'Daniel Lawrence Whitney' (born
February 17 1963 in
Pawnee City, Nebraska), better known by the
stage name 'Larry the Cable Guy', is a stand up comedian, actor, and one of the co-stars of the
Blue Collar Comedy Tour and the subsequent series ''
Blue Collar TV''. He starred in the feature-length movie '', provided his voice to star in the
animated film ''
Cars'' as
Mater, its
subsequent video game and its short film sequel ''
Mater and the Ghostlight'', and starred alongside close friend
Bill Engvall in the film ''
Delta Farce.''
Biography
Early life
Whitney grew up in
Pawnee City,
Nebraska; he moved to
Palm Beach County, Florida with his family when he was 16 where he attended
Berean Christian School. His father, a preacher who once played guitar with the
Everly Brothers, worked as the principal of the nearby Berean Christian Elementary School. Whitney worked at
Wendy's until 1985, when he began doing stand-up comedy with other West Palm Beach locals like buddy
Jamie Porter. He continued his career at the Comedy Club in
Blue Springs, Missouri, on amateur nights at the encouragement of friends and coworkers. In
1991, he began doing
radio comedy, where he would call into stations as fictional characters. The "Larry" character was created after a friend from one of the stations asked him to call in as a cable installer.
Comedy career
Whitney started a career in radio as a disc-jockey in Blue Springs, Missouri. He moved to Omaha, where he was a personality on the short lived alternative station 101.9 The Edge
KGDE. This followed by stints at Rock 100 WDIZ and 101.1
WJRR in Orlando before meeting the Blue Collar Boys. He became known in the South in the early 90s when he made regular radio appearances via phone on programs such as the
Ron and Ron Show. He was also a regular via phone during the late 90s on Z-92's The Todd and Tyler Show in
Omaha, Nebraska, on the nationally syndicated Chris Baker Show Friday mornings, as well as the Kirk, Mark, and Lopez morning show on
98 Rock in
Baltimore, MD. He was also a frequent guest on the Johnny Dare and Murphy show on 98.9,
KQRC, Kansas City. Larry's trademarks are
Redneck-style humor, recounting bizarre stories about his "family," delivered in an affected thick
Southern dialect, and using, among other common expressions, his own catchphrase "Git-R-Done!"
He also sings Christmas songs like "Donny the Retard," "Titty Bars Christmas," and "I Pissed My Pants". He uses "Madder than" analogies like "Madder than a
skinhead watching ''
The Jeffersons''," "Madder than a carload of
queers getting pulled over for doin' a
69 in a 55," "Madder than a one-legged waitress at the
IHOP," or "Happier than
Jim Nabors with a wheelbarrow full of buttholes," and possibly his most famous, "Happier than a
tornado in a
trailer park," from his character in the film ''
Cars.''
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 '', was the voice of Mater, the tow truck, in
Disney/
Pixar's Academy Award-nominated animated film ''Cars'', as well as the voice of Ryder, a crazy cat in the Walt Disney animated film ''
The Fox and the Hound 2''.
Whitney has also seen considerable success from his comedic recordings. His first two comedy albums, ''Lord, I Apologize'' (2001), and ''The Right To Bare Arms'' (2005), have both been
certified gold by the
RIAA. A third album, ''Morning Constitutions'', and its accompanying TV special were released in 2007.
He has also been approached by
Comedy Central to voice a character for an as-yet-unnamed animated series. The show would involve his character as one of two owners of a small cable channel (the other, a high-classed, high-attitude woman) who butt heads at the type of programming they feel appropriate for air. A half-hour pilot has been ordered by the network.
[1]
Private life
The real Dan Whitney himself is somewhat of an unknown. A few
biographies of him describe only the fictional life of Larry the Cable Guy, as he rarely speaks out of character when in public. Residents of Pawnee County confirm the existence of his father and one brother.
In a ''
60 Minutes'' report, correspondent Bob Simon reveals Whitney's "happy-go-lucky" lifestyle: "Unlike many comedians the ''60 Minutes'' team has met, Larry is not angry, he's not depressed, he's not paranoid. He's a hard-working, supremely confident, happy-go-lucky funnyman."
