A conversation with Jeff Foxworthy
Jeff Foxworthy says he’s doing something he said he would never do again.
“After my last television series (‘The Jeff Foxworthy Show’) I said, that’s it. No more. This is not what I’m supposed to do. I was finished with it. … I like performing in front of live audiences and going around the country, where you can walk out on a stage and never really know what’s going to happen up there. No script. Just you and those people out there. And what happens between you and them is what counts.”
When the TV show ended, Foxworthy embarked on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, one of the most successful tours in history, grossing more than $15 million nationwide. There was also a successful film — “Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie” — based on the tour. (It’s sold more than 2 million DVDs so far.) And now, seven years after he said “never more” to weekly TV, he’s back, along with two of his “Blue Collar Tour” co-stars, Bill Engvall (who also appeared on Foxworthy’s series) and Larry the Cable Guy, in the WB’s “Blue Collar TV.”
So, what happened?
“What happened,” says Foxworthy, “is that some people talked to me about doing a show very different from what I did before, and very much like the one we’ve been doing on the tour, and I couldn’t find a reason to say no.”
Jeff Foxworthy says the new show will have sketches inspired by “everything — politics, show business, shopping for lingerie, whatever. Only it’s going to be done from a blue-collar perspective. For example, we’re doing sketches called ‘Hick Eye for the Queer Guy’ and ‘CSI: Idaho.’”
Foxworthy, who, incidentally gave up a career with IBM to become a stand-up comic, says it surprised him at first when his decidedly Southern humor caught on across the country.
“But the more I got to thinking about it,” he says, “the more I realized that if humor involves the basic human emotions and reactions to what life hands you — and it does, ask any anthropologist who has studied humor in various cultures — then it doesn’t matter where you are, the universal appeal is there.”
(Personal Note: Jeff Foxworthy, who lives with his wife and two daughters in Atlanta, is honorary chairman of the Duke Children’s Classic Golf Tournament benefiting Duke University Children’s Hospital, which specializes in treating children who have cancer.)
In Focus
Jasmine Guy (“A Different World”) is back in her role as Roxy the policewoman on Showtime’s “Dead Like Me,” which starts its second season on July 25.
“I was very happy when I learned we were picked up after our first year,” Guy said. “I felt we deserved to be: The show has been well-received, and it is so good, and just keeps getting better.”
The premise of the show is that people who have died continue “living.” They have jobs. They have deadlines. They have relationships.
“But with a difference,” Guy says. “In this new life after death they have to learn some lessons about living they didn’t learn before.”
Asked if she believes that such an afterlife is possible, Guy says, “I think anything is possible.”
Jasmine Guy, whom most people associate with her role as the snooty debutante Whitley on “A Different World,” has had a markedly diverse career: She danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Her numerous stage appearances include starring as Velma Kelly in the revival production of “Chicago,” as well as Broadway’s “The Wiz” and “Beehive.” She also starred in several films, such as Spike Lee’s “Let’s Dance” and “Diamond Men.” Her TV credits include “Melrose Place,” “Queen” and more.
And now she’s added “author” to her accomplishments. She has written “Evolution of a Revolutionary: Conversations with Afeni Shakur,” published by Atria, a division of Simon and Schuster, and released in February 2004.
It was more than 10 years ago when Guy met social activist and former Black Panther leader Afeni Shakur, mother of slain rap musician Tupac Shakur. “I was fascinated by her story. She had been involved in so much of the early struggle for civil rights. And I thought people should know what she did to try to bring justice to those to whom justice was often denied.”
As for the new season of “Dead Like Me,” Jasmine Guy says, “You can expect to see some changes. And my character, Roxy, makes some discoveries about herself that I think the audience will find very interesting.”
Dial Tone
On July 23, Court TV will air “Fake Out,” hosted by Jack Trimarco, a noted psychological profiler whose work with criminal investigations includes the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 bombings and the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
Trimarco and a panel of Court TV’s top anchors, including Nancy Grace, Lisa Bloom and James Curtis — all of whom have been covering such high-profile cases as Kobe Bryant, Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson — will discuss how to find and interpret tell-tale signs that could indicate who is telling the truth and who is lying.