American comedian, actor, host, and writer
Jeff Foxworthy
|
---|
Foxworthy in 2010
|
Birth name
| Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy
|
---|
Born
| (
1958-09-06
)
September 6, 1958
(age 65)
Atlanta
,
Georgia
, U.S.
|
---|
Medium
| Stand-up
,
film
,
radio
,
television
|
---|
Years active
| 1982?present
|
---|
Genres
| Observational
,
word play
,
sitcom
|
---|
Subject(s)
| Marriage
,
Southern culture
,
everyday life
,
family
,
rednecks
|
---|
Spouse
|
Pamela Gregg
(
m.
1985)
|
---|
Children
| 2
|
---|
Website
| jefffoxworthy
.com
|
---|
Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy
(born September 6, 1958) is an American comedian, actor, author, radio and television host, and writer. He is a member of the
Blue Collar Comedy Tour
, with
Larry the Cable Guy
,
Bill Engvall
, and formerly
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 triple
Platinum
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
. He has written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled
No Shirt, No Shoes... No Problem!
[1]
Foxworthy has also made several ventures into television, starting in the mid-1990s with his own sitcom called
The Jeff Foxworthy Show
. He has also appeared alongside Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy in several Blue Collar television specials, including
Blue Collar TV
for
The WB
. In addition, he hosted the game shows
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
and
The American Bible Challenge
, as well as the radio program
The Foxworthy Countdown
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy was born in
Atlanta, Georgia
, on September 6, 1958, the first of three children of Carole Linda (
nee
Camp) and
IBM
executive Jimmy Abstance Foxworthy. His parents were both of
English
descent,
[1]
[2]
[3]
with his roots lying in the county of
Essex
.
[1]
His grandfather, James Marvin Camp, was a
Hapeville
firefighter for over three decades.
[1]
He has two younger siblings, Jay Foxworthy and Jennifer Foxworthy.
[4]
Foxworthy graduated from
Hapeville High School
. He attended
Georgia Institute of Technology
in Atlanta, but left just before graduating.
[5]
He worked for five years in
mainframe computer
maintenance at IBM, where his father also worked. At the urging of IBM co-workers, Foxworthy entered and won the Great Southeastern Laugh-off at Atlanta's
Punchline
comedy club in 1984.
Career
[
edit
]
Comedy albums
[
edit
]
In 1993, he released
You Might Be a Redneck If…
, which topped the comedy albums chart and started the "You Might Be a
Redneck
"
fad
. The album went gold in 1994, platinum by 1995, and 3× platinum by 1996, which is more than three million copies.
[6]
Foxworthy's July 1995 release
Games Rednecks Play
received a 1996 Grammy nomination for
Best Spoken Comedy Album
.
[7]
Totally Committed
was released in May 1998. In conjunction with the album was a one-hour
HBO
stand-up special by the same name. The album reached "gold" status and received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination.
[8]
The video for the
Totally Committed
song featured frequent references to then-
Atlanta Braves
pitcher
,
Greg Maddux
as well as an appearance at the very end by Maddux himself (along with teammate
John Smoltz
).
In 2001, Foxworthy received a nomination for
Best Spoken Comedy Album
for the 43rd Annual Grammys.
[9]
Television
[
edit
]
In 1995, Foxworthy 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. Later, he 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
. Later, the series 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 Country Weekly's "
TNN
Music City News Country Awards" show for 1998, 1999, and 2000.
[10]
In 1998, Foxworthy appeared on the mock talk show
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
, where he attempts to explain his famous "You might be a Redneck" joke to
Space Ghost
, yet fails entirely. Throughout the episode, Space Ghost,
Zorak
, and
Moltar
are taking the Ghost Planet to the
US
, with plans to make it the 51st state. By the end of the episode Foxworthy is sent to "The Box".
He hosted
Are You Smarter than A 5th Grader?
on
Fox
in
prime time
. He hosted the syndicated version of the series from September 21, 2009, until its cancellation on March 24, 2011.
[11]
In 2015 it was announced that Foxworthy would return as host of
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
[12]
In addition, he is a host on
The Bucks of Tecomate
which airs on the
NBC Sports Network
with Alabama native David Morris.
[
citation needed
]
He was the subject of a
Comedy Central Roast
in 2005.
