Larry the Cable Guy just a normal guy

I was waiting for Larry The Cable Guy to phone in for an interview. I had not counted on hearing from Daniel Whitney.
But you know Whitney -- or rather, his stage persona. He wears flannel shirts with the sleeves cut off, sports a fishing hook in his hat and offers up a "Git 'r done" catchphrase with a Southern drawl as thick as a July night in Georgia.
Larry the Cable Guy was a character Whitney created for a call-in to a radio show. It ended up spiraling into a phenomenon greater than Whitney had ever dreamed. For the sake of clarity, we'll refer to Whitney as Larry the Cable Guy for the rest of this story.
"I started doing stand-up in 1985, and in 1988 I did a minute- to three-minute sketch of a cable installer," said Larry the Cable Guy in a phone interview prior to his upcoming appearance in West Wendover, Nev.
The character drew attention when a friend who was a morning radio host wanted Larry to call into the station disguised as The Cable Guy. The plan worked, as he brought his usual one-liner jokes and morphed them with his redneck caller.
But while he still maintained his own stand-up career, the two worlds -- stand-up comedian, redneck caller -- meshed by accident.
"I had a buddy bill me as Larry the Cable Guy on stage," Larry said. "And that was kind of weird to me because that was two completely different venues."
From that day, he permanently became Larry in the entertainment world. He says it wasn't hard for him because it's easy to fall into the accent whenever he needs it.
Blue Collar comedy
Larry the Cable Guy's popularity originated in the areas where you could find him on the morning airwaves, and he subsequently sold out clubs in those locales.
"They knew me in about 27 states," he said. "In radio, I had a real underground following. That's the only people that had heard of me.
"Then I hooked up with the Blue Collar comedy in 2000 and the rest is history."
The Blue Collar Comedy Tour -- with Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Ron White -- elevated the comedian from a regional radio cult following to nationwide attention. He no longer fit in the clubs and had to move into theaters. Soon after, in 2004, even a theater couldn't hold his fan base, and he started performing in arenas.
Larry the Cable Guy recently wrapped up his new Comedy Central special, which will debut on CD on Sept. 22 and on television in January 2010. The special attracted more than 53,000 fans to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., this year.
Audience favorite
Filling an arena with fans is a difficult task no matter what the entertainment act. And yet here was Larry, filling dozens upon dozens of arenas every year.
Larry believes the reason behind his popularity, and that of the Blue Collar boys, is because they're just normal guys.
"We never took ourselves too seriously. We know what we are. We are stand-up comedians," Larry said. "Our job is to make people enjoy themselves for an hour and 10 minutes."
Most folks would be surprised that a normal day for him consists of breakfast with his two young kids, family walks and stories at night.
On the way to fame, however, he has been questioned about some of his social and political commentary. The controversy suits him and his character just fine.
"Some people go, 'Oh, that joke is not politically correct.' I really don't care," said Larry. "People are paying good money to come out and laugh. We live in a free country and I should be able to talk about whatever I want to talk about."
Despite the ridiculous success he has had -- success that all started with a morning radio gig -- one venture that he never anticipated was Larry the Cable Guy ... the actor.
"Complete cherry on top," he said. Larry got his first movie role in 2006 as the voice of Mater in Pixar's "Cars." He then went on to star, much to the critics' chagrin, in "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector" (2006), "Delta Farce" (2007) and "Witless Protection" (2008).
"A lot of them just don't like me," Larry said about his critics. "But the more I got trashed by them, the more DVDs I would sell."
PREVIEW
WHO: Larry the Cable Guy
WHEN: 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Peppermill Concert Hall, 300 Wendover Blvd., West Wendover, Nev.
TICKETS: $30-$90, (888) PEPP-TIX
 
AUDIO: Listen to Larry the Cable Guy talk about his 50,000 seat show