WEBVTT - Larry The Cable Guy 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:01.960 And I was in the store and some guy was 0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:04.280 walking out and he sealed back and the guy working, 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.760 they'll see you tomorrow. Getor done. And the guy says, 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:10.319 Gator done back and I said, and the guy said, 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:12.760 get her done? Would you hear that? At And he 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:16.279 literally goes at This guy on the radio here Rock 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.040 station says, get or done, Larry the cable guy. It's 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.439 funny as hell. And I go, that's me and he 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.439 looked at me. He goes, yeah, shut up. I go, no, 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:27.800 that's me. I'm Larry the Cable Guy. He goes, get 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:30.200 out of here. I said, I'm not lying. He said, 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:32.400 let me hear you say get her done. I went, Gator. 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:36.479 He goes, that's not even close. I don't like what 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:46.320 the heck. I'm Larry the Cable Guy. Dan Whitney. That's 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:49.479 my real name. Also, they know me as made her 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.839 from cars and a lot of people don't know it, 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.200 but I also played the orangutang in every which way 0:00:56.280 --> 0:01:06.319 but loose when I was a small child. Getor Done. Hello, 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:10.319 and welcome one and all to your special Tuesday treat 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:15.160 that's right off the beat. I am your host, Brian Baumgartner. 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:21.520 Today's guest. Well is the very funny Dan Whitney. Who's 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.759 Dan Whitney, you might ask, Well, Dan Whitney, he has 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:30.200 an alter ego. His name is Larry the Cable Guy. 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:33.520 We actually spend quite a bit of time golfing together 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:38.200 at various events, most notably the American Century Championship in 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.920 Lake Tahoe. And next week I am going to Nebraska 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.479 to participate in his Get or Done Classic. We'll talk 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:47.600 more about that in a bit, but I'm gonna be 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:52.120 honest with you. See, I know more about Dan that 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.320 I do about Larry and how Larry was born. So 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.120 today I am very pleased to get to know the 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:04.600 origins of Dan's alter ego, larry dance career, and how 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:08.360 he manages to be the only Southerner who's actually from 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:13.000 the Midwest. So please open your ears and your hearts 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.080 to one of the kindest people that I have the 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:21.600 pleasure of knowing, Larry the Cable Guy or my friend 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:30.760 Dan Whitney. Bubble and Squeak. I love it Bubble and 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:37.120 Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker cooking at every moment left 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:52.399 over from the night before. Larry the Cable Guy, how 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.840 are you my friend. Oh mom Gardener, I love you 0:02:55.880 --> 0:03:04.440 to death and I'm doing fantastic good. Huh, Dan, I'm 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.880 now listen. I texted you a little while ago. For 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:10.840 those of you who don't know, we play quite a 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:14.600 bit of golf together at various events, and I said, 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:19.680 what do I call you? Larry or or Dan? And 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:22.680 this is a very interesting thing. I mean you really 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:29.520 your your identity to the public has changed, well right, yeah, totally? Well, yeah, 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.640 pretty much, because let me just give you a brief 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.360 deal Brian. By the way, Brian is better than my golf, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:39.600 but I'm trying. I'm trying to get better. But I 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:44.320 have more hair. You have. You have a lot more hair. Yes. 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.960 I wrote a joke the other day about my my 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:49.680 brother is going to make a lot of money because 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:54.000 he invented a product for men that are balding. And 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.920 what it is. It's a liquid that comes in a 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.360 spray can. And what you do is you bray it 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:04.240 in people's face so they can't see your hair. They 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:08.520 can't see that you're losing your hair. Believe it gets 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.680 a big laugh. So anyway, let me give you a 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.120 brief friend down, Brian. This is a crazy thing about 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:17.280 my career. I was a comic and I went professional 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:21.040 May of I got up on stage for the first 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.680 time in night five. I worked out of the comedy 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.600 Corner in West Palm Beach, Um. I started doing some 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.520 characters on a radio station in Tampa Bay. One of 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.920 the characters was Larry the cable Guy. And as you know, 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.120 a young comic and you're working on the road, anything 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:41.560 you can do for some stage time or some extra cash, boy, 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:45.680 that would be awesome. And that's just basically I started. 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.320 It was totally a character for the radio. I could 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.560 do anything I wanted to do. I was a big 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.880 fan of all in the family when I was a kid, 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.279 because it was the one thing my dad would just 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.440 belly laugh at. Because I grew up on a pig 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.840 farm and Southeast Nebraska, and I grew up next to 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.200 the cattle yard, and I worked over at the sale 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:08.360 bar and on loading cattle trucks, and so I just 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.240 kind of made a character that was kind of an 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:13.960 archie bunker character that was kind of a mixture of 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.760 everybody that I kind of knew, all these old farmers 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:21.080 that bitched about everything when I was a kid. Then 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.680 I went to college and Georgia, and I my roommate 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:28.240 was from Beaumont, Texas. My other one was from Dalton, Georgia. 