Jeff Foxworthy ia an older American stand-up comedian who is known as one of the members of a comedy troupe which gained huge popularity in the United States.
He is known as a huge fan of living outdoor and nature and that is the reason he later made his reality TV show about living outdoors.
Jeff is especially known for his „redneck jokes“ and his work as a host of the TV Show called „Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader“.
Early years
Jeff was born as Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy, on September 6. 1958 in a town called Atlanta in Georgia, United States.
He was the first child of his English descented parents, Carole Linda and Jimmy. They were very good and capable parents and all of their children grew up into good men.
Jeff has a brother Jay and sister Jennifer and he keeps them both close to himself, considering family to be very important in life. They are very connected and stayed that way from day one.
He was brought up in a traditional way, mostly oriented on Southern Baptism. Later he stated how religion helped him a lot through his life and he thinks that no man should be without spiritual guidence, faith related or not.
He was a student at Hapeville High School and he enrolled Georgia Institute of Technology after the graduation.
He hasn’t finished his college education but he found work at IBM (with the help of his father who was an IBM executive). He worked there in a period of aproximatelly five years but he was always more interested in comedy.
His co-workers at IBM soon realized he has a great sense of humor and motivated him for entering comedy in serious way. It was a wonderful thing and he appreciated it very much.
They convinced him to enter a comedy competition called „The Great SouthEastern Laugh-off“ in 1984. After he won this competition it was a push for him to change his career.
Career development
His rise came in the 90’s, when he released a comedy album called „ You Might Be a Redneck if…“ It was released by Warner Bros and came very high on the Billboard comedy chart. The album was sold in several million copies.
In 1995, he released an album which brought him a Grammy Nomination in the Category of „The Best Spoken Comedy Album“. It was titled „Games Redneck Play“.
In 1998, three years after, he has released an album, again by Warner Bros. It was called „Totally Committed“ and it was again very successful. The album was yet again nominated for Grammy and reached a respectful „golden status“.
„Totally Committed“ was a song about Greg Maddux, who was a pitches for Atlanta Braves, and they shot a video for it. Maddux himself showed up in the video.
In 2001, he was again nominated for Grammys in the category of „Best Spoken Comedy Album“. He was very proud of this and his fans were very good at sharing the news so he became really popular during this time.
In 1995, his own show was created under the named „The Jeff Foxworthy Show“ but it wasaired for only one season.
He was a host of „TNN Music City News Country Awards“ three years in a row – 1998, 1999 and the millenial 2000.
He was very popular as a host of FOX TV show titled „Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader“. It was aired in prime time and was well liked amongst the public. He hosted it from 2009 until 2011.
He also hosted „The Bucks of Tecomate“ on NBC.
In 2012, Jeff became the host and one of the main producers of a game show named „The American Bible Challenge“. This show was on air for 2 seasons until it was cancelled.
Jeff also became the host of a reality TV contest „The American Baking Competition“ in 2013. It was a really fun experience, he says, and he claims that he would really enjoy going through it again.
This TV show was an adaptation of a popular British show named “The Great British Bake Off “.
The judges on the show were Marcela Valladolid and Paul Hollywood. He liked hanging out with them and he is always very well accepted amongst people because he has a very likeable personality.
At the beginning of the 2000’s, he joined comedians Larry the Cable Guy, Ron White and Bill Engvall, on a comedy tour named „Blue Collar Comedy Tour“.
This was a comedy troupe consisted of four comedians: Bill Engvall, Ron White, Larry the Cable Guy, and Jeff himself.
The troupe was active for six years, from 2000 to 2006. They used to spend a bunch of time together and they were really excited to create content.
The tour was extremely popular, and rose careers of all four comedians. This tour brought them recognition and more income.
In 2004, fellowing the success of the tour, Jeff decided to launch „Blue Collar TV“, as a new comedy TV program. It was aired on the WB Network.
He was an executive producer of the program and one of the stars, including his mates from „Blue Collar Comedy Tour“. The show was cancelled in 2005.
In 2006, it started airing again, but on Country Music TV. It aired only for one season. Besides that, he was accepting various gigs and he worked very hard to spread his fanbase.
In 1989, Jeff published his book named „You Might Be A redneck if…“. In 1996, he has released his autobiography titled „No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem“.
It was illustrated by Layron DeJanette, who later illustrated a lot of his books, especially the ones oriented on children.
He has released a cookbook named „The Redneck Grill“ and in 2005 he has published „Redneck Extreme Mobile Home Makeover“. He has also released 3 books in a form of dictionaries named „Jeff Foxworthy’s Redneck Dictionary“.
In 2008, he has released his first work for children. It was a book titled „Dirt on my Shirt“. One year later, he published „Silly Street“ and also „Hide!!!“ in 2010.
He has released some more work in the late 2000s, such as „How to Really Stink at Golf“ and „How to Really Stink at Work“. They became true hits.
In 1999, he also started his radio career, as a host of a radio show titled „The Foxworthy Countdown“, which was really a country show. This brought him a nomination as a „Broadcast Personality of the Year“. It was shut down in 2009.
Jeff also released a line of greeting cards for Wal-mart and it became the fastest selling line in the history of Wal-mart.
In 2011, Jeff decided to launch his own business. He created a website „Foxworthy Outdoors“, which contained products for outdoors and hunting. It was really enjoyable for him.
Jeff is a host of a web-series „Jeff Foxworthy: Inside & Out“. It is aired on Carbon TV and is viewed a lot. Currently it has almost 8 out of 10 points from the viewers of that online TV.
He tried himself as the owner of restaurants but his chainnof restaurant named “Jeff Foxworthy Backyard Bar-B-Q” didn’t last long and was closed soon after.
He was a judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank”, known reality TV show. This was a great experience for him and he was pleased to find himself in the company of a real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John – a fashion guru, Kevin Harrington, Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary.
Jeff was nominated for the Grammy award many times but he never received the award. He doesn’t stress over this because he has a great communication with his fans.
Nevertheless, he is still a very known personality in United States and is very well liked by all generations of people.
Personal life
In 1985, Jeff got married to his girlfriend Pamela Gregg. The two of them met at Punchline, a comedy club in Atlanta where he started his career.
They have two children, daughters Jordan and Julianne. Jordan was born in 1992 and Juliane in 1994.
In 2010, Jeff’s older daughter went to college and it broke his heart because he was very close to her. He even mentioned it in his jokes because he it was so important to him.
He is a big fan of hunting, which he often does on his Georgia farm. He loves nature and spending time in it so he sometimes goes for a walk or a run.
He emphasizes the importance of God in his everyday life and leads a Bible group with homeless to share his faith.
In 2012, Jeff publically supported Mitt Romney in his run for Presedential elections. This caused a bit of controversy because people don’t like media stars getting involved in politics, but it turned out to be just fine.
Quick summary
Full name: Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy
Date of birth: September 6, 1958
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Age: 60
Profession: stand-up comedian, actor, reality TV personality, TV host, radio host
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 75 kgs
Net Worth: $100 million