Jeff Foxworthy

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Jeff Foxworthy
Jeff Foxworthy at the red carpet of the 2007 American Idol Season Finale
Birth name	Jeffrey M. Foxworthy
Born	September 6, 1958 (1958-09-06) (age 49) Hapeville, Georgia, USA
Medium	Stand–Up Television Film Radio
Nationality	American
Years active	1984 – Present
Subject(s)	Rednecks Culture of the Southern United States Everyday life Family
Influenced	Larry the Cable Guy Bill Engvall Ron White
Spouse	Pamela Gregg (1985 – Present)
Notable works and roles	You Might Be a Redneck The Jeff Foxworthy Show (1995 – 1997) Blue Collar Comedy Tour (2003 – 2006) Blue Collar TV (2004 – 2006) Foxworthy's Big Night Out (2006) Host of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (2007 – Present)
Website	www.jefffoxworthy.com

Jeffrey M. Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958^[1]) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and game show host. He is presently the host of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? on FOX.

Biography

Early life and career

Foxworthy was born in Hapeville, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, the first child of James Abstance, a computer executive, and Carole Linda (Camp) Foxworthy.^[1][2] His grandfather James Marvin Camp was a Hapeville, Georgia, fireman for more than 30 years.^[1]

Foxworthy graduated from Hapeville High School, and was a member of the class of 1979 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. He worked for five years in mainframe maintenance at IBM (where his father also worked) before, where at the urging of co-workers, entering and winning the Great Southeastern Laugh-off at Atlanta's Punch Line comedy club in 1984.^[3]

Comedy albums and television

Foxworthy captured the award for "Best Stand-Up Comic" at the 1990 American Comedy Awards.^[4]

In 1993, he released You Might Be a Redneck If... which started the "You Might Be a Redneck" fad, topped the comedy album charts, and sold more than three million copies.

His July 1995 release, "Games Rednecks Play," received a 1996 Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Comedy Album.^[5]

Foxworthy's Totally Committed, released in May 1999. In conjunction with the CD was a one-hour HBO stand-up special by the same name. The CD not only reached gold status but also received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination^[6]

In 2001, he received a nomination for Best Spoken Comedy Album at the 43rd Annual Grammys^[7].

Foxworthy hosted the Country Weekly's TNN Music City News Country Awards for 1998, 1999, and 2000.^[8]

In 1995, he starred in The Jeff Foxworthy Show, a sitcom created out of his stand-up comedy persona. It aired on ABC, but was canceled after one season. NBC subsequently picked up the show, but it was again canceled after one season. Foxworthy later remarked that the network did not understand how to properly market his humor; thinking his routine was "too Southern" for a national network ("Has anyone heard me talk?", he commented in one of his stand-up routines), they based the first season of his sitcom in Bloomington, Indiana. The run of the show was later seen on Nick at Nite and CMT in 2005 and 2006. Karen, Jeff's wife in the show was played by Anita Barone (season 1) and Ann Cusack (season 2), his precocious son Matt by Haley Joel Osment and his brother Wayne by comedian Jay Mohr.

He currently is the game show host of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? which airs on FOX on Thursdays.

Blue Collar Comedy

In the early 2000s, Foxworthy had a career resurgence as a result of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, in which he and three other comedians (Larry the Cable Guy, Ron White, and Bill Engvall), specializing in common-man comedy, toured the country and performed for record crowds. The tour lasted three full years, constantly being extended after an initial run of 20 shows.

In 2004, he launched a new television show called Blue Collar TV on The WB Television Network, Comedy Central, and Comedy Network (2007). He serves as executive producer, and stars alongside Blue Collar Comedy Tour-mates Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall. (Ron White turned the show down but made occasional guest appearances). The show was relatively successful compared to the anemic performance of the WB's other sitcoms. However, on Larry the Cable Guy's website, he says the show was canceled on October 17, 2005, by the network. Reruns of Blue Collar TV continued until the network merged with UPN to form The CW.

Jeff has resurrected the Blue Collar TV format (albeit with only himself participating along with some of the Blue Collar TV co-hosts) called Foxworthy's Big Night Out. which airs on Country Music Television (CMT). Foxworthy's Big Night Out began airing in summer 2006 and was cancelled after one season.

Blue Collar Comedy Radio airs on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 103 and is associated with Raw Dog Comedy on Sirius 104.

Books and recent work

Foxworthy has authored several books, including You Might Be a Redneck If... (1989) and related "redneck humor" books, as well as his autobiography, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem! (1996). He also has released a cookbook entitled The Redneck Grill, co-authored with Newnan, Ga. artist R. David Boyd, and Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary: Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of (2005) and Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary II: More Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of (2006). A third Redneck Dictionary, Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary III: Learning to Talk More Gooder Fastly was released in bookstores on October 30, 2007. Artist Layron DeJarnette provided illustrations for the Redneck Dictionary books. R. David Boyd has been the exclusive illustrator for most of Foxworthy's books and album covers. Another book he wrote was "Redneck Extreme Mobile Home Makeover", a book with some of his redneck jokes.(2005). In February 2008, Jeff released his first children's book entitled "Dirt On My Shirt". In May 2008, Jeff released a book entitled "How to Really Stink at Golf", with co-author Brian Hartt and illustrations by Layron DeJarnette.

In addition, Jeff Foxworthy has recently written a book entitled "Rednecks In College".

Since April 1999, Foxworthy also hosts The Foxworthy Countdown, a nationally syndicated weekly radio show which features the Top 25 country hits of the week as reported by Mediabase. He received a CMA nomination in 2001 for Broadcast Personality of the Year.^[9]

In the 2006 movie The Fox and the Hound 2, Foxworthy voiced the character Lyle.

Personal life

Foxworthy has been married to Pamela Gregg since 1985 and has two daughters, Jordan (born in 1992), and Julianne (born in 1994).

Foxworthy is a noted hunting enthusiast, appearing as host and featured guest on several programs on the Outdoor Channel.

Discography

Studio albums

• ^AYou Might Be a Redneck If... peaked at #1 on Top Heatseekers.

Compilation albums

Box sets

Singles

Foxworthy has also released several singles which have consisted of his comedy sketches set to music, often with a chorus sung by another country music act; many of these are included on his 1996 compilation Crank It Up: The Music Album. Several of the singles have charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) and Hot 100 charts.

• ^A"Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" charted several times as a single. It peaked at #18 in 1996; #39 in 1997 and 1998; #37 in 1999, and #35 in 2000.

See also

• List of stand-up comedians
• List of game show hosts

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Jeff Foxworthy

• Official website
• Jeff Foxworthy Interview on The Big Idea w/Donny Deutsch
• Jeff Foxworthy at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Jeff Foxworthy Merchandise
• Cast biography on The WB