occupation: | Comedian, Actor |
| Spouse: | Cara Whitney (1 child) |
| Website: | www.larrythecableguy.com |
Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963 in Pawnee City, Nebraska), better known by the stage name Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and one of the co-stars of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and the subsequent series Blue Collar TV. He starred in the feature-length movie Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, which was filmed entirely in Orlando, Florida, provided his voice to guest star in the animated film Cars as Mater , and will soon star alongside close friend Bill Engvall in the upcoming film Delta Farce.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Whitney, who grew up in Nebraska, moved to West Palm Beach, Florida when he was 16 where he attended The King's Academy. His father, a preacher who once played guitar with the Everly Brothers, worked as the principal of the nearby King's Academy elementary school. Whitney played an instrument in the King's Academy pep band and worked at Wendy's until 1985 when he began doing stand-up comedy with other West Palm Beach locals like buddy Jamie Porter. He continued his career at the Comedy Club in Blue Springs, Missouri, on amateur nights at the encouragement of friends and coworkers. In 1991, he began doing radio comedy, where he would call into stations as fictional characters. The "Larry" character was created after a friend from one of the stations asked him to call in as a cable installer.
[edit] Comedy career
Whitney started in Blue Springs, Missouri, followed by stints at Rock 100 WDIZ and 101.1 WJRR in Orlando before meeting the Blue Collar Boys. He became known in the South in the early 90s when he made regular radio appearances via phone on programs such as the Ron and Ron Show. He was also a regular during the late 90s on Z-92's The Todd and Tyler Show in Omaha, Nebraska, on the Chris Baker Show Friday mornings, as well as the Kirk, Mark, and Lopez morning show on 98 Rock in Baltimore, MD. Larry's trademarks are Redneck-style humor delivered in an affected thick Southern dialect, recounting bizarre stories about his "family," and using the phrase "Git-R-Done!" He is also known for other commonly used expressions.
He also sings Christmas songs like "Donny the Retard," "Titty Bars Christmas," and "I Pissed My Pants". He uses "Madder than" analogies like "Madder than a skinhead watching The Jeffersons," "Madder than a carload of queers getting pulled over for doin' a 69 in a 55," "Madder than a one-legged waitress at the IHOP," and possibly his most famous, "Happier than a tornado in a trailer park," from his character in the film Cars or "Happier than Jim Nabors with a wheelbarrow full of buttholes."
In 2005, he was featured in Gretchen Wilson's music video for the song "All Jacked Up," playing dual roles as himself and a transvestite bar patron. In 2006, he starred in the film Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, was the voice of Mater, the tow truck, in Disney/Pixar's Academy Award -nominated animated film Cars, as well as the voice of Ryder, a crazy cat in the Walt Disney animated film The Fox and the Hound 2.
Whitney has also seen considerable success from his comedic recordings. His comedy albums Lord, I Apologize (2001), and The Right To Bare Arms (2005), have both been certified gold by the RIAA. A third album, Morning Constitutions, and its accompanying TV special are scheduled for 2007.
He has also been approached by Comedy Central to voice a character for an as-yet-unnamed animated series. The show would involve his character as one of two owners of a small cable channel (the other, a high-classed, high-attitude woman) who butt heads at the type of programming they feel appropriate for air. A half-hour pilot has been ordered by the network.[1]
[edit] Private life
The real Daniel Lawrence Whitney himself is somewhat an unknown. A few biographies of him describe only the fictional life of Larry the Cable Guy, as he rarely speaks out of character when in public.
In a 60 Minutes report, correspondent Bob Simon reveals Dan Whitney's "happy-go-lucky" lifestyle: "Unlike many comedians the '60 Minutes' team has met, Larry is not angry, he's not depressed, he's not paranoid. He's a hard-working, supremely confident, happy-go-lucky funnyman." [2]
[edit] Current life
Whitney lives in Sanford, Florida, just outside of Orlando and has a home in Lincoln, Nebraska. He's a huge supporter of the University of Nebraska football team (he purchased one of the new skyboxes at Memorial Stadium).
