Jeff Foxworthy

Jeff Foxworthy Biography

Blue Collar Comedy Tour
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
The American Bible Challenge
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Jeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. 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× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Foxworthy has 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, starting in the mid-1990s with his own sitcom, 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 in syndication (2009-11). Foxworthy hosted a nationally syndicated radio show called The Foxworthy Countdown from April 1999 to December 2009. For two seasons, he has hosted GSN's The American Bible Challenge.

Early life

Foxworthy was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the first child of Jimmy Abstance Foxworthy, an IBM executive, and Carole Linda (Camp) Foxworthy, both of English descent. His grandfather, James Marvin Camp, was a fireman in Hapeville for more than 30 years. According to Foxworthy, who grew up in the old Southern Baptist tradition, he remembers accepting Jesus Christ when he was seven years old. When he told his mother that he wanted to go down to the local sanctuary to accept the Lord, his mother, who felt he was too young, told him to wait until he had a firmer understanding of the undertaking. Foxworthy argued with her until a preacher came to their home and vouched for Foxworthy, who went back to the Church that night with his mother. Despite this, Foxworthy says that complying with the often-strict rules of the Church were difficult for him, saying, "I love God, but I can"t act and dress like that."

Foxworthy graduated from Hapeville High School. He attended Georgia Tech in Atlanta, but left just before graduating. He worked for five years in mainframe computer maintenance at IBM (where his father also worked). At the urging of IBM co-workers, he entered and won the Great Southeastern Laugh-off, at Atlanta's Punchline comedy club, in 1984.

Career

Comedy albums

Foxworthy received the award for "Best Stand-Up Comic" at the 1990 American Comedy Awards.

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".

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. The video of the song, Totally Committed 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, he received a nomination for "Best Spoken Comedy Album" at the 43rd Annual Grammys.

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 Country Weekly's ""TNN Music City News Country Awards" show for 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Foxworthy hosted the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? on Fox in prime time. He hosted the syndicated version of the show from September 21, 2009 until its cancellation on March 24, 2011. In addition, he is a host on The Bucks of Tecomate which airs on the NBC Sports Network with Alabama native David Morris.

Jeff was also a potential investor in three episodes of the ABC reality series Shark Tank, where moneyed entrepreneurs decide if they will invest in new products, ideas and the like from those requesting funding in exchange for a percentage of ownership.

He was the subject of a Comedy Central Roast in 2005.

He is the host and a producer of the GSN Bible-themed game show, The American Bible Challenge, which has aired two seasons. He is also the host of the food reality competition series The American Baking Competition, which aired its first season in Summer 2013.

Voice work

2005: Racing Stripes - Reggie
2006: The Fox and the Hound 2 - Lyle
2011: The Smurfs - Handy
2012: Phineas and Ferb "Meapless in Seattle" - "Southern" Meap

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 made occasional guest appearances.) 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 canceled after one season.

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)
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 Brian Hartt and illustrations by Layron DeJarnette.

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. Blue Collar Comedy Radio airs on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 97 and is associated with Raw Dog Comedy on Sirius 99.

Foxworthy Outdoors

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.

Personal life

Foxworthy met his wife, Pamela Gregg, at the Punchline in Atlanta, GA and they married on September 18, 1985. They have two daughters, Jordan (born in 1992) and Julianne (born in 1994). A noted hunting enthusiast, beginning when he was a teen hunting on his father's farm property in middle Georgia, Foxworthy has appeared as host and featured guest on several programs on the Outdoor Channel and Versus.

By the time Foxworthy was 30, he came to the conclusion that God did not require him to follow the rigid rules pertaining to clothing and outward expression in order for him to be a good Christian. Today, he emphasizes the Bible as a guide for his everyday life, including what to do with his income, which he explains is not his, but "belongs to God". Despite attending church regularly, he says that he is "not real big on religion", explaining in a 2012 interview, "Here"s what I feel like. Rather than going and sitting in a service for an hour every Sunday and that being extent of my faith, it's more important that I live it out. I lead a Bible study with homeless guys on Tuesday mornings...I have done it for years." The group started with 15 participants, and subsequently grew to over 100 homeless men. According to Foxworthy, if addicts among the group successfully complete treatment, the organization will house them for a year, and offer counseling and support in reuniting them with their estranged families.

In 2012, Foxworthy endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, explaining, "I avoided politics for 53 years of my life. I have been doing stand-up comedy for almost 30 and never wanted to be political. Selfishly, I wanted to make everyone laugh. But it got to the point that this is too important."

Discography

See Jeff Foxworthy discography for more information 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 number 18 on the Hot Country Songs charts in late 1995-early 1996.