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.120 So I kind of mixed that in there. So it 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:35.440 was kind of like a southern archie bunker. But I'll 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.599 tell you but I'm me personally. I like people and 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:41.360 I want, you know, I like to be liked, and 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.200 I'm a nice guy, so I and I think I am. 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:49.680 So I I wanted the character to be funny and shocking, 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.599 but I want him to be likable. Like I wanted 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.680 people to go, I can't believe he would say that, 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:57.880 and then somebody else go, ah, you just edges Larry 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.240 the cable guy. Any don't mean nothing can. For most people, 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.080 that's what it was, and then for other people that 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.400 took away too serious. Of course it was something else, 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:11.359 but that's what the whole character on the radio was 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.159 intended to be. And a real funny story about that. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.920 With all my commentaries, I did social commentaries, and what 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:22.040 I did was I signed off with get or done. 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.200 And I remember the first time I ever heard somebody 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.000 else say that. I was at Peaches Records and Tapes 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.039 in Orlando, Florida, and I was in the store and 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.400 some guy was walking out and he sealed back and 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.839 the guy working and I'll see you tomorrow. Getor done? 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.279 And the guy says getor done back and I said, 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.200 and the guy said, get or done? Would you hear 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.040 that at And he literally goes at his guy on 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.560 the radio here the rock station says, get or done, 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:50.440 Larry the cable guy. It's funny as hell. And I go, 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.760 that's me. And he looked at me. He goes, yeah, 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:56.280 shut up. I go, no, that's me. I'm Larry the 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.560 cable Guy. He goes, get out of here. I said, 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:00.640 I'm not lying. He said, let me hear you say 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.880 get or done. I went get He goes, that's not 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:08.000 even close. I don't like what the heck. I went 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.240 and got it right away. I went got it copyrighted 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.760 and started selling shirts and all that kind of stuff. 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.760 It was all theater of the mind. Yeah, no, it 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:20.240 is though, because you all of that makes sense. But 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:26.239 I think the decision for you to become him in public, 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.360 I mean, here, here, here's here's an example. This is 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.040 what I mean. I mean, you are Dan, but like 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.760 when we're in Lake Tahoe, we're playing golf, we're on television, 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:41.040 you are identified by announcers not as Dan but as 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.200 Larry the Cable Guy. But when did you make the 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:50.200 decision to make yourself like synonymous with this theater of 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.600 the absurd that you were doing. Well, well, you know 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.080 what it started. It was all by accident, honestly. I mean, 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.280 you're a when you're a comedian, you're out there doing 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.120 stand up. You just want to be able to sell 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:03.320 tickets and make some money and make a good living 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:07.000 of doing something that you love. And it all happened 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:09.200 by accident. I never meant to do it on stage. 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.400 It was completely separate. It was something that was fun 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:14.680 for me to do. Is an escape that was fun 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.960 to write for, But my act was completely different. Uh. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.320 When Larry the Cable Guy did stuff, it was all 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:25.200 commentaries and social commentaries. And I learned from the Howard Stern. 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.640 First of all, you have to be funny. Second of all, 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.760 you have to say something that's a little shocking so 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.400 that people go, did you hear what he just said? 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.800 And it becomes popular because people that like you are 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:39.520 tuned in because they want to hear what you're gonna 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.720 say next, and people that don't like you are tuning 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:44.839 in because they want to hear what you're gonna say next, 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.280 you know, So I wanted to have something in where 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.800 people would go, you know what, Uh, there's a small 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.440 percentage of truth and what he says, but he doesn't 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.559 say it correctly, says it the way that it's It's 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.600 it's kind of like how he equated with I remember 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.439 one time a guy came up to me and can 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:09.280 I is there? Do I need to bleep myself? You don't, Okay, 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:15.120 I'm being there. I haven't, but but I'm being completely 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:17.200 honest with when I say this. This is kind of 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:21.640 like people mean well, and people say things and they 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:23.560 have a little bit of truth and what they're saying 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.960 their way off base on other things, but they say 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.800 things so funny. It's it's just like you gotta like 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:31.760 the guy. And I remember one time I did a 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.319 commentary as Larry the cable By about keeping prayer in 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:38.679 the public school, and so I would write it how 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:42.200 if I were just writing just a serious commentary. To 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.360 where the commentary started out is the men there's could 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:47.440 be an op ed And next thing you know, there's 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:49.880 two percent of it's an op ed and ninety eight 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.280 percent of it is titty's farts, drinking beer that kind 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.600 of thing, right. But the guy that comes up to me, 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.439 and when I say people meanwhile, but they say things 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.520 just so like what do you The guy comes out 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:04.120 and goes, hey, Larry can I talked to you for 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.640 a minute. He was a construction worker done in Orlando. