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Jeff Foxworthy

Jeff Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. As a comedian, 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 if…" one-liners, Foxworthy has released six major-label comedy albums. His first two albums were each certified 3× Multi-Platinum by the RIAA. 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. Foxworthy also hosts a nationally syndicated radio show called The Foxworthy Countdown.

Biography

Foxworthy was born in Hapeville, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, the first child of James Abstance, a computer executive, and Carole Linda (Camp) Foxworthy . His grandfather James Marvin Camp was a Hapeville, Georgia fireman for more than 30 years .

Foxworthy graduated from Hapeville High School, and was a member of the class of 1979 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. 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 Punch Line comedy club in 1984 .

Personal life

Foxworthy has been married to Pamela Gregg since 1985 and has two daughters, Jordan (born in 1992), and Julianne (born in 1994).

Foxworthy is a noted hunting enthusiast, appearing as host and featured guest on several programs on the Outdoor Channel.

He has also done a lot of work supporting missionary work in Africa, specifically Kenya. He has close connections with the 410 Bridge (http://www.410bridge.org) and has put on a benefit event for them entitled "A Night For Africa" two years in a row. He has been to the country to aid first hand.

Career

Comedy Albums

Foxworthy captured 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 .

Foxworthy's Totally Committed was released in May 1999. In conjunction with the CD was a one-hour HBO stand-up special by the same name. The CD not only reached gold status but also received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination .

In 2001, he received a nomination for Best Spoken Comedy Album at the 43rd Annual Grammys .

Foxworthy hosted the Country Weekly's TNN Music City News Country Awards for 1998, 1999, and 2000 .

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 run of the show was later seen on Nick at Nite and CMT in 2005 and 2006.

He is the game show host of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? which airs on FOX on Fridays. He will also be hosting the syndicated version of the game show due to start in September 2009 .

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 serves as executive producer, and stars 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. 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 has resurrected the Blue Collar TV format (albeit with only himself participating along with some of the Blue Collar TV co-hosts) called Foxworthy's Big Night Out. which aired on Country Music Television (CMT). Foxworthy's Big Night Out began airing in summer 2006 and was cancelled after one season.

Blue Collar Comedy Radio airs on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 103 and is associated with Raw Dog Comedy on Sirius 104.

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 "redneck humor" 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.

Recent Work

Since April 1999, Foxworthy also hosts The Foxworthy Countdown, a nationally syndicated weekly radio show which features the Top 25 country hits of the week as reported by Mediabase. He received a CMA nomination in 2001 for Broadcast Personality of the Year .

In the 2006 movie The Fox and the Hound 2, Foxworthy voiced the character Lyle.

On Comedy Central, there was a Comedy Central Roast of Jeff Foxworthy, with the three others from the Blue Collar group, along with several surprise guests.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Chart Positions				Certifications
Year	Title	US Country	US 200	US Comedy	CAN Country	RIAA	CRIA
1993	You Might Be a Redneck If...^A	3	38			3× Multi-Platinum	Platinum
1995	Games Rednecks Play	2	8		6	3× Multi-Platinum	Platinum
1996	Crank It Up: The Music Album	3	21			Platinum	Gold
1998	Totally Committed	8	50		21	Gold
2000	Big Funny	15	143		30
2004	Have Your Loved Ones Spayed or Neutered	7	47	5

^AYou Might Be a Redneck If... peaked at #1 on Top Heatseekers.

Compilation albums

Year	Title	Chart Positions			RIAA
Year	Title	US Country	US 200	US Comedy	RIAA
1994	Redneck Test: Vol. 11
1995	King of the Rednecks
	You Might Be a Redneck, Vol. 10
	Redneck Test: Vol. 43	19	155
	Jeff Foxworthy: Sold Out Volume 80	35
	Jeff Foxworthy: The Original Volume 79	27	184
1996	Live, Vol. 9	53
1999	Greatest Bits	17	189	7	Gold
2003	Best of Jeff Foxworthy: Double Wide, Single Minded	10	76	1

Box sets

Year	Title
1996	The Ultimate Jeff Foxworthy Gift Collection

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; many of these are included on his 1996 compilation Crank It Up: The Music Album. Several of the singles have charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) and Hot 100 charts.

Year	Title	Chart Positions			Album
Year	Title	US Country	US Hot 100	CAN Country	Album
1994	"Redneck Stomp"	67	75		Crank It Up: The Music Album
1995	"Party All Night" (w/ Little Texas and Scott Rouse)	53	101
1996	"Redneck 12 Days of Christmas"^A	18
1996	"Redneck Games" (w/ Alan Jackson)	42	66	79
1997	"The Night After Christmas"	67
1998	"Totally Committed" (w/ Tim Rushlow)	70			Totally Committed
2000	"Blue Collar Dollar" (w/ Bill Engvall and Marty Stuart)	63			Big Funny