[13]
In 2011, Foxworthy appeared as a guest “Shark” for two episodes of
ABC
's second season of
Shark Tank
.
[14]
Since August 2012, Foxworthy has been the host and a producer of the
GSN
biblical-themed game show
The American Bible Challenge
, which has aired two seasons.
[15]
He is also the host of the food
reality competition
series
The American Baking Competition
, which aired its first season in summer 2013.
[16]
Foxworthy has appeared as host and featured guest on several programs on the
Outdoor Channel
and
Versus
.
[17]
[18]
In February 2019, Foxworthy was announced as a judge for NBC's comedy competition series
Bring the Funny
.
[19]
In 2020, a new episode of
Ellen's Game of Games
featured Jeff Foxworthy on a game of Stink Tank.
Blue Collar Comedy
[
edit
]
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 series called
Blue Collar TV
on
The WB
,
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 made occasional guest appearances.) On Larry the Cable Guy's website, he posted that the show was canceled on October 17, 2005, by The WB. Reruns of
Blue Collar TV
continued until the network merged with
UPN
to form
The CW
. In 2006, Foxworthy resurrected the
Blue Collar TV
format on
Country Music Television
(CMT) with
Foxworthy's Big Night Out
. The show began airing in the fall and was canceled after one season of 12 episodes.
Books
[
edit
]
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.
Written works
[
edit
]
- 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
(2007)
- Rednecks in College
In February 2008, Foxworthy released his first children's book
Dirt On My Shirt
. This was followed by
Silly Street
in 2009 and
Hide!!!
in 2010, both of which were illustrated by Steve Bjorkman.
In May 2008, Foxworthy released
How to Really Stink at Golf
, with co-author
Brian Hartt
and illustrations by
Layron DeJarnette
. In May 2009, he released
How to Really Stink at Work, A Guide to Making Yourself Fire-Proof While Having the Most Fun Possible
. This book was also co-authored with Hartt and illustrations by
DeJarnette
.
Radio work
[
edit
]
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
. In 2001, he received a
Country Music Association
nomination for "Broadcast Personality of the Year". The program's last broadcast, the 2009 year-end countdown, aired the weekend of December 27, 2009.
[20]
In 2006,
Sirius Satellite Radio
launched the Blue Collar Comedy channel, which featured stand-up comedy centered around the Blue Collar group. In 2015, now under the
SiriusXM
banner, the station rebranded as
Jeff & Larry's Comedy Roundup
, which featured similar programming to the previous channel with an enhanced focus on Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy.
[21]
Foxworthy Outdoors
[
edit
]
In August 2011, Foxworthy launched Foxworthy Outdoors, a website carrying an assortment of Foxworthy-brand hunting and outdoors products. On the site, he also hosts a
web series
called
Jeff Foxworthy: Inside & Out
, featuring some of his friends as they document hunting trips, fishing outings, and land conservation on his
Georgia
farm.
[22]
[23]
Other
[
edit
]
In 2017 Foxworthy created the
card game
Relative Insanity
, a game similar to
Cards Against Humanity
with a family theme. Family Game Shelf praised the game, saying "it will have you laughing until your sides hurt".
[24]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Foxworthy met his wife Pamela Gregg at the Punchline in
Atlanta
, Georgia, and they married on September 18, 1985.
[25]
They have two daughters, Jordan and Julianne.
[26]
[27]
[28]
He is a noted hunting enthusiast, beginning when he was a teen hunting on his father's farm property in Central Georgia.
[
citation needed
]
Political positions
[
edit
]
Foxworthy's comedy act is apolitical and he has disavowed the
memes
circulating on social media that appear to show him making jokes at the expense of liberals in his stand-up.
[29]
[30]
In 2012, Foxworthy endorsed Republican presidential candidate
Mitt Romney
,
[31]
and had donated in the 2000s to the presidential campaign of
George W. Bush
, as well as the
Republican National Committee
.
[32]
In 2015 he stated that
Donald Trump
is "tapping into the American spirit".
[33]
Discography
[
edit
]
Foxworthy has released five comedy albums for
Warner Bros. Records
, as well as one for
DreamWorks Records
. One of his albums included the novelty Christmas song "
Redneck 12 Days of Christmas
", which reached No. 18 on the
Hot Country Songs
charts in late 1995 to early 1996.