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.760 I said, yeah, what's up, buddy, Hey, listen, I know 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:11.880 you've gotta be funny on the area with oh you're 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.320 tad jokes, you've verge and all that kind of stuff. 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.760 But that thing you did today about keeping prayer in 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.120 the public school, your goddamn right, we need prayer and 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.440 damn school. And he fucking teach you got away from 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.680 the fucking mad and the guy you know, and he's 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.480 literally f this, g D that, f that. But his 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.680 main and his main gripe is they've taken prayer out 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:37.480 of this. So he means well, but he's saying it 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.400 completely the wrong way, you know. So that's kind of 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:45.240 like how it developed. And so uh, back to the 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:49.480 story about how it became part of my whole deal is, 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.880 at one night at a comedy club, my buddy Less McCurdy, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.120 who owns mccurty's Comedy Club in sarah Sota wanted to 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:01.200 sell some tickets, and he builled me as Dan Wittney, 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.920 a k a. Larry the Cable Guy. And it was 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.840 a little irritated because I tried to separate the two because, 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:14.120 like I said, Larry was all comic, ridiculous political stuff. 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.079 I was all one liners. I'm a fan of the 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.840 old time comic, just doing this and that and Pratt falls. 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.000 And it was a funny act, you know. Dan Herera 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:27.520 always said I had the funniest first twelve minutes in 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:32.040 comedy and then after that nothing, you know, because I 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.400 because I literally I literally went through like eighty five 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:40.280 punch lines twelve minutes, and so I he builled me 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.280 as day waiting ak Larry the Cable I went on 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:46.680 stage and it sold out two shows in twenty minutes. 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:48.920 And then when I saw that he build me like that, 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.600 it was kind of I didn't really have a stage 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.080 act for it, and it was a little like what 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.360 am I going to do now, you know? So I 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.280 went up and I did my own act and they're 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.319 yelling stuff out. You know, when your Larry, you get it. 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:05.160 So I dropped down into the character and just killed it. 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:07.800 And so he came up and and said, man, have 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:10.280 you ever thought about doing your whole show like Larry 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.120 the Cable Guy. So he took my name off, and 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.960 the second show I was build as Larry the Cable Guy. 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.439 And I went up and I basically took my act 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:23.320 and I slowed it down, had different timing, and then 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.160 I added stuff from the radio station. And I was 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.400 doing the Larry the Cable Guy stuff in Wallah. And 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.760 so my next step was just to go tell radio 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.600 stations this is what I'm doing, and I can do 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.880 it for you. I'll do a commentary for you and 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:39.240 it'll get popular. And the only thing I asked for 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:43.439 pay is just promote my show when I come to town. 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.880 So I ended up getting about twenty seven radio stations, 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.400 and I called radio stations every morning, five days a 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.720 week for thirteen years. Yeah, and it finally paid off. 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.680 So I mean, that's that's basically how I built my following. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.120 And I could do I could do Larry the Cable 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.160 Guy because I knew him better than anybody else. I 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.600 sometimes people ask me about is it weird when you 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:09.840 do stuff like you know that you were talking about 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.760 the golf tournament. No, I don't. I don't find it 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:16.560 where that strange because people know me as Larry the 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.280 Cable Guy. They know it's a character. But Larry the 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:23.079 Cable Guy is just a drawing name to get them 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.600 at the tournament, to sell some tickets. And you know, 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.080 and and the best part about it it allows me 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.600 if I want to to go up with no sleeves 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.200 on and be comfortable and just play it up and 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.720 have a good time with the crowd. And I'll be honest, 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.520 I enjoy it. People enjoy it. You know. It's it's 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:42.800 uh if I'm talking too much, Briban, let me know, 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:47.280 because you have God one word talking if it's anything 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:51.920 about me. Um. I think that when I was, when 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:55.360 I wasn't married and didn't have kids, comedy was a 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.960 whole different thing than you just did. Stay up. You 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.720 wanted to make people laugh. Nothing was off limits. I 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:03.920 didn't have any kids. I didn't I get it. Cared 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.679 less about that I didn't have you know, you know 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.120 how it is you're a ten year old guy. And 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:13.520 then I got married, and then I had kids, and 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:17.240 then my act started changing because I had a heart change. 