Comedian Jeff Foxworthy in his career of three decades has been through several ups and downs but he has never lost his charm among his audience. Audiences still love his jokes, the way they did thirty years ago. Moreover, as the time passed, the number of his fans and admirers increased. After all, thirty years is a pretty long time, isn’t it?
People love this American stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio personality, author, and voice artist. He is often considered one of the most successful stand-up comedians of all time but do you know the secret behind his undying success? We do…
The host of the popular show ‘Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?’ on Fox revealed how he uses his life, wife and marriage as comedy materials for his live shows. Foxworthy, who married his wife Pamela Gregg on September 18, 1985 said that he has taken his wife as his inspiration for stand-up comedy for several years. The father of two daughters stated that he was going to write some new material for his further shows about his current stage of life.
Despite making career decision while keeping his own life in mind, the TV host feels that he is testing himself by testing new materials. Even after years and years of entertaining his audiences, he still can hardly predict whether he would be able to please the newcomers as well as the old timers.
“There are times when you think, 'Oh, I'm going to tell this joke and people are going to be snottin' on themselves' – and then they just stare at you,” Foxworthy said. “And the next one, you go, 'Oh, this is just stupid,' and you say it, and people are beatin' the tables.”
When asked if he recall any such experiences when he could not make the public laugh, he gave the full detail of several such times.
“My kids think you can just Google anything you need to know, and I'm like, 'No, there are things you learn only from life experience.' So I started working on this whole bit, and there was one that I thought was so funny. I said, 'Here's something you can't learn from Google: If you're a policeman and you pull over a clown driving a car, be very careful, because you have no idea how many of 'em are in there.'
“When I wrote that one, I even made myself giggle. But when I did it in front of an audience, I swear to God, total crickets, nothin'. The only laugh I could hear was my wife at the back of the room, and she was laughing BECAUSE nobody else laughed at it.”
And the veteran comedian also told about the joke which he thought was lame but really tickled everybody’s funny bone.
“Many years ago I thought of the redneck word 'sensuous' – as in, 'I told my old lady, sensuous up, get me a beer,' ” Foxworthy recalled. “And I thought, 'That's just stupid.'
“But I went onstage and told it, and they howled. Now, 20 years later, people still quote it to me: 'Sensuous up, get me a beer.' And I'm like, 'They remember it two decades later, so what do I know?'
So, it really proves that Foxworthy, aged 57 who has the net worth of $100 million, draws inspirations for his jokes for show from his wife, children and his own life and that’s what makes him one of the greatest comedians.
Jeff is active on Twitter where he promotes his show, ‘Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?’ For those who haven’t had the chance of watching him live, can go to YouTube and check out his videos.