Jeff Foxworthy
Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American comedian, actor, author, radio and television host, and writer. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and formerly 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 triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. He has written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled No Shirt, No Shoes... No Problem![1]
Jeff Foxworthy
Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy
1982–present
2
Foxworthy has also made several ventures into television, starting in the mid-1990s with his own sitcom called The Jeff Foxworthy Show. He has also appeared alongside Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy in several Blue Collar television specials, including Blue Collar TV for The WB. In addition, he hosted the game shows Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? and The American Bible Challenge, as well as the radio program The Foxworthy Countdown.
Early life[edit]
Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 6, 1958, the first of three children of Carole Linda (née Camp) and IBM executive Jimmy Abstance Foxworthy. His parents were both of English descent,[1][2][3] with his roots lying in the county of Essex.[1] His grandfather, James Marvin Camp, was a Hapeville firefighter for over three decades.[1] He has two younger siblings, Jay Foxworthy and Jennifer Foxworthy.[4]
Foxworthy graduated from Hapeville High School. He attended Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, but left just before graduating.[5] He worked for five years in mainframe computer maintenance at IBM, where his father also worked. At the urging of IBM co-workers, Foxworthy entered and won the Great Southeastern Laugh-off at Atlanta's Punchline comedy club in 1984.
Career[edit]
Comedy albums[edit]
In 1993, he released You Might Be a Redneck If…, which topped the comedy albums chart and started the "You Might Be a Redneck" fad. The album went gold in 1994, platinum by 1995, and 3× platinum by 1996, which is more than three million copies.[6]
Foxworthy's July 1995 release Games Rednecks Play received a 1996 Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Comedy Album.[7]
Totally Committed was released in May 1998. In conjunction with the album was a one-hour HBO stand-up special by the same name. The album reached "gold" status and received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination.[8] The video for the Totally Committed song 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, Foxworthy received a nomination for Best Spoken Comedy Album for the 43rd Annual Grammys.[9]
Television[edit]
In 1995, Foxworthy 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. Later, he 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. Later, the series 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.[10]
In 1998, Foxworthy appeared on the mock talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, where he attempts to explain his famous "You might be a Redneck" joke to Space Ghost, yet fails entirely. Throughout the episode, Space Ghost, Zorak, and Moltar are taking the Ghost Planet to the US, with plans to make it the 51st state. By the end of the episode Foxworthy is sent to "The Box".
He hosted Are You Smarter than A 5th Grader? on Fox in prime time. He hosted the syndicated version of the series from September 21, 2009, until its cancellation on March 24, 2011.[11] In 2015 it was announced that Foxworthy would return as host of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?[12] In addition, he is a host on The Bucks of Tecomate which airs on the NBC Sports Network with Alabama native David Morris.
He was the subject of a Comedy Central Roast in 2005.[13]
In 2011, Foxworthy appeared as a guest “Shark” for two episodes of ABC's second season of Shark Tank.[14]
Since August 2012, Foxworthy has been the host and a producer of the GSN biblical-themed game show The American Bible Challenge, which has aired two seasons.[15] He is also the host of the food reality competition series The American Baking Competition, which aired its first season in summer 2013.[16]
Foxworthy has appeared as host and featured guest on several programs on the Outdoor Channel and Versus.[17][18]
In February 2019, Foxworthy was announced as a judge for NBC's comedy competition series Bring the Funny.[19]
In 2020, a new episode of Ellen's Game of Games featured Jeff Foxworthy on a game of Stink Tank.
