Larry the Cable Guy When he was sixteen, Whitney's family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida. He attended the Kings Academy in West Palm Beach, where his father worked as the principal of Kings Academy's elementary school. Whitney played an instrument in the pep band. As a teenager he worked at Wendy's. He attended college at Baptist University of America in Georgia, where he says that his roommates "frosted the dialect cake for me." In 1985, he began doing stand-up comedy at the Comedy Club in West Palm Beach on amateur nights at the encouragment of friends and coworkers; and, in 1991, he began doing radio comedy, where he would call into stations as fictional characters. The "Larry" character was created after his friend from a station asked him to call in as a cable installer.
Career He started in Tampa Bay followed by stints at Rock 100 WDIZ and 101.1 WJRR Orlando before hooking up with the Blue Collar Boys. He became known in the South in the early '90s when he made regular guest radio appearances on programs such as the Ron and Ron Show. He was also a regular during the late 1990s on 101.9 The Edge in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday mornings when he would call into Chris Baker's morning show. "Larry"'s trademarks are "redneck"-style humor delivered while speaking in an affected thick Southern accent, recounting bizarre stories about his "family," and the phrase "Git-R-Done!" He is also known for his other commonly used expressions, such as "I don't care who you are. That's funny right there," "Lord, I apologize for that one there, and be with all the starving Pygmies down there in New Guinea, Amen!," "What the hell is this, Russia?," "That's Right," "Toddler Mail," "Edible Britches," and "Do you believe that?" Often during his acts, a woman in the audience yells out that she loves him. He usually responds by saying, "I told you to wait in the truck" - a line cribbed from Tom Waits. He also sings christmas songs like "Donny the Retard," "Titty Bar Christmas," and "I Pissed My Pants". He uses analogies like "Madder than a skin head watching the Jeffersons," "Madder than a car load of queers getting pulled over for doin a 69 in a 55".
His often-heard-of fictional family includes:
A grandma, who gets the "walkin' farts" A grandpa, who uses a device to speak due to throat cancer A brother, who is not only deaf but has Tourette syndrome (and often flips the bird while speaking in sign language) A sister, Liddie, who is very overweight; This sister was also immortalized in a sketch on Blue Collar TV. Another sister, who looks like DeeWayne from the Ozarks, who has an enormous number of moles; Larry has nicknamed her "Old Moley," "Holy Moley," and "Guacamoley." His sister is also overweight. His sister's husband, who is originally from Mexico His sister's baby, whom Larry has nicknamed "Rolie Polie Moley" A niece and nephew, parents unclear, who bring home fairy tale books that are now "politically correct," as read by Larry on Blue Collar TV A dog named Wilson whose tail was docked a little too long In 2005, he was featured in Gretchen Wilson's music video for the song "All Jacked Up," playing dual roles as himself and a transvestite bar patron. In 2006, he starred in the film Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector and was the voice of Mater the tow truck in Pixar's animated film Cars.
Whitney has also seen considerable success from his comedic recordings. His comedy albums Lord, I Apologize, released in 2001, and The Right To Bare Arms, released in 2005, have both been certified gold by the RIAA.
Private life Daniel Lawrence Whitney himself has become somewhat of an enigma; official biographies of him describe only the fictional life of Larry the Cable Guy, and he almost never speaks out of his "Larry" voice. Some attribute the derivation of his name to his prior profession as a "cable guy," but he actually really never had such a job and got the name in order to hide his identity when calling in on radio shows. A would-be-revealing documentary about his backstage life during stand-up tours was planned but then dropped from the Git-R-Done DVD.
He currently lives in Sanford, Florida which is right outside Orlando, Florida.
In a March 2006 interview with CMT, Whitney revealed that he and his wife Cara Whitney were expecting a child on August 4th of that year.
Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006)
