Jeff Foxworthy

Once upon a time in America, in a darker age than this, people had no way of knowing whether or not they were rednecks. Luckily, Jeff Foxworthy entered the scene with a routine that doubled as an easy-to-follow diagnostic checklist. Wearing a John Deere hat in your senior picture? Check. Think possum is the other white meat? Check. Foxworthy’s full embrace of his NASCAR-loving Southernness struck a chord with audiences, leading to two short-lived sitcoms, his own line of food products, the most records sold by any comedian during the ’90s, and a gig hosting Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?. If the Southern stereotypes were dished out by Yankees, Foxworthy’s comedy read like a minstrel show, but he’s an honest-to-goodness hillbilly who tells straight and narrow observational stories. While not particularly challenging, it’s good, mostly clean fun.

Updated 02/18/2010