Jeffery Marvin "Jeff" Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian and television personality. As the best-selling comedy recording artist of all time, he is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy has released six major-label comedy albums. His first two albums were each certified 3×multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Foxworthy has also written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled, No Shirt, No Shoes… No Problem!
Foxworthy has also made several ventures into television, first in the mid-1990s as the star of a sitcom called, The Jeff Foxworthy Show. He has also appeared alongside Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy in several Blue Collar television specials, most notably Blue Collar TV. Since 2007, he has been the host of the quiz show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? on Fox (2007-09) and syndication (2009-present). Foxworthy hosted a nationally syndicated radio show called The Foxworthy Countdown from April 1999 to December 2009.Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Comedy albums 2.2 Television 2.3 Blue collar comedy 2.4 Books 2.5 Radio work 3 Personal life 4 Discography 4.1 Studio albums 4.2 Compilation albums 4.3 Box sets 4.4 Singles 4.5 Other charted songs 4.6 Music videos 5 See also 6 References 7 External links
[edit] Early life
Foxworthy was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the first child of James Abstance Foxworthy, 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. He attended Georgia Tech in Atlanta, but did not graduate. He worked for five years in mainframe computer maintenance at IBM (where his father also worked). At the urging of co-workers, he entered and won the Great Southeastern Laugh-off, at Atlanta's Punchline comedy club, in 1984.[3] [edit] Career [edit] Comedy albums
Foxworthy received 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]
Totally Committed was released in May 1998. In conjunction with the CD was a one-hour HBO stand-up special by the same name. The CD reached "gold" status and received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination.[6] The video of the song, Totally Committed featured frequent references to then-Atlanta Braves pitcher, Greg Maddux as well as an appearence at the very end by Maddux himself (along with teammate, John Smoltz).
In 2001, he received a nomination for "Best Spoken Comedy Album" at the 43rd Annual Grammys.[citation needed]
Foxworthy hosted Country Weekly's ""TNN Music City News Country Awards" show for 1998, 1999 and 2000.[7] [edit] Television
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 show later aired on Nick at Nite and CMT in 2005 and 2006. He also appeared in Alan Jackson's video for I Don't Even Know Your Name in 1995.
Foxworthy hosted the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? which aired on Fox in prime time. He is currently hosting the syndicated version of the show which started on September 21, 2009. [8] In addition, he is a host on The Bucks of Tecomate which airs on Versus with Alabama native David Morris. [edit] 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 served as executive producer, and starred 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[citation needed]. On Larry the Cable Guy's website, he posted that the show was canceled on October 17, 2005 by WB. Reruns of Blue Collar TV continued until the network merged with UPN to form The CW.
Jeff resurrected the Blue Collar TV format (albeit with only himself participating along with some of the Blue Collar TV co-hosts) on Country Music Television (CMT) with Foxworthy's Big Night Out. The show began airing in summer 2006 and was cancelled after one season. [edit] Books
Foxworthy has authored several books, including You Might Be a Redneck If... (1989), as well as his autobiography, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem! (1996). 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.
He also has released a cookbook entitled The Redneck Grill, co-authored with Newnan, Georgia artist R. David Boyd, and "Redneck Extreme Mobile Home Makeover" (2005), a book with some of his redneck jokes.
His books are: "Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary: Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of" (2005); "Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary II: More Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of" (2006); "Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary III: Learning to Talk More Gooder Fastly" (30 Oct 7); and "Rednecks In College".