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
Writing credits
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Notes
|
1993
|
Jeff Foxworthy: Check Your Neck
|
TV special
|
1996
|
Games Rednecks Play
|
Short Film
|
1996?1997
|
The Jeff Foxworthy Show
|
3 episodes
? "Before You Say 'No' Just Hear Me Out" (1996)
? "One Wedding and a Baby" (1996)
? "The Briarton Syndrom" (1997)
|
1998
|
Jeff Foxworthy: Totally Committed
|
TV special
|
2000
|
Bill Engvall's New All Stars of Country Comedy Vol. 1
|
Direct-to-Video
|
2003
|
Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie
|
|
2004
|
Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again
|
TV special
|
2004?2006
|
Blue Collar TV
|
Creator (44 episodes)
Writer (43 episodes)
|
2005
|
Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy & Bill Engvall: Live from Las Vegas!
|
Direct-to-Video
|
2006
|
Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road
|
TV special
|
2006
|
Foxworthy's Big Night Out
|
"Kenny Rogers"
|
2012
|
Them Idiots Whirled Tour
|
TV special
|
Producing credits
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Notes
|
1993
|
Jeff Foxworthy: Check Your Neck
|
TV special (Executive Producer)
|
2004?2006
|
Blue Collar TV
|
Executive Producer (45 episodes)
|
2007?2015
|
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
|
Executive Producer (12 episodes)
Producer (12 episodes)
|
2013
|
Crackerjack
|
Executive Producer
|
2013
|
Bounty Hunters
|
Executive Producer (13 episodes)
|
2016
|
Jeff Foxworthy & Larry the Cable Guy: We've Been Thinking
|
TV special (Executive Producer)
|
Accolades
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Association / Category
|
Results
|
Ref
|
1990
|
?
|
American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic
|
Won
|
|
1994
|
Jeff Foxworthy: Check Your Neck
|
CableACE Award for Stand-Up Comedy Special
|
Nominated
|
|
1996
|
Games Rednecks Play
|
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album
|
Nominated
|
[34]
|
1996
|
The Jeff Foxworthy Show
|
People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Series
(tied with Drew Carey)
|
Won
|
|
1997
|
Redneck Games
|
Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals
(shared with Alan Jackson)
|
Nominated
|
[34]
|
1999
|
Totally Committed
|
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album
|
Nominated
|
2001
|
Big Funny
|
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album
|
Nominated
|
2007
|
Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road
|
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album
(shared with Bill Engvall, Ron White & Larry the Cable Guy)
|
Nominated
|
2010
|
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
|
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show
|
Nominated
|
|
2014
|
The American Bible Challenge
|
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show
|
Nominated
|
2014
|
The American Bible Challenge
|
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
|
Nominated
|
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
From Essex England to the Sunny Southern USA: A Harris Family Journey
, Robert E. Harris, Genealogical Press, 1994, page 870.
- ^
"Jeff Foxworthy Biography (1958-)"
. Filmreference.com
. Retrieved
October 16,
2010
.
- ^
"Surname Database: Foxworthy Last Name Origin"
.
The Internet Surname Database
.
- ^
"Jeff Foxworthy: a Heart for the Underdog"
.
All Pro Dad
. February 8, 2013
. Retrieved
February 12,
2022
.
- ^
"Redneck Repartee"
. Gtalumni.org. Archived from
the original
on May 19, 2006
. Retrieved
October 16,
2010
.
- ^
"Gold & Platinum"
.
RIAA
. Retrieved
February 22,
2020
.
- ^
"List of Grammy nominees - Jan. 4, 1996"
. CNN. January 4, 1996
. Retrieved
October 16,
2010
.
- ^
"Jeff Foxworthy Bio"
. Utopia Artists. June 12, 2000. Archived from
the original
on July 17, 2011
. Retrieved
October 16,
2010
.
- ^
"Directory.distributeyourarticles.com"
. Archived from
the original
on October 12, 2013.
- ^
"Nl.newsbank.com"
. Archived from
the original
on October 24, 2012
. Retrieved
August 6,
2008
.
- ^
Pursell, Chris.
"Foxworthy Signs on for Syndie '5th Grader'
"
.