Whitney and his wife, Cara, have a son named Wyatt who was born August 2, 2006.
[edit] Southern accent
Before he moved to West Palm Beach in South Florida, he grew up in Nebraska as a teenager. He openly says in interviews (and his autobiographical book, GIT-R-DONE) that he willingly "turns on" the accent. See these links [3] [4] for some early comedy routine performances without his accent or nom de redneck.
[edit] Catch phrases
Larry the Cable Guy is one of a handful of comedians who use catchphrase humor. He uses catch phrases such as his most famous one, "Git-R-Done", as well as "Lord, I apologize" or "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there" after a particularly egregious joke.
[edit] Controversy
Larry the Cable Guy has been protested on at least one university campus. At Ball State University in February of 2007, a student protest, which included signs and chants, was covered in the university newspaper.[5][6] Protest organizer Landon Knepp, a college radio DJ[7], was quoted as saying, "We're pretty passionate about how not funny he is...We're just going to try to be out there and spread the awareness that he's not funny." The newspaper also recorded that protesters Knepp and Andrew Carey said they take offense to the bigoted humor that Whitney uses.
[edit] Fictional family
His often-heard-of fictional family includes the following:
- A grandma who gets the "walkin' farts"
- A grandpa who uses a device to speak due to throat cancer
- A brother who is not only deaf but has Tourette's syndrome (and often flips the bird while speaking in sign language.)
- A sister, Liddie, who is very overweight; this sister was also immortalized in a sketch on Blue Collar TV.
- Another sister who looks like DeeWayne from the Ozarks and has numerous moles; Larry has nicknamed her "Old Moley," "Holy Moley," and "Guacamole". This sister also is overweight.
- His sister's husband, who is originally from Mexico
- His sister's baby, whom Larry has nicknamed "Rolie Polie Moley"
- A niece and nephew, parents unclear, who bring home fairy tale books that are now "politically correct," as read by Larry on Blue Collar TV
- A 370-pound hypochondriac aunt.
- A dog named Wilson whose tail was docked a little too long.
- A wife that looks like his favorite country music singer, Travis Tritt.
- A Great-Great-Great-Grandfather who is a civil war veteran and is called Lawrence the Telegraph Guy.
[edit] Trivia
- He was a radio personality on:
- KGDE 101.9 The Edge in Omaha, Nebraska
- KEZO "Z-92" in Omaha, Nebraska
- KQRC in Kansas City
- KMYZ "Z104.5 The Edge" in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- WJRR 101.1 FM in Orlando, Florida
- WDIZ in Orlando, Florida
- WIYY in Baltimore, Maryland
- WPYX in Latham, NY
- He has mentioned Tulsa, Owasso, and Ponca City, Oklahoma, in his comedic performances.
- He does not believe in global warming as stated in his stand-up and on his Web site.
- He is a conservative Republican and supports President George W. Bush.
- He claims to be a Christian, thanking Jesus Christ on his concert end credits and apologizing to God for some of his harsh comedy.
- His redneck accent is fake, saying that he trained to emulate it while growing up in Nebraska.
[edit] Discography
- Salutations & Flatulations (1997)
- Lord, I Apologize (2001)
- A Very Larry Christmas (2004)
- The Right to Bare Arms (2005)
- Morning Constitutions (April 3, 2007)
[edit] Bibliography
- Larry the Cable Guy (2005) GIT-R-DONE Crown ISBN 0-307-23742-7
[edit] Filmography
- Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003)
- Blue Collar Comedy Tour: Rides Again (2004)
- Blue Collar TV (2004)
- Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006)
- Cars (Film & Video Game) (2006) (voice) - Mater
- Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One For the Road (2006)
- The Fox and the Hound 2 (2006) (voice) - Ryder
- Delta Farce (2007)
