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Jeff Foxworthy: In the 'redneck' of timeComedian compiles a best-of record
By Thom Patterson
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Nineteen years after quitting his job at IBM to hit the stand-up comedy club circuit, Jeff Foxworthy is still standing, with a weekly radio countdown program, a line of successful greeting cards and 11 books. The Atlanta comedian, who gained fame by helping the world define the term "redneck," in his book "You Might Be a Redneck If ...", spoke with CNN.com about the release of his first greatest-hits CD, "Double Wide, Single Minded" (Rhino). CNN: Does this CD release signal a shift in your career? JEFF FOXWORTHY: I don't think so. I think with a comedian, when you get to the point of a greatest hits, it's kind of an acknowledgment that you've been doing stand-up a long time, which not very many people do. I think about people like Steve Martin or Eddie Murphy who kind of started in stand-up and then went on to other things. And even guys that I used to work the clubs with -- whether it's Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler or David Spade -- they did stand-up for a little while, but then they went on to something else. And I think there's a few people -- in their soul -- that's what they are. I think [Jerry] Seinfeld's one of those people. I mean, Lord, Jerry doesn't have to work. Yet he's out there, he's doing stand-up every night. [Bill] Cosby's worth a billion dollars and he's still out there doing stand-up. There's a few people that just love this art form and I have found that I am one of them. And I've gotten to do a lot of different things: books, TV, radio. But if you put a gun to my head and said "pick one," I wouldn't even have to think about it. It's stand-up. I still love doing stand-up. CNN: What about the movies? Any chance you'll be appearing in any films soon? FOXWORTHY: Actually, I'm doing a couple of voices in a movie right now, which I'm kind of excited about. That's one of the few things I haven't done, but my kids always wanted me to do. And so there's a movie coming out next year called "Racing Stripes" and it's kind of like "Babe," where you have the talking animals with the computer-generated mouths, and I'm a rooster in that.
But I've never really sought out movies only because they took so long. And you know, I'm such a dad, I didn't want to be gone for three months. And actually I'm talking to somebody about doing a small part in one now which -- I would do it if I could do it in a week or two. CNN: Why did you decide to release a greatest hits CD at this point in your career? FOXWORTHY: You know what? I got approached by Rhino [Records] and they were sitting there looking at all this catalogue of stuff that I had done and said, "I think this would be a great album." And I thought, hey, I won't have to write anything ... [laughs] CNN: Have you thought at all about entertaining American troops overseas? FOXWORTHY: You know what? I haven't been overseas. I've done it a lot here, and yeah I would do that. I would love to do that. I went to a base outside of Shreveport, Louisiana, and you start looking at the troops and you're like, "They're kids." Which means I'm getting old, but they're 19 and 20 years old, and yet they are so courageous and so firm in their resolve to defend their country. Lord, I stand up there and hold a microphone and tell jokes -- it makes you feel like so nothing -- celebrity is kind of a silly thing anyway -- and you sit there and you think man, why in the world would anyone look up to me? These are the people that are the heroes. So it's kind of an honor to get to perform for them. CNN: Now that you've bought a huge tract of land in western Georgia, does that mean you're out of Hollywood for good? FOXWORTHY: Yeah, to me, that was kind of like driving my stake in the ground. I was in L.A. for eight years. I kind of felt like I did my time there. In fact, it's so bizarre -- I've learned that if anybody out there wants a sitcom, all they have to do is move back to Georgia and declare that they're never going to do TV again and people will offer you a sitcom every other day. I've turned down three in the last month because I don't want to go back to L.A. I mean, my kids are here, I live next door to my brother and I have this great life.
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