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.680 On a lot of jokes that just I didn't need 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.240 anyway kept the larry of the cable guy. What what 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:28.120 it's about, you know, it's about pushing buttons. It's about 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:32.000 this guy that's just had it with this political correct, 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.960 anti American world. And but I don't. I'm not as 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.280 harsh as I once was. And that's just because I'm 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.960 a better comedian. I have kids, and I'm sensitive to 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.920 things about what how people would feel if I did 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:49.240 a certain deal. Um, So that's that's how my act 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:52.760 has kind of changed. But there's still a ton of differences. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:56.320 I'm not I'm not a white trash guy. I'm not like, 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:59.640 I'm not a PARTI er, I'm not a drinker, I'm 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:01.640 not a well, you know, I don't do any of that. 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:07.280 So I have just enough trailer jokes that I'm not associated. Right, 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.600 what's fascinating to me because you brought up all in 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.840 the family, right, and so I mean that character, I 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.920 mean potentially one of the greatest comedy characters in the 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:23.280 history of television. If Carol O'Connor had begun to associate 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:27.320 himself as Archie Bunker, I mean, he may have gotten 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:29.320 killed right, like out on the street. I mean there 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.640 were things that he said in that show that you 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.960 just you truly can't say, you can't say and want 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.440 to service on the streets. And I think that that 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.160 what you bring up right there is such an interesting 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:46.600 point because you began to adopt that as you you 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.840 began to become, at least publicly that character. As you 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.400 matured and as you grew up and as you had kids, 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:59.200 you began to realize like, okay, that's me, but it's 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:03.480 also not. And and that that he talking about him 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:08.160 in the third person. Larry began to soften as Dan's 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:12.160 life changed and new things happened. I think that's I 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:16.080 think that's really interesting. Yeah, well, you know, I I 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.000 can write anything for the character and do the character. 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:22.320 It's just that my writing is different. I I don't 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.480 want to write that for the character anymore. I don't 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:26.960 want to write that, but all write this. Yeah, it's 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:30.080 a definite it's a definite separation. But people say he's 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.440 later the cable guy all the time, twenty four hours 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.680 a day. No, I'm not. When I come home, I'm not, 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:38.760 the only thing is it's when most people see me, 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:42.360 they've asked me to come be Larry the Cable Guy. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.520 But Dan Witten is not selling any tickets, you know. 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.160 So when people say he's always literally the Cable Guy, 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.680 he's become the character, that's not true. The only time 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.840 that I'm Larry the Cable Guy is when I am 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.119 doing something and I'm paid to be Larry the Cable Guy. 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.800 That's pretty much yet, and I will say this, Bryan. 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.920 The only one thing that I do kind of regret 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:10.040 is when I did all my Pixar Disney stuff, it's 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:12.840 all Larry the Cable Guy. And before I did all 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:17.639 those I said that I wanted to be Dan Whitney. 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.840 So but that's all part of the fault of my 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:27.280 agent at the time, who said no, because it was 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.919 basically sold me. You're a brand, you have merchandise, you 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:35.879 have a foundation, it's a brand. So everything goes under 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.040 Larry the Cable Guy. But if I had anything to 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.639 do different, I would have done my voiceovers as Dan Witt. 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.639 I think the best compliment I ever got was John Lasseter. 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.879 He says, you know, I love hanging out with Larry 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.960 the Cable Guy, but I like hanging out with Dan 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.960 a lot better. And he goes, when I look at 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:04.560 made her made her talks like Larry the Cable Guy, 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:09.200 but made her acts like my friend Dan. Yeah, because 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.159 in real life I'm more like made Her than I 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.360 am Larry the Cable Guy. Absolutely, and I can attest 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.720 to that for anybody listening. And I you know, there's 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:23.000 nothing it's so cool, you know. I just recently animated 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:27.119 a big old bear named Walter for this this new show, 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:31.640 trash Truck. And there's kind of nothing like being out 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:36.359 in public and being approached by a child about that work. 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:41.000 And obviously Cars transcends this television show completely. And when 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:44.199 I've watched you, I'm not gonna say you're performing. It's like, 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:48.120 but you're loud, you're fun, you're we're all having a party. 