People enjoy picking on rednecks and they probably feel as though this insults us, but it doesn't. The fact of most of the redneck community is that we are actually quite comfortable in our own skin and while you might think we are envious of other segments of society and "their ways," we aren't. We don't live this way because we were forced to, we do it because we WANT to.
There aren't a lot of famous rednecks out there and this is probably because most rednecks don't really aspire to be famous. Hell, even country music which is a staple of redneckdom has been invaded by processed designer bands and artists like Parmalee. I met those guys when I was in college and can tell you first-hand, they are not the rednecks they pretend to be in their shows. It's all an act.
Larry the Cable Guy is a different type though and he is the real deal, he isn't faking it.
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Larry is actually Larry the Cable Guy's middle name or rather it is Lawrence. His first name is actually Daniel. He was born in a very small city in Nebraska, and he grew up on a farm. Some might say that once he hit high school his days of being a true redneck were kind of over. His family moved to Florida and I suppose some of those places could be considered redneck as well. There certainly are plenty of stories about it appearing that way.
Larry actually went to college to study drama after high school. Now here is the part where Larry actually is faking his persona a little bit. His iconic redneck sounding voice is not actually his natural voice, but something that he picked up from his college roommates who were from Texas and Georgia. This is a minor issue though because believe it or not, not every redneck has a southern drawl. Those are just the ones you remember the most. Quite possibly the most famous redneck of all time is Willy Nelson and he doesn't have a southern sound to his voice at all. I believe he is from California and if that is true that is basically the least redneck state in America.
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Let me tell you something about Larry's iconic sleeveless shirt schtick. That is just a redneck truth buddy. Why would you wear a shirt with sleeves on it when it is clearly more comfortable to not have sleeves?
Now the reason why I know that Larry is a true redneck is because even though he has made a ton of money in stand-up, films and TV shows, he still lives in Nebraska on a 180 acre farm. He goes and does things like go to football games and drinks light beer. They might have him do some stuff in big cities every now and then and he often talks about how much he despises big city life. I can totally understand where the man is coming from and so can all other rednecks. I can't think of a place I would rather not live than in some cramped city of millions of people where everything is crowded and traffic jams are just part of your daily life.
Let's not get too ahead of ourselves though. Larry is exceptionally wealthy with a net worth of over $100 million and while he keeps the land in Nebraska and it is his primary residence, he also has a $4 million house in Arizona and it is rumored he has a lake house somewhere in Wisconsin or something like that. None of these places are busy metropolitan areas though, and I am sure this was by design.
Larry is generous with his money and he helps out the less fortunate. I'm not trying to say that all rednecks are super generous people, but just generally speaking I think that we tend to be just as nice to others as any other group of people do, whenever we can.
Also, Larry has been married to the same woman since 2005 and they have two children. Despite his fame and fortune, there are zero scandals about him ever cheating on her - which is kind of a redneck attribute as well. We as a group tend to stay with the people we are with, probably more so than other groups in American society and of my community of rednecks here in North Carolina, I don't know of anyone whose lady or man has an affair and I only know one person who has ever gotten divorced. I hope I don't jinx Larry by saying this.
Family is basically of paramount importance in the redneck community and Larry kind of embodies this spirit. Even though some aspects of his redneckdom is faked for the sake of making money, for the most part he is a legitimate member of the group.
Now that i've said all of this I will be honest and say that the movies he has been in are pretty terrible with one huge exception being the voiceover work he did for the CARS films.
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That movie is absolutely atrocious. I tried to watch it because I like his stand up comedy but there is a very real difference between telling jokes on stage and doing them in a movie. You can't really laugh at a guy's silly accent for 2 hours and have it not get old. In fact, the 3 movies that he has been in all basically follow the exact same formula and as far as I know they have all been critical and commercial failures.
I don't know if he is the richest redneck, that's probably a toss-up between Jeff Foxworthy and Willie Nelson. I'll probably dig into that a bit more in the future though because it is interesting to me.
Loyal, rednecks are loyal. And genuine, or at least I find you to be. I never have to wonder where a redneck is really coming from. Maybe it's your simplicity (lack of duplicity) that brings many to erroneously conclude you are dumb.
Speaking of rednecks in Florida, one of my favorite authors, Harry Crews, wrote many novels about Florida rednecks. I went to Florida hoping to find the type of people and places he described, but what I found there was nothing like it. I suppose they might still be out there, somewhere, a kind of endangered species in Fla.
I'd find it mighty hard to call anyone living in a 4 million dollar house a redneck, though. That just does not seem right. Once a redneck, always a redneck?
That's a very intelligent way of breaking down the culture and yes, I agree with you. We live by the KISS "Keep it simple, stupid" mantra for most aspects of our lives.
I'll have to check out that book, if you can recall the name of your favorite of them I would love to know.
The Gospel Singer was the first that I read, and I believe it was one of his earliest novels. It was good enough to put me on a Crews binge. Car (I think) was another, in which a redneck eats a car, for real. And A Feast of Snakes was really good. He wrote one that I enjoyed about a body builder, can't remember the title of that one.
I enjoy genuine people who are themselves and don't give a toss what others think.
well that is basically the redneck life! We get quite uncomfortable when we have to get all "gussied up" for some sort of event and all I can say is thank God that standard suits exist for men.