Larry the Cable Guy – An Xperience Interview

Larry the Cable Guy – An Xperience Interview – by Liam Sweeny.

In comedy, there are few who have reached the global popularity of Dan Whitney. But you might know him as Larry the Cable Guy. A solid member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, he’s made a bunch of hilarious movies and has made millions of people laugh. We welcome Dan (Larry), and we talk about the making of a special.

RRX: How much of what’s on stage is preparation, and how much is just you being you?

Dan Whitney: Well, of course, a lot of it’s preparation, because you gotta get the jokes in order, you gotta find the flow, which is what I do once I get on stage. A couple of shows, it takes a couple to get it beat down in my head. I write a lot on stage. It’s fun because I really become the character. It’s so fun to do, and my mind just triggers other things while I’m up there. So man, there’s a lot of really funny jokes that have happened that I’ve written just on stage at that certain moment. But it’s definitely a lot of preparation, you know. I’m a one-liner comedian. I’ll write one-liners, and this will group with this, and that’ll group with that, and I have to find an order to put them in. So yeah, takes a little time, but man, once I got it, once I got it laid out how I want it and I get a couple shows under me, it flows really well.

RRX: When you created the character of Larry, there was you, and there was Larry. How is it now? Like, have you and Larry become one in any way?

DW: Hey, you know what, people always ask me that. When it first started, it was a complete character. The reason it’s close to me is that I grew up on a pig farm. I grew up going to rodeos. I grew up raising pigs, loading cattle trucks, and everybody I hung around with was older people. They were all farmers and ranchers, and then, of course, I went to college. That’s when the southern stuff came about because I moved to Florida, went to college in Georgia, and I just picked up the accent. So when I first started the character, everything was made up.

I started out doing political humor. I’m not political, but it was just for the radio. I was always just doing goofy one-liners. So that’s what I did, but I didn’t do it unless I thought it was really funny. I didn’t do it just to do it. So everything early on was all made up. It was. Completely separated from me. Then I had a wife, and then I had kids, and then you want to incorporate that. There are so many jokes about being married and having kids. I started incorporating a lot of my real life into the character, and so it became a little more of my life … but it was still made up. They were still – you know – I would do something that really happened, and I put a fake twist on the end of it. It didn’t happen. But as far as the character goes, people think I walk around like that every day. Completely normal. I have such a normal life. I’ve got a family. And the people call me Larry because they don’t know me other than Larry the Cable Guy. So I don’t know how to remedy that. The only way I say it is that Larry makes all the money. Dan has fun with it.

Everything is under Larry the Cable Guy. I tell my wife I wish sometimes I had a project that was just my name. Because everything’s Larry the Cable Guy. My movies were Larry the Cable Guy. Larry the Cable Guy was popular, which was me. It’s kind of like Cedric the Entertainer. It’s like Cedric, like Carrot Top. I mean, is he always Carrot Top, or is he Scott Thompson? Is he? So I don’t dig too deep into it because I have a normal life, so I don’t really think about it that much. I mean, I do. I think my management told me early on. I mean, everything that happened to me happened so fast, and it was just a whirlwind, so I just let them manage me, and I’d just show up and do what I do. I said one time, “You know, we should do this under Dan Whitney.” No, no, no, Larry the Cable Guy is a brand. Larry the Cable Guy sells as a brand. Everything has to be done under Larry. OK, well, there we go. So that’s all. I guess that’s what we’ll do then. As far as now, as far as my real life, I am totally different than the character. The only thing that’s it seems like I’m the same is that I incorporate my family life into the character, but it gives the character way more.

Larry was always a partier and going to titty bars, and I don’t drink, I don’t smoke cigarettes, I don’t do anything like that, you know. Never done anything like that, but all my friends did. Everybody I hung out with did, so I know about it. I mean, shoot, I can talk about it with the best of them. I know all about it. I just haven’t done it as much as anybody else.

RRX: One thing that’s cool about comedy is that we find out we’re not alone in our particular weirdnesses. Do you feel that way when you’re on stage? Like everybody laughs, and you know it’s not just you that’s like that, or it’s not just you that did that thing?

DW: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I got a weird sense of humor. I grew up with “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” and “Hee Haw” and “Benny Hill” and Charlie Callas, and I love those guys. I love the “Dean Martin Roasts,” so it’s nice to see that people still love goofy one-liners. There’s not a lot of one-liner comedians. You know, there’s not a lot of us out there, and it’s a hard craft. The one-liner comedy is not easy. It’s about timing and how you tell the joke, and, you know, it’s kind of like Seinfeld … those guys would do those jokes, and you would laugh. If anybody else did, it wouldn’t be as funny. It’s just that they found a way to say it and the timing of it. And it’s kind of like me. Jeff Foxworthy used to say to me all the time, “I have no idea why that joke is funny, but people howl at it, and it makes me laugh because they’re howling at it, and I still don’t know why it’s funny.”

RRX: Your family and your faith are really important to you. You started the Git-R-Done Foundation with your wife, Cara, in 2009. Can you tell us what that’s all about?

DW: My kid had hip dysplasia when he was first born, had a little bit of a harness for his first year. They thought that he was gonna probably have to have surgery in his twenties because it’s such a bad hip. And then we met this doctor who said he wouldn’t need one. He thought he could eliminate hip dysplasia kids. So we donated to him to go down to Mexico and some of these other places and work with people who need the help, and it worked. Our first donation was to the Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital to start the International Hip Dysplasia Center, which is a place for parents. When it first started, there were all kinds of different ways to work with hip replacement. Nobody really knew a common way to do it. So this was just a way that people could go online. It would take you to one place with doctors from around the world with one way to cure it. So that was the first one, man, it was really nice. Then we got involved with the Child Advocacy Center here in Lincoln, Nebraska, and really fell in love with Madonna, the rehabilitation center that took care of kids and veterans. I’ve always had a strong feeling for veterans, and I’ve always wanted to do stuff for veterans. So we just got a big canvas. Anything that involves kids, vets – anything like that – that’s what my foundation does gitrdonefoundation.org.

RRX: What is the coolest thing you can tell us about REO Speedwagon?

DW: The cool thing about them is they’re down to earth. I’ve been friends with them for a long time. Bruce Hall was a really good friend of mine, the bass player. They’ve come and played at my golf tournament. The coolest thing they ever did? My dad (he passed away) had a rock and roll rhythm and blues band in the ‘70s. And he left me his vintage guitar. And when they saw it, I told them. Kevin Cronin actually took my dad’s guitar to a concert in Omaha. And told the story about it being my dad’s guitar and played “Ridin’ the Storm Out.” Like that. Wow, that thing had been played right.

He loved it, and it was just cool. He came over to the side of the stage so we could get pictures. I mean, I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. But aside from that, you know, they’re one of those bands that should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They’re one of the legacy bands. They were together for so many years and still selling out arenas. People love them, and they were party songs. They’re just good. There’s a lot of memories with REO Speedwagon. Every song with REO Speedwagon you hear takes you to a certain time and place in your life.

 

 

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