[2]
Whitney lives on a rural parcel of land in
Seminole County, Florida, just north of
Orlando and has a home in
Lincoln, Nebraska. He's a dedicated supporter of the
University of Nebraska football team. He frequently attends Nebraska Football games in his luxury box above
Memorial Stadium, Lincoln. Whitney is married to a former radio personality from KOMP in Las Vegas, NV.
Daniel and his wife also recently celebrated their first child together, a boy.
Southern accent
Whitney's Southern accent is worn as an affectation. Having grown up in Nebraska before moving to West Palm Beach in South Florida when he was 16, Whitney's natural inflection is much more Midwest than Deep South. He says in interviews and in his autobiographical book ''GIT-R-DONE'' that he willingly "turns on" the accent.
[3] See
this YouTube link for an early comedy routine performance without his accent. He also has many inconsistencies within his accent making it a mix of several different regional areas.
Catchphrases
Larry the Cable Guy uses
catchphrase humor, including "Git-R-Done", as well as "Lord, I apologize for that right there, and please be with the starvin' pygmies in New Guinea, A-men" and/or "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there!" after particularly egregious jokes.
Fictional family
His often-heard-of fictional family includes the following:
★ 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.
★ A sister, Liddie, who is very overweight who has a belly button ring; this sister was also immortalized in a sketch on ''
Blue Collar TV''.
★ Another sister who looks like DeeWayne from the
Ozarks and has numerous moles; Larry has nicknamed her "Old Moley," "Holy Moley," and "Guacamole". This sister also is 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 370-pound
hypochondriac aunt.
★ A dog named Wilson whose tail was
docked a little too long.
★ A wife that looks like his favorite country music singer,
Travis Tritt.
★ A great-great-grandfather who is a
Civil War veteran and is called Lawrence the
Telegraph Guy.
★ A girlfriend named BayLee Spain Long
★ A mother's lesbian lover named Frita (used in early career)
★ An aunt and uncle who froze to death in a
convertible after going to a
drive in theater to see "Closed for the Winter."
Radio career
Whitney was a radio personality on:
★
KKAR 1290 AM in
Omaha, Nebraska
★ KGDE 101.9 The Edge in
Omaha, Nebraska
★
KEZO "Z-92" in
Omaha, Nebraska
★
KQRC in
Kansas City
★
KMYZ "Z104.5 The Edge" in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
★
WJRR 101.1 FM in
Orlando, Florida
★
WDIZ in
Orlando, Florida
★
WPLA in
Jacksonville, Florida
★
WIYY in
Baltimore, Maryland
★
WPYX in
Latham, New York
Discography
★ ''Salutations & Flatulations'' (1997)
★ ''
Lord, I Apologize'' (2001)
★ ''
A Very Larry Christmas'' (2004)
★ ''
The Right to Bare Arms'' (2005)
★ ''
Morning Constitutions'' (April 3, 2007)
Filmography
★ ''(
2003)
★ '' (
2003)
★ '' (
2004)
★ ''
Blue Collar TV'' (
2004)
★ '' (
2006)
★ ''
Cars'' (
Film &
Video Game) (
2006) ''(voice)'' - ''
Mater''
★ '' (
2006)
★ ''
The Fox and the Hound 2'' (2006) ''(voice)'' - ''Ryder''
★ ''
Delta Farce'' (2007)
★ ''
Witless Protection'' (2008)
References
1. "Basic Cable Guy: Pilot At Comedy Central — Network Has Ordered Half-Hour Animated TV Show Starring 'Blue Collar' Comedian", HollywoodReporter.com, December 13, 2006
2. Bob Simon. "Political Correctness 'Out Of Control': Bob Simon Interviews The King Of Comedy, Larry The Cable Guy", ''60 Minutes'' Online, December 17, 2007
3. An Interview with Larry the Cable Guy, Dead-Frog.com, June 15, 2005
★ "Dan Whitney." Online. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1249256/bio
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