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 May 2009, Jeff released a book entitled "How to Really Stink at Work, A Guide to Making Yourself Fire-Proof While Having the Most Fun Possible". This book was co-authored with Brian Hartt. [edit] Radio work
In April 1999, Foxworthy began The Foxworthy Countdown, a nationally syndicated, weekly radio show, which featured the top 30 country hits of the week, as reported by Mediabase. He received a Country Music Association nomination, in 2001, for "Broadcast Personality of the Year." The program's last broadcast — the 2009 year-end countdown — aired the weekend of December 27, 2009. "[9] Blue Collar Comedy Radio airs on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 103 and is associated with Raw Dog Comedy on Sirius 104. [edit] Personal life
Foxworthy has been married to Pamela Gregg since 1985 and has two daughters, Jordan (born in 1992) and Julianne (born in 1994).[10]
A noted hunting enthusiast, Foxworthy has appeared as host and featured guest on several programs on the Outdoor Channel and Versus.[11][12] [edit] Discography [edit] Studio albumsYear Album details Peak chart positions Certifications (sales threshold) US Country US US Heat US Comedy CAN Country 1993 You Might Be a Redneck If... Released: 1993 Label: Warner Bros. Records 3 38 1 — — US: 3× Multi-Platinum CAN: Platinum 1995 Games Rednecks Play Released: July 18, 1995 Label: Warner Bros. Records 2 8 — — 6 US: 3× Multi-Platinum CAN: Platinum 1996 Crank It Up: The Music Album Released: August 27, 1996 Label: Warner Bros. Records 3 21 — — — US: Platinum CAN: Gold 1998 Totally Committed Released: May 19, 1998 Label: Warner Bros. Records 8 50 — — 21 US: Gold 2000 Big Funny Released: April 25, 2000 Label: DreamWorks Records 15 143 — — 30 2004 Have Your Loved Ones Spayed or Neutered Released: July 6, 2004 Label: Warner Bros. Records 7 47 — 5 * "—" denotes the album failed to chart or not released
- denotes unknown peak positions
[edit] Compilation albumsYear Album details Peak chart positions Certifications (sales threshold) US Country US US Comedy 1994 Redneck Test: Vol. 11 Released: August 26, 1994 Label: Laughing Hyena — — — 1995 King of the Rednecks Released: March 30, 1995 Label: Laughing Hyena — — — You Might Be a Redneck, Vol. 10 Released: March 30, 1995 Label: Laughing Hyena — — — Redneck Test: Vol. 43 Released: March 30, 1995 Label: Laughing Hyena 19 155 — Jeff Foxworthy: Sold Out Volume 80 Released: March 30, 1995 Label: Laughing Hyena 35 — — Jeff Foxworthy: The Original Volume 79 Released: March 30, 1995 Label: Laughing Hyena 27 184 — 1996 Live, Vol. 9 Released: May 27, 1996 Label: Laughing Hyena 53 — — 1999 Greatest Bits Released: October 12, 1999 Label: Warner Bros. Records 17 189 7 US: Gold 2003 Best of Jeff Foxworthy: Double Wide, Single Minded Released: September 2, 2003 Label: Rhino Entertainment 10 76 1 "—" denotes the album failed to chart or not released
- denotes unknown peak positions
[edit] Box setsYear Album details 1996 The Ultimate Jeff Foxworthy Gift Collection Released: November 5, 1996 Label: Warner Bros. Records
[edit] 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 or studio musician. Most of these are from his 1996 compilation Crank It Up: The Music Album, although several of his comedy albums have included one musical track as well. Several of these songs have charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) and Hot 100 charts.Year Single Peak chart positions Album US Country US CAN Country 1994 "Redneck Stomp" 67 75 — Crank It Up: The Music Album 1995 "Party All Night" (with Little Texas) 53 101 — Games Rednecks Play "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" 18 — — Crank It Up: The Music Album 1996 "Redneck Games" (with Alan Jackson) 42 66 79 1997 "'Twas the Night After Christmas" 67 — — 1998 "Totally Committed" 70 — — Totally Committed 2000 "Blue Collar Dollar" (with Bill Engvall and Marty Stuart) 63 — — Big Funny
[edit] Other charted songsYear Single Chart positions Album US Country 1996 "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" (re-entry) 39 Crank It Up: The Music Album 1997 "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" (re-entry) 39 1999 "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" (re-entry) 37 "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" (re-entry) 35
[edit] Music videosYear Video Director 1994 "Redneck Stomp" "Weird Al" Yankovic 1995 "Party All Night" (with Little Texas) "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" Michael McNamara 1996 "Redneck Games" (with Alan Jackson) Coke Sams 1998 "Totally Committed" Peter Zavadil 2000 "Blue Collar Dollar" (with Bill Engvall and Marty Stuart) 2004 "Have Your Loved Ones Spayed or Neutered"
