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Friday Night Rewind It doesn't matter which team you cheer for. We've got video previews of every high school football program in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando County.
The voice on the phone says matter-of-factly: "This is Dan." That would be Dan Whitney, better known as his comic alter ego, Larry the Cable Guy.
Maybe you know him from the successful Blue Collar Comedy Tours. Maybe you know his catch phrase: "Git-R-Done." Maybe you have kids who know him as Mater in the Disney/Pixar hit Cars.
Maybe you've heard the accent, seen the sleeveless shirts and dismissed him. You shouldn't.
In conversation, Whitney is thoughtful, polite and affable. His voice rises only when he talks about critics who paint his character — and by association, him — as an intolerant redneck. He asks if you watch The Sarah Silverman Program on Comedy Central.
"She exaggerates her character, she exaggerates herself. So there's a little bit of her in the(show), but then she really exaggerates a lot of it for the laughs. And that's kind of what I do," he says.
Not that Whitney, who calls his standup act "PG-16 Lite," compares his humor with the edgy comedian's. He's proud there are no f-words or taking the Lord's name in vain. Still, he admits: "It's 14-year-old-type humor."
Whitney, 45, is a native of Pawnee City, Neb., who lives half the year in Florida (Sanford) with his wife and two small children and half the year in his home state. "I kind of claim both of 'em."
But he doesn't divide his loyalties when it comes to college football. Whitney is a lifelong Nebraska Cornhuskers fan and, in a case of a dream coming true, owns a skybox at the school's Memorial Stadium.
Here are some other things you may not know about him.
He's a huge baseball fan.
Whitney has taken batting practice with several major-league teams, most recently, the Milwaukee Brewers. The Rays extended an invitation this week, but he couldn't make it work with his schedule.
"Let me just say that (Brewers manager) Ned Yost told me that out of all the celebrities that have come to battin' practice, he said I've been the best hitter so far. And I'm not braggin', but that's what he said."
He said no to Pawnee City . . .
"My hometown wanted me to do some kind of a museum thing where they wanted to sell all my stuff. . . . I just think it's kind of goofy. I mean, I know I have a lot of fans, and they're awesome fans, but I don't think anybody's going to drive to some small town in Nebraska to check out my museum." (Laughs)
. . . but yes to the Cornhuskers.
"They invited me to be the guest coach for any game I want, and I get to call the first play. So I'm going to do that this year. . . . I'm not telling you what I'm going to call.''
His first three splurges of success:
"The first Blue Collar movie, when I first started getting some money, like any guy, you buy yourself a flat-screen (TV). So I got a big TV. Then my next big purchase was four Mickey Thompson (offroad tires) for my truck . . . Then I got the skybox. I was set."
He sponsors a rodeo team.
Its name (naturally): the Git-R-Done Pro Rodeo Team.
He's doing Cars 2.
Expect it in 2012. He's also working on some animated series featuring his Cars character. But Whitney doesn't expect his Disney success to lead to show business respect.
"I'll never get any street cred in Hollywood. Just like (Jeff) Foxworthy will never get any street cred in Hollywood. I don't know what it is about us . . . even as good as the Blue Collar did. Blue Collar was the most successful comedy show ever. It's still pullin' teeth to get stuff."
He told a joke at Paul Newman's expense.
Onstage after a premiere event, he cracked: " 'In Cars you would never even know that Paul Newman is (in his 80s) except his character is the only car that drives around with his blinker on the whole movie.' He thought it was pretty funny. . . . He's a regular guy."
He doesn't do political humor.
"It seems like now there's so much hatred between both sides. . . . It's not worth it to eliminate half your crowd. Unless I can make it pretty funny and universal, I'm not going to do it. On The Tonight Show, they asked me if I was following (the election), and I said, 'I thought Super Tuesday was two tacos for 99 cents at Taco Bell.' "
He gets upset when critics call him racist and homophobic . . .
"They take things way too seriously. It's like I always say, there's different kinds of styles for different kinds of people. I may not be for that guy. . . . He might like a comedian that somebody else thinks is racist and homophobic. . . . You have to have thick skin if you are going to do this, because once you get successful, you're a target."
. . . or can't see beyond his stage persona.
"They call me a bad actor, but I must be really freakin' good at acting because everybody thinks I am that guy onstage."
He has no illusions about his movies. The latest, Witless Protection, hits DVD in June.
"We're not making Shakespeare; we're making Larry the Cable Guy movies. They are what they are. They're to get a laugh. I think it's funny — my movies always get trashed, and they always come out on DVD, and they're No. 1 for three weeks. So somebody likes 'em."
Peter Couture can be reached at pcouture@tampabay.com.
>>IF YOU GO
Larry the Cable Guy
His run at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, continues with shows at 8 tonight and 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday. $44.75. (727) 791-7400 or rutheckerdhall.com.
[Last modified: May 16, 2008 07:58 AM]
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