Larry the Cable Guy, whose real name is Dan Whitney, was born and raised on a pig farm in Pawnee City, Nebraska before his family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida. He began his comedy career on a dare at a local comedy club in 1986 and was immediately hooked.
In 1988 he quit his job as the funniest bellhop at The Ramada and hit the road in search of a dream. He served as an emcee at The Comedy Corner in West Palm Beach, where he rubbed shoulders with rising comics like Jerry Seinfeld, Dennis Miller, Larry Miller and Colin Quinn. It wasn't long before he was wowing comedy club patrons with his high-energy one-liner style of stand up, and he soon made appearances on Evening at The Improv, Comic Strip Live, Showtime, MTV and Comedy Central.
Larry the Cable Guy set foot onto the radio scene in 1992 as a character on a highly rated Tampa morning show. Eventually he was syndicated in the Orlando market, and soon more stations followed. Today Larry the Cable Guy starts his day with a cry of 'Git-Er-Done' and 'What the hell is this, Russia?' His wacky and outrageous commentaries are carried daily in 35 markets on rock radio and he is also a staple of Jeff Foxworthy's Country Countdown Show on over 100 other stations. There's no question Larry the Cable Guy is opinionated but he's also very likable, winning over his audience on stages, in theaters and on radio stations across the country.
In 2001 Larry the Cable guy put out an album titled, Lord, I Apologize, with track titles like Looking Good at the Flea Market and Martians Got a Thing for Redneck Fellers. The album did well, but his greatest exposure came when Jeff Foxworthy, famous for his you might be a redneck jokes, put together a group of Southern comedians. The show, modeled on the popular Kings of Comedy tour included Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy, but even on a tour designed around Southern stereotypes, Larry stood out. The tour was turned into a film, The Blue Collar Comedy Tour, and as a mark of who Larry was, the promotional photos showed the other three comedians wearing button-up shirts and slacks while Larry wore jeans, a baseball cap, and a flannel with the sleeves cut off. When the film aired on Comedy Central it became the highest-rated comedy special in the cable channel's history.
Larry's popularity has steadily risen since his first exposure to the comedy circuit. Recently the group of blue-collar comedians has gotten a break that will introduce them to people north of the Mason-Dixon line. Larry, Foxworthy, and Engvall have been signed to film six episodes of a series for the WB Network. It will combine sketch comedy with reality television. With help from the writers of Mad TV and In Living Color, the concept has been dubbed 'In Living Blue Collar'. Larry the Cable Guy is also doing voiceover work for an animated film called Cars', in which he plays the automotive best friend to film lead Owen Wilson.