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:50.800 And then a kid comes up to you and I 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.639 see your eyes change and you may do the voice 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:57.280 for him, which doesn't sound like you said all that 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.359 different from Larry the Cable Guy, but I see you 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:05.800 quite different in those moments for sure. Oh absolutely, And 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.560 I'll tell you I love that. I mean, that's why, 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.440 I mean, that's the cool thing about when I got 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:13.919 to do Made and Cars, because it allows me to 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.639 be me and still do the do the voice. But 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.320 the kids love it, and and I love being able 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.440 to make them smile and laugh, and that's what it's 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.399 all about. I mean, that's man so much fun to 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.359 be able to bring joy to those kids. And absolutely 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.000 it's uh, I'm definitely more of a major attitude than 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:38.000 a cable guy atitude. Absolutely, absolutely, you know what. I know, 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.159 it gets confusing because you asked me, should I call 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.080 you Dan or Larry? I know it gets confusing for people. 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:46.280 When I did my movies, people just called me l D. 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.800 They called me Larry Dan, l D my name l D. Well, 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:53.840 look I understand, and I you know, I think even 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.280 when we're at those things together, you know, I'll say 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.040 good shot Dan in a quiet voice or whatever, and 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:04.560 I understand the persona that people are expecting that from you. 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:06.439 And so for me, it's it was more when I 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:08.840 asked you, the question was more like, well, I don't 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:13.240 want to shatter people's dreams or like, I don't I 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:16.800 don't want like he is that, yes, but he's also 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:22.440 way way more than that. So yeah, I know it's 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.040 funny that you say that because I think by now 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:27.840 I've been down there for so long. I think by 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:31.159 now people know you know, I mean I do have 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.080 a hint. I do have a hint of the twins 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.119 of a Southern accent when I talked normal because I 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.520 lived in Florida most of my life. So I picked 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.639 it up. You know, my wife said, my buddy Brad 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:44.679 called me the other day, and my talk to Brad 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:47.000 for about twenty minutes, and my wife goes, you know, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:48.800 you were sending like Larry the cable guy the whole 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:50.800 time you're off the phone, and I'm like going up 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.399 because they're brad Man. He talks like, I do you 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:56.080 know I I have a chameleon. I just picked it up, 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.240 by the way. You know, I didn't mean to to 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:19.160 do this to you, because I know what a big 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:21.440 fan of Nebraska you are. And I say, I didn't 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:23.359 mean to do it, but then, but then I didn't 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.719 change my clothes. I'm wearing here the University of Georgia 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:31.480 Bulldogs golf sweater. Here I myself, I'm I'm from Georgia, 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.080 and uh, you work to pick it up. I spent 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:37.760 I spent the first eighteen to twenty years of my 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:42.199 life trying to get rid of that. It was like 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:46.560 it didn't work so well for Ibsen and check Off 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:51.159 and Shakespeare when I started doing plays. But no, but 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.640 sure enough when I go home, you know my my, 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:56.960 my mom's from Florida and my you know I'm from Georgia. 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.080 You know, it just it comes out right away, absolutely know. 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.600 I tell everybody I go, I defy you. I defy 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:07.560 you to move to Sanford, Florida and not come out 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:11.359 talking with some kind of a Southern twins after six months, 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:13.840 because you just I mean, it's one of those It's 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:17.159 just a fun, lazy way to talk and you just 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:21.800 pick it up. It happens to everybody. Um, But you're 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.320 not offending me, by the way. With Georgia Bulldogs a 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:28.120 fox Worthy, of course, I uh, he roots for Georgia. 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.080 So I rooted Georgia because of Jeff and we filmed 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:33.840 Blue Collar TV and Athens, so I got a lot 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:36.800 of good friends in Georgia. So I you ain't offending 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:39.320 me with that. There you go. I want to go 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:41.760 back just a little bit. You touched on it briefly 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:45.679 before you grew up your pig farmer in Nebraska. As 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:48.399 you said, you eventually moved to Florida. Your father was 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:52.200 a Christian minister and a school principle. Yeah, he did 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:55.119 a lot of When was the moment that you decided 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:58.320 you wanted to get into the comedy or at least 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.640 into entertainment or or being actor. How was that taken 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:04.600 by your family? Well, you know, I was just I 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.119 was always funny. My brother was hilarious. And my brother 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:11.840 used to write to comedy one act westerns and he 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:15.040 started both of them as the old prospector. My brother's 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:17.680 way funny, and I ever think could be. And I mean, 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.800