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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ron White doesn’t care who he offends at Northern Quest, or anywhere for that matter

Ron White is fearless. The veteran comic doesn’t care what anyone thinks when he performs. While many of his peers are concerned about who they might offend courtesy of material or social media posts, White lets it fly.

The quick-witted, Scotch-sipping humorist is one of the last of a dying breed. Much like the late Sam Kinison and Gilbert Gottfried, White says what he believes regardless of consequence. “I don’t know how to be any other way,” White said. “I’ve always done whatever I wanted to do for better or worse.”

White, 65, who is politically incorrect, unapologetic and edgy, is amusing, but the comic known as Tater Salad, wouldn’t be where he is without help from his friend and fellow comic, Jeff Foxworthy. During the late ’90s White left the world of comedy to start a pottery business in Mexico. White hit his nadir not long after crossing the border.

“I didn’t think I would ever be solvent again,” White said. “I was with an unstable woman at the time. Jeff didn’t think this business was a good idea and he thought the woman I was with was dangerous. He brought me back around 2000 and I opened for him.”

The following year, Foxworthy floated the “Blue Collar Comedy” project by White. Foxworthy, who was an accomplished national headliner, tabbed his two friends, Bill Engvall and White, to join him for a “Blue Collar Comedy” tour. Larry the Cable Guy, aka Dan Whitney, was added as the fourth humorist. White said he told Foxworthy it was a dumb idea.

“That shows you what I know about the business,” he said. “Our first album (“Blue Collar Comedy Tour Live’) sold more than four million copies.”

The Blue Collar tour was wildly successful. The jaunt spawned the television series, “Blue Collar TV,” which ran on the WB from 2004 to 2006 and three films. “I owe so much to ‘Blue Collar,’ ” White said. “I have a lot of great memories. It was an incredible time for us.”

But when Foxworthy, Engvall and Whitney reunited for a tour in 2011, White passed. “If I went out with them, I would have had to write clean material,” White said. “I’m a little rowdy for them. I got busted for weed (in Vero Beach in 2008). Sometimes you just have to move on. I never wished anything for those guys but the best.”

White remains unpredictable and amusing by his lonesome. When White, who will perform Saturday at Northern Quest Resort & Casino, takes the stage, it’s just him, a glass of Scotch and a cigar. “Comedy is great because there’s no overhead,” White said. “I write all of my material. It’s all me. I’ve asked these guys in rock bands with all the 17-wheelers driving to the venue how they make money. I just don’t understand it. But I don’t understand a lot of things.”

Expect a caustic and hilarious night when White performs at Northern Quest, since he could care less who he offends. “A good comic doesn’t care about pleasing people,” White said. “But then again, I don’t know any other way to be. I have to tell it like it is.”