The Blue Collar Comedy Tour was an American comedy troupe, featuring

Jeff Foxworthy Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and radio and television host. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and formerly Ron White. Known f ...

with three of his comedian friends,

Bill Engvall William Ray Engvall Jr. (born July 27, 1957) is an American retired stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Engvall has released a number of stand-up comedy albums through Warner Records and the defunct BNA Records. His commercially su ...

Ron White Ronald Dee White (born December 18, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and author, best known as a charter member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Nicknamed "Tater Salad", he is the author of the book ''I Had the Right to Remain Sil ...

, and

Larry the Cable Guy Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963), known professionally as Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian, actor, and former radio personality. He was one of the members of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a ...

, who had replaced fellow comedian Craig Hawksley, who performed in the first 26 shows on the tour. The troupe toured together for six years beginning in January 2000 in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, before finishing in 2006 at the Warner Theatre in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The troupe also created the CMT show ''Bounty Hunters''.

Origin

had already established himself as a well known,

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning comedian, best known for his jokes and stories about life as a

redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term mainly applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, ''Dictionary of American ...

. According to Foxworthy, he got inspired to make the tour when he read a review for the movie '' The Original Kings of Comedy'', and noting that the review considered the movie appealing to more of an "urban, hip" audience, which Foxworthy felt left out his usual demographic of rural audiences. Foxworthy had cast best friend Engvall in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

version of ''

The Jeff Foxworthy Show ''The Jeff Foxworthy Show'' is an American sitcom television series created by Tom Anderson, starring comedian Jeff Foxworthy and based on Foxworthy's stand-up comedy routine. The series originally aired on ABC from September 12, 1995, to May ...

'', White was brought on as his comedy is based around personal experiences retold in his smoking, drinking Southern United States persona, as well as being a former opener for Foxworthy. According to White, when he was presented with the original tour concept, he admitted that he thought the idea "was retarded." Originally, Craig Hawksley was the fourth member of the tour, but after the original tour, was uncomfortable about performing in front of large audiences and chose to leave the tour. Foxworthy then asked Larry, who he had featured on his nationally syndicated, weekly, country radio show ''The Foxworthy Countdown'', to join. Each show initially featured White and Larry each doing 15-minute sets, followed by Engvall and Foxworthy each doing 30-minute sets, then the four comedians would gather together, sitting on stools on stage, doing varying comedy routines and jokes (such as Engvall's "Here's Your Sign" jokes and Foxworthy's "You Might Be A Redneck" routine) to close the show. Foxworthy, due to his high popularity at the time, was always the last performer. By 2004, with Larry's popularity growing, the order was shifted to Engvall, followed by White, followed by Foxworthy, then Larry, though now all of the comedians had more equal length sets. The tour that featured these four "good ole boys" proved to be such a hit that they recorded a live album in November 2001 and the first DVD called ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie'' in the spring of 2003. The movie underperformed at the box office, but gained high ratings when aired on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. The movie would spawn two direct-to-video sequels: ''The Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again'', and ''The Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One For the Road''. By 2006, each of the comedians had become so popular, that they became too busy with their own individual comedy specials and other media to keep the tour going.

DVD

After the success of the tour, album and live DVD, the comedians recorded a second live DVD called ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again'' and a series on

The WB The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...

called ''

Blue Collar TV ''Blue Collar TV'' is an American sketch comedy television series that aired on The WB from July 29, 2004 to July 26, 2006 starring Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, and Larry the Cable Guy. The show's humor dealt principally with contemporary Am ...

''. Ron White was on the second DVD, and although he was not a regular on the TV show, he did make guest appearances. A third Blue Collar movie was produced for Comedy Central titled ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road'', which premiered on the channel in June 2006. ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for The Road'' was released on DVD in June 2006.

Films

* '' Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie'' (2003) * '' Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again'' (2004) * ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road'' (2006)

Satellite radio

In March 2006, the group started a Blue Collar Comedy channel on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...

titled '' Blue Collar Radio''. The station features not only various stand-up acts from the four members but various acts from other working class-esque comedians such as Brian Regan,

Rodney Carrington Rodney Scott Carrington (born October 19, 1968) is an American Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian, actor, country music artist and songwriter. He has released six major-label studio albums and a greatest hits package, on Mercury Records and Capi ...

Kathleen Madigan Kathleen Madigan is an American stand-up comedian and TV personality. In addition to her stand-up comedy performances, she is a regular guest on a variety of U.S. television programs. Early life and education Madigan was born in Florissant, Misso ...

, John Caponera,

Rodney Dangerfield Jack Roy (born Jacob Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), better known by the stage name Rodney Dangerfield, was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, ...

Ray Romano Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his role as Raymond "Ray" Barone on the CBS sitcom ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' (1996–2005), for which he won three Primetime Emm ...

, and others as well. When

merged with

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable ...

, this brought more coverage of the channel. Now known as '' Jeff & Larry's Comedy Roundup'', it can be heard on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

97.

''Them Idiots Whirled Tour''

As of 2011, Foxworthy, Engvall and Larry still do comedy tours together under the title ''Them Idiots Whirled Tour''. This is keeping true to their claim that ''One for the Road'' was the last ''Blue Collar'' tour, thus respecting the fact that Ron White is not part of it. A CD and DVD of the new show from the

Consol Energy Center PPG Paints Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that serves as the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). It previously was the home of the Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football Leagu ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania was released on March 13, 2012.

References

External links

*
Interview for Bill Engvall's book, ''Just a Guy''

Them Idiots tour site
{{Authority control

Blue Collar Comedy Tour The Blue Collar Comedy Tour was an American comedy troupe, featuring Jeff Foxworthy with three of his comedian friends, Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy, who had replaced fellow comedian Craig Hawksley, who performed in the firs ...

Comedy tours