Comedian downplays his cowboy connection

Kirk Baird

Friday, Dec. 8, 2000 | 10:18 a.m.

Who: Rodney Carrington.

When: 10:30 p.m. today and Saturday.

Where: Silverton.

Cost: $22.

Information: Call 263-9777.

It's amazing what a little liquor can do.

For comedian Rodney Carrington, it helped him begin his career.

It was while Carrington was in college, and he and some friends were at a club during an amateur comic night. After a few Jack Daniel's and Cokes, Carrington said he worked up the nerve to go onstage.

"I didn't have a clue" about what I was doing, Carrington said via cell phone from his tour bus. "But instantaneously, I just went, 'Yeah, this is it. This is what I'm going to do.' "

That was in 1989. Now it's easy to see it was the correct career choice: two top-selling comedy albums, "Hangin' with Rodney" and the recently released "Morning Wood," bolster that claim and Carrington has gained a loyal following in the process.

Carrington performs today and Saturday at Silverton.

If you've never heard of Carrington, don't worry. His following hasn't moved to the mainstream yet. In fact, it's easy to wonder how he does it.

"I utilize radio," Carrington said in describing his key to success. "I started out with rock 'n' roll radio stations, but now syndicated radio supports me in a big way. The support of radio has really driven my career."

The syndicated Indianapolis morning show "The Bob & Tom Show," starring disc jockeys Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold (which does not air in Las Vegas), routinely features the comedian. Then there is the constant touring to continue to reach out to his audience while cultivating a new one.

"I treat my comedy more like a music artist treats the music world: I make albums and tour and support, make albums and tour and support."

Carrington said he's on the road 45 weeks a year, for roughly 160 shows. Combined with a marketing agreement with the U.S. Tobacco company at his shows, along with sales of merchandise -- everything from T-shirts and caps to condoms -- and his record, Carrington has managed to make a nice living for himself.

"I do really well for a guy who's not really famous," he said.

But it wasn't always so easy for the 32-year-old comedian. There were plenty of nights when he slept in his pickup truck, ate Beanie Weenies for dinner and played to small audiences who had no idea who he was.

It didn't take long, however, for them to figure it out. After all, in the world of stand-up comedy, there are few like Carrington -- both in appearance and style.

Born and raised in Longview, a small town in east Texas, where there are enough pine trees, cowboys and accents to go around, Carrington created a niche for himself as a "redneck" Sam Kinison-type on the comedy circuit.

At first playing the clubs and honky-tonks of the surrounding area, Carrington gradually expanded his audience, branching further into Middle America.

It also helped that Carrington seemed to be pulled straight from their ranks, showcasing a Texas twang and attitude while sporting a cowboy hat as he walked onstage.

Although it's more than a coincidence that Carrington is in town during the National Finals Rodeo, the comic resists the peg of "cowboy comedian."

"I am who I am," he repeatedly said. "Comedy is comedy, funny is funny. It doesn't matter your background."

But he says that impression has helped him, which is why he still dons the cowboy hat: few, if any, other comedians do the same.

Now living in Tulsa, Okla., with his wife of eight years and three sons, it's difficult to think that Carrington has changed at all since his early days.

Certainly his comedy hasn't. His brand of "tell-it-like-it-is" humor, which he began with, is the kind of "take-it-or-leave-it" style that makes or breaks comics.

In Carrington's case, he said it didn't matter.

"I always said that if you make enough noise and enough people start to notice you, they can't ignore you, even the ones that ignored you in the beginning," he said. "Which is what's happening right now.

"Really, I'm harmless. I talk about things that guys talk about on the golf course."

Maybe so, but that doesn't mean it's meant for the stage. For example, joking about an English-language impaired Chinese waiter, or women who are battling with weight problems, and even he and his wife's bedroom exploits.

"I try to find the things that we think about but we don't necessarily say because it's not right and it's not proper, and I point that out to you," Carrington said. "I try to say, 'Here's how we are, people, whether you want to admit it or not.' "

Carrington's quick to add, however, that he never tells a joke out of malicious intent. And if someone comes up to him after a show and says they were offended by something he said onstage, Carrington says he would have no problem apologizing, while explaining he had no intention of hurting anyone's feelings.

"Not everybody likes what I do. I simply want the people who want to see me, to come and see me," he said. "If they don't like me, they don't have to come see me. To think that I'm going to please everybody is a retarded thing to think."