In Depth
. TVWeek
. Retrieved
October 16,
2010
.
- ^
"Fox.com"
. Archived from
the original
on February 9, 2015.
- ^
Video
on
YouTube
- ^
"ABC renews 'Shark Tank,' adds Jeff Foxworthy'
"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. August 9, 2010
. Retrieved
February 7,
2020
.
- ^
"Jeff Foxworthy to host 'The American Bible Challenge'
"
.
Washington Post
. March 21, 2012
. Retrieved
April 5,
2012
.
- ^
Bibel, Sara (March 5, 2013).
"Jeff Foxworthy to Host 'The American Baking Competition' premiering Wednesday May 29 on CBS"
. TV by the Numbers. Archived from
the original
on May 5, 2013
. Retrieved
March 16,
2013
.
- ^
Channel, Outdoor.
"Outdoor Channel - Watch Videos Hunting"
.
Outdoorchannel.com
. Archived from
the original
on August 8, 2014
. Retrieved
August 4,
2014
.
- ^
"Fallingblind.com"
. Archived from
the original
on August 10, 2014.
- ^
Otterson, Joe (February 1, 2019).
"NBC Orders Comedy Competition Series With Jeff Foxworthy Among Judges"
.
Variety
.
- ^
"News | Sara Evans Soars to New Heights with 2001 CMA Nominations"
. BMI.com. August 28, 2001
. Retrieved
October 16,
2010
.
- ^
"Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy to launch 24/7 comedy channel exclusively on SiriusXM"
(Press release). March 13, 2015
. Retrieved
May 30,
2019
.
- ^
"Comedian, Outdoorsman, Guy - Jeff Foxworthy"
.
Foxworthyoutdoors.com
.
- ^
"Watch the best outdoor shows for free on CarbonTV"
.
CarbonTV
. Retrieved
February 8,
2016
.
- ^
"Relative Insanity Game Review"
.
Family Game Shelf
. October 26, 2021
. Retrieved
October 16,
2022
.
- ^
"Family time comes first for comedian - Entertainment - The Columbus Dispatch - Columbus, OH"
.
Dispatch.com
. March 3, 2008
. Retrieved
April 28,
2020
.
- ^
"Jeff Foxworthy Leaves Daughters 'Mortified'
"
.
People.com
.
- ^
"Jeff Foxworthy on Being a Dad"
.
Atlantaparent.com
. November 29, 2017
. Retrieved
April 28,
2020
.
- ^
"Comedy star Jeff Foxworthy depressed after losing one daughter, writes family book"
.
www.miamiherald.com
. Archived from
the original
on October 10, 2019
. Retrieved
January 13,
2022
.
- ^
Hickman, Matt (August 21, 2019).
"The Good Redneck: Jeff Foxworthy wonders what the hell happened to our country"
.
The Anchorage Press
. Retrieved
October 16,
2022
.
- ^
"Comic Jeff Foxworthy Says All Those Right-Wing Memes That Quote Him Are Fake"
.
HuffPost
. March 2, 2020
. Retrieved
October 16,
2022
.
- ^
Bingham, Amy (March 12, 2012).
"Celebrity Endorsements: Jeff Foxworthy Backs Mitt Romney"
. ABC News
. Retrieved
October 19,
2015
.
- ^
Dana, Rebecca (May 21, 2014).
"Why Game Show Hosts Vote Republican"
.
The Daily Beast
. Retrieved
August 15,
2020
.
- ^
Caterina, Peter (September 1, 2015).
"Jeff Foxworthy On Donald Trump: He Is Tapping Into The American Spirit"
.
- ^
a
b
"Jeff Foxworthy"
.
GRAMMY.com
. November 23, 2020
. Retrieved
August 16,
2021
.
References
[
edit
]
- Gilbert, Calvin (1998). "Jeff Foxworthy". In
The Encyclopedia of Country Music
. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 180?1.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Studio albums
| |
---|
Compilations
| |
---|
Related articles
| |
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|
---|
1980s
| |
---|
1990s
| |
---|
2000s
|
- (DROPPED DUE TO VOTING IRREGULARITIES) (2000)
- Lewis Black
(2001)
|
---|
|
---|
International
| |
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National
| |
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Artists
| |
---|