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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Jeff Foxworthy loves going to work. The lights go up, jokes are told and people laugh. Foxworthy is a man of many professions — sitcom star, game show host, author, voice actor — but stand-up comedy remains closest to his heart. That, and his desire to be a cowboy.
“I love doing different things just to see if I can do them,” Foxworthy said. “I’ve never played a serious part. I would to see if I could do that. I could just be a cowboy that gets shot at a bar. I’ve already got the moustache for the cowboy, so why not?”
On Jan. 20, Foxworthy will bring his six shooter full of punchlines to Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza for a stand-up performance with longtime collaborator and current tour mate Larry the Cable Guy. The “We’ve Been Thinking Tour” was born from the pair’s satellite radio show “Jeff and Larry’s Comedy Roundup.” Foxworthy said working on material with Larry made him realize how much he missed being on the road with his fellow “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” alumni.
“The only negative thing I’ve ever found about being a comic is you’re on the road by yourself, so the fun thing of doing ‘Blue Collar’ or doing this with Larry is you’re not by yourself, you’re with a friend,” Foxworthy said.
Foxworthy’s friend, Larry, promised “180 punch lines” during his Jan. 20 set.
“I expect every joke to get a belly laugh, so from the minute I go up, boom,” Larry said. “When they’re laughing at one joke I’m already going to be four jokes down the line.”
After the jokes are told, the two comedians will finish their night with an open question-and-answer session.
“That’s the best part of the show actually,” Larry said. “It’s completely ad-libbed. In Blue Collar we did that too, but we got to pick the questions we liked. For this, we have a guy walk around with a microphone and people can ask us anything they want.”
The question-and-answer session will be a chance for the arena audience to get intimate with the two comedians, but Foxworthy sees his entire career as an opportunity to connect with his audience. He said each of his CDs and specials act as a snapshot of his life at a moment in time, from dating to marrying to becoming a father, and each is an opportunity for him and his audience to laugh about life together.
“We’ve kind of been through all these things together,” Foxworthy said. “I’ve been so lucky to do this for so long, we’ve kind of raised our kids together and saw our parents get old together and kind of find the humor in all those things.”
Foxworthy said he enjoys being on stage now just as much as he did during the days of “Blue Collar Comedy Tour,” and he looks forward to sharing the fruits of his labor Jan. 20.
“At the end of the night when people walk up to you and go, ‘I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed like that, thank you,’ that’s kind of a cool thing to give people,” Foxworthy said. “We all have struggles and challenges in our life, but when you laugh for a couple hours it kind of makes that go away for a little bit.”