Larry the Cable Guy
Larry the Cable Guy, the stage name of comedian Daniel Lawrence Whitney, is a prominent figure in the realm of stand-up comedy and acting, known for his blue-collar persona and catchphrases like "Git-r-done." Born on February 17, 1963, in Pawnee City, Nebraska, Whitney's upbringing on a farm influenced the character he later developed. His career began in the 1980s, initially performing traditional stand-up before transitioning to the Larry character, which he showcased on the Bob and Tom Show in 1991.
Whitney gained widespread recognition as part of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour alongside fellow comedians Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall, leading to popular live performances and films. He is also a voice actor, notably voicing Mater in the Disney Pixar Cars franchise, which introduced him to a younger audience. Despite facing criticism for some of his material, Whitney has significantly contributed to the popularity of redneck comedy, celebrating southern working-class culture. In addition to his entertainment career, he is involved in philanthropic activities through the Git-R-Done Foundation, supporting children and veterans. Whitney's personal life includes his marriage to Cara Whitney and their two children.
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Subject Terms
Larry the Cable Guy
Comedian
- Born: February 17, 1963
- Place of Birth: Pawnee City, Nebraska
Contribution: Daniel Lawrence Whitney is best known for his stage name and character, Larry the Cable Guy, whom Whitney has played both as an actor and stand-up comedian.
Background
Daniel Lawrence Whitney was born on February 17, 1963, in Pawnee City, Nebraska. He is the youngest of three children of Tom and Shirley Whitney. Whitney’s father was a school administrator, farmer, preacher, and former guitarist for the Everly Brothers. His mother was an occasional Elvis impersonator. Whitney spent much of his childhood at livestock auctions with his grandfather, an experience that helped shape his Larry the Cable Guy persona.
The family lived on a farm in Nebraska, raising pigs and other livestock until 1978, when they moved to West Palm Beach, Florida. In West Palm Beach, Whitney attended King’s Academy, where his father was the principal. When his father resigned from his position, both Whitneys switched to the Berean Christian School.
After graduation, Whitney went to the Baptist University of America and the University of Nebraska, before dropping out in his junior year. Whitney credited his fellow students from Texas and Georgia for later inspiring his Larry the Cable Guy character. In 1986 he performed his first stand-up routine in a comedy club, and two years later he was performing often enough to quit his job as a bellhop at a local Ramada Inn.
Career
At first Whitney’s stand-up act was a traditional comedy routine, but as he performed, Whitney honed his character and developed his famous catch phrases “Git-r-done” and “Lord, I apologize,” among others. He became a regular part of radio call-in shows, where he would play various characters, including a cable-television installer named Larry, a talkative blue-collar southerner with a thick accent and ribald sense of humor. Whitney introduced Larry on the nationally broadcast Bob and Tom Show in 1991 and focused his stand-up act on that character.
Whitney became friends with fellow comedian Jeff Foxworthy, whom he met in the 1980s, and Whitney became a regular on Foxworthy’s Country Countdown Show. In 1995 and 1997 Whitney produced two comedy albums that were not widely distributed, but 2001’s Lord, I Apologize went gold. Whitney syndicated his act to radio markets in the late 1990s, and in 2000 he joined Foxworthy and others in the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a showcase for southern white comedians. The tour resulted in the live performance CD Blue Collar Comedy Tour Live (2000), Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003), and two television movies, Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again (2004) and Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road (2006). The group also showcased their brand of comedy on a sketch-comedy series titled Blue Collar TV from 2004 to 2006. Between 2001 and 2009 Whitney made six number-one comedy albums as Larry the Cable Guy. He reteamed with Blue Collar comedians Foxworthy and Bill Engvall on Them Idiots Whirled Tour, a television movie and CD released in 2012.
In 2006 Whitney voiced the character of Mater, the dim-witted but lovable tow truck in the Disney Pixar hit film Cars. This character introduced Whitney to a new generation of fans and spurred roles in spin-off video games, short films, and a television series, Mater’s Tall Tales (2008–12). In 2012 Whitney appeared in the sequel, Cars 2, playing Mater as a lead character.
In 2009 Whitney appeared on Foxworthy’s game show, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?, and in 2011 he was tapped by the History Channel to host Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, a travelogue series. The show premiered with 1.7 million viewers and aired its third and final season in 2013. Between 2015 and 2017, he embarked on a comedy tour with Foxworthy. One of their shows, in Minneapolis, was recorded as the comedy special Jeff Foxworthy & Larry the Cable Guy: We've Been Thinking (2016), which was released on Netflix; it was put out as a CD in 2017. He continued to tour in subsequent years.
In addition to numerous stand-up and guest appearances on television, Whitney has starred in several movies playing Larry the Cable Guy or a similar character, including a bumbling tooth fairy in 2012’s Tooth Fairy 2. After appearing in Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas in 2014, he went on to once again voice the character Mater in Cars 3 (2017). He continued to voice the character in the television miniseries Cars on the Road (2022) and Lego Pixar: BrickToons (2024).
Impact
Whitney is responsible in large part for the popularity of so-called redneck comedy, a celebration of southern white working-class culture, as his character Larry the Cable Guy. Though he has been criticized for comments that have been viewed as insensitive, racist, and sexist, his performances continue to appeal to a large audience.
Personal Life
Whitney married Cara Whitney in 2005. They have a son, Wyatt (b. 2006), and a daughter, Reagan (b. 2007), who is named after the couple’s favorite president, Ronald Reagan. In 2009 the couple started the Git-R-Done Foundation, which focuses its philanthropy on children and veterans.
Bibliography
Blieberg, Larry, and Daniel Lawrence Whitney. “Ten Great Places Brought to You by Larry the Cable Guy.” USA Today 2 Mar. 2012, Life sec.: 5d. Print.
Hoffman, Ken. “Call Him Larry the Rodeo Guy.” Houston Chronicle 10 Feb. 2011: 1. Print.
Keegan, Rebecca Winters. “Larry the Cable Guy Goes Hollywood.” Time. Time, 9 May 2007. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.
"Larry the Cable Guy." Internet Movie Database, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm1249256/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2024.
Pennington, Gail. “St. Louis Is Fodder for Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch [MO]. Stltoday.com, 13 June 2013. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.
Schmidt , Helmut. “Larry the Cable Guy ‘Gits ’Er Done’ in Perham.” Prairie Business. Prairie Business Magazine, 10 Aug. 2013. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.
Tauber, Michelle. “Larry the Family Guy.” People 10 Mar. 2008: 147–50. Print.
Whitney, Dan. "Here’s What Larry the Cable Guy Sounds Like When He’s Not Larry the Cable Guy." Interview by Théoden Janes. The Charlotte Observer, 28 Aug. 2017, www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article169764257.html. Accessed 23 Sept. 2024.
Zinoman, Jason. “Less Politics, More Everyman: The Remade Rustics.” New York Times 18 May 2013: C1. Print.