Daniel Lawrence Whitney

Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963 in Pawnee City, Nebraska), better known by the stage name Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian and one of the co-stars of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and the subsequent series Blue Collar TV. He also starred in the feature-length movie Health Inspector, and will soon star alongside close friend Bill Engvall in the upcoming film Delta Farce.

Biography

Early life

When he was sixteen, Whitney's family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida. He attended the Kings Academy in West Palm Beach, where his father worked as the principal of Kings Academy's elementary school. Whitney played an instrument in the pep band. As a teenager he worked at Wendy's. In 1985, he began doing stand-up comedy at the Comedy Club in West Palm Beach on amateur nights at the encouragment of friends and coworkers; and, in 1991, he began doing radio comedy, where he would call into stations as fictional characters. The "Larry" character was created after his friend from a station asked him to call in as a cable installer.

Career

He started in Tampa Bay followed by stints at Rock 100 WDIZ and 101.1 WJRR Orlando before hooking up with the Blue Collar Boys. He became known in the South in the early '90s when he made regular guest radio appearances on programs such as the Ron and Ron Show. He was also a regular during the late 1990s on 101.9 The Edge in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday mornings when he would call into Chris Baker's morning show. "Larry"'s trademarks are "redneck"-style humor delivered while speaking in an affected thick Southern accent, recounting bizarre stories about his "family," and the phrase "Git-R-Done!" He is also known for his other commonly used expressions, such as "I don't care who you are. That's funny right there," "Lord, I apologize for that one there, and be with all the starving Pygmies down there in New Guinea, Amen!," "What the hell is this, Russia?," "That's Right," "Toddler Mail," "Edible Britches," and "Do you believe that?" Often during his acts, a woman in the audience yells out that she loves him. He usually responds by saying, "I told you to wait in the truck" - a line cribbed from Tom Waits. He also sings Christmas songs like "Donny the Retard," "Titty Bar Christmas," and "I Pissed My Pants". He uses analogies like "Madder than a skinhead watching the Jeffersons," "Madder than a car load of queers getting pulled over for doin a 69 in a 55".

His often-heard-of fictional family includes:

A grandma, who gets the "walkin' farts"
A grandpa, who uses a device to speak due to throat cancer
A brother, who is not only deaf but has Tourette's syndrome (and often flips the bird while speaking in sign language)
A sister, Liddie, who is very overweight; This sister was also immortalized in a sketch on Blue Collar TV.
Another sister, who looks like DeeWayne from the Ozarks, who has numerous moles; Larry has nicknamed her "Old Moley," "Holy Moley," and "Guacamoley." His sister is also overweight.
His sister's husband, who is originally from Mexico
His sister's baby, whom Larry has nicknamed "Rolie Polie Moley"
A niece and nephew, parents unclear, who bring home fairy tale books that are now "politically correct," as read by Larry on Blue Collar TV
A dog named Wilson whose tail was docked a little too long

In 2005, he was featured in Gretchen Wilson's music video for the song "All Jacked Up," playing dual roles as himself and a transvestite bar patron. In 2006, he starred in the film Health Inspector and was the voice of Mater the tow truck in Disney/Pixar's animated film Cars.

Whitney has also seen considerable success from his comedic recordings. His comedy albums Lord, I Apologize, released in 2001, and The Right To Bare Arms, released in 2005, have both been certified gold by the RIAA.

Private life

Daniel Lawrence Whitney himself has become somewhat of an enigma; official biographies of him describe only the fictional life of Larry the Cable Guy, and he almost never speaks out of his "Larry" voice. In 2006, video surfaced on the internet of his earlier standup done in his normal persona. Some attribute the derivation of his name to his prior profession as a "cable guy," but he actually really never had such a job and got the name in order to hide his identity when calling in on radio shows. A would-be-revealing documentary about his backstage life during stand-up tours was planned but then dropped from the Git-R-Done DVD.

He currently lives in Sanford, Florida which is right outside Orlando.

In a March 2006 interview with CMT, Whitney revealed that he and his wife Cara Whitney were expecting a child on August 4th of that year.

Criticism

Whitney's act has been criticized for having racist and homophobic elements. In his book GIT-R-DONE, he begins a passage about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal: "Let me ask some of these commie rag head carpet flying wicker basket on the head balancing scumbags something!"

In a 2005 Rolling Stone interview, comedian David Cross charged that Whitney's act contained a lot of anti-gay, racist humor. ^* In an interview, Whitney responded to common criticisms of him as racist or insensitive by saying that most people are fine with his act, stating "the only people who are uptight at my shows are politically correct white people". Larry continued his defense in his book, GIT-R-DONE, devoting a chapter to the "P. C. Left". David Cross responded with an open letter on his website expanding his criticism and defending his remarks.

The criticism has been made that his fictional persona may be misleading to his intended audience who go for a "blue-collar-just-like-me" experience when in fact he is neither from The South nor blue-collar, but rather a very well-paid comedian.

Discography

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (1984)
Salutations & Flatulations (1997)
Lord, I Apologize (2001)
A Very Larry Christmas (2004)
The Right to Bare Arms (2005)

Bibliography

Larry the Cable Guy (2005) GIT-R-DONE Crown ISBN 0307237427

Filmography

The Movie (2003)
Rides Again (2004)
Blue Collar TV (2004)
Health Inspector (2006)
Cars (2006) (voice)
One For the Road (2006)
Delta Farce (2007)

Trivia

He was a radio personality on KMOD in Tulsa, Oklahoma and WJRR in Orlando, Florida.
He has mentioned Tulsa, Owasso, and Ponca City, Oklahoma in his comedic performances.
He attended Palmetto High School in Palmetto, Florida
Although his stage character may seem inconsistent with the beliefs, he is a Christian, thanking Jesus Christ on his concert end credits and apologizing to God for becoming a comedian.

External links

1963 births | American stand-up comedians | American film actors | Living people | People from Nebraska

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