Carl Hurley is a former

Eastern Kentucky University Eastern Kentucky University (Eastern or EKU) is a public university in Richmond, Kentucky. As a regional comprehensive institution, EKU also maintains branch campuses in Corbin, Hazard, Lancaster, and Manchester and offers over 40 online ...

professor, and nationally recognized

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...

and lecturer. In his early career, he was often billed as "America's funniest professor." He is a common entertainer for local events, and is often heard several times daily nationwide on SiriusXM Radio's Channel 98

Laugh USA Laugh USA is a Sirius XM Radio channel featuring family comedy and broadcasts on channel 98. The channel's slogan is "Comedy for Everyone." The comedy aired sometimes contains mild profanities and slightly risqué material, and is only very rare ...

, and Channel 97

Blue Collar Radio Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when o ...

. Hurley is the Author of ''We Weren't Poor--We Just Didn't Have Any Money'', and his entertainment has also been featured in

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

format. Hurley was born in 1941 in a

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers. Eu ...

in the

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, ...

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topographi ...

Laurel County, Kentucky Laurel County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 62,613. Its county seat is London. After a special election in January 2016 alcohol sales are permitted only ...

. In early life, he enjoyed family members' richly embellished tales, and the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divi ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

Minnie Pearl Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as her stage character Minnie Pearl, was an American comedian who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (1940–1991) and on the television ...

and

Rod Brasfield Rodney Leon Brasfield (August 22, 1910 – September 12, 1958) was an American comedian who was prominently featured on the Grand Ole Opry from 1947 until his death in 1958. In 1987, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Life an ...

. Heading off to

, Hurley worked his way to a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

in education in 1966. In 1971 he was awarded a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

in education from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

in Columbia, Missouri. Returning to EKU as a professor and coordinator, in 1971 his next career started when he decided to "liven up" a boring school conference. Invitations to speak elsewhere followed, and in 1982, Hurley left EKU to speak and entertain full-time. Hurley displays a trademark story-telling style considered similar by some to American

humorist A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business ...

s such as

Andy Griffith Andy Samuel Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, comedian, television producer, southern gospel singer and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television. Known for his Southern drawl, his characte ...

and

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show '' A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

, combining a down-home yarn-spinning style with public

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

. His early work often displayed an impish giggle throughout his routines, which later vanished.

Video presentations

* "Kinfolk & Characters" * "Off the Main Road" * "Laughing Matters" * "Back Home" * "Sunny Side Up" * "Southern Fried" * "Lessons in Laughter" * "Might As Well Laugh" * "Country Formal" * "Live at Renfro Valley" * "Looking for the Humor"

Seminar topics

* "Success Is a Process" * "Coping With Change" * "What Sales People Need to Know About Their Customers" * "Developing Peak Performance" * "On a Clear Day You Can See Tomorrow" * "Helping Skills for Managers" * "Looking for the Humor" * "Keep on the Funny Side"

References

External links

*
Carl Hurley's Agency Listing for seminars
* Kentucky Educational Television's factsheets
first
(with pictures)
Nick Koch Weiler's photos of Carl's performance in Tim Farmer's Christmas Jubilee
*

East Bernstadt, Kentucky East Bernstadt is a census-designated place (CDP) and coal town in Laurel County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 716 at the 2010 census, down from 774 at the 2000 census. Geography East Bernstadt is located in northern Laurel Count ...

Eastern Kentucky University alumni University of Missouri alumni Living people 1941 births 21st-century American comedians {{US-comedian-stub