Jeff Foxworthy acolyte hopes to ‘slay’ at the Spokane Comedy Club

Dusty Slay grew up on Jeff Foxworthy albums while coming of age in a trailer park in Alabama during the 1990s. The clever comic with a soothing baritone looks the part with his trucker hat and dated glasses that could have been borrowed from fellow comic Judah Friedlander.

“Jeff Foxworthy is the best,” Slay said, while calling from Tacoma. “I can’t tell you how much I admire him. I’ve always been a big fan.

“We couldn’t stop telling Foxworthy’s redneck jokes in our trailer. I believe that Jeff Foxworthy’s first two albums, ‘You Might be a Redneck if…’ and ‘Games Rednecks Play’ are two of the best comedy albums of all time.”

Foxworthy sold more than 3 million copies and the latter went platinum and scored a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Comedy Album a generation ago.

“Jeff Foxworthy was a big inspiration,” Slay said. “So was Bill Engvall, who was part of Foxworthy’s Blue Collar Comedy group. Chris Rock, who was always on HBO back then (during the 1990s), was an inspiration and so was Ellen DeGeneres.”

Slay, 41, who will perform Friday and Saturday at the Spokane Comedy Club, was moved by Foxworthy but his stand-up is unique. Slay riffs about growing up poor in a trailer park, shopping at Goodwill, working in a lousy restaurant job and pondering whether fish sleep.

“There is so much to talk about,” Slay said. “I’ve experienced so much in this life, and I just try to have fun with it. I think what I talk about is mostly relatable.”

Slay, like many comics, has spent considerable time developing TV shows. Slay worked on a pair of projects that were ultimately not picked up. The first was a live-action sitcom for ABC, which was inspired by his family. Slay followed with a script for an animated series for Hulu, but it was never produced.

“The great thing about stand-up is that I don’t have to depend on anybody else,” Slay said. “There is no one preventing me from delivering my material.

“Maybe one day I’ll have a TV show, but I’m not going to wait around for that since I’ll be out there doing stand-up.”