Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 | 7:37 a.m.
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS MORRIS
When: 10:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Mandalay Bay Theatre
Tickets: $70.75
Info: 632-7777, (877) 632-7580
Although the road to success for most stand-up comics is lined with comedy clubs, Ron White took a different route.
First he became a drug addict. Then he became a drug counselor and a spokesman for a rehab organization. Then he sold windows.
Today the 50-year-old native of Fritch, Texas, is one of the top comedians in the country, riding tall in the saddle, selling out concerts, living part time in Beverly Hills while shooting a new HBO series, preparing for a concert at Mandalay Bay .
After giving up windows he worked almost anonymously on the comedy club circuit for several years before his career took off about four years ago when he hooked up with three other Southern-type comedians - Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy. They launched "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour," a regular gig from 2000 to 2003. The tour, filmed by Warner Bros., was a hit in movie theaters and on DVD.
White has two comedy albums, "Drunk in Public" and "You Can't Fix Stupid"; one best -selling book, "I Had the Right to Remain Silent ... But I Didn't Have the Ability"; a Comedy Central special; and a recurring role in an upcoming TV series.
The series, "12 Miles of Bad Road," begins in January on HBO. It's being produced by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason ("Designing Women," "Evening Shade") and stars Lily Tomlin in an ensemble cast of 16 .
White has homes in Atlanta and Montecito, north of Los Angeles , but while shooting the series he rents a house in Beverly Hills.
Not bad for a country boy from the Texas Panhandle whose trademark onstage is a glass of scotch in one hand and a cigar in the other.
"I do that because I don't know what to do with my hands," White said. "At first it was a beer and cigarette, but I had to quit smoking cigarettes because of my health and because my son wouldn't shut up. So I switched to cigars. Eventually , I acquired a taste for scotch."
White, often called Tater Salad, recently talked to the Sun from the temporary home he had just moved into.
I'm sitting on the back deck of my house in Beverly Hills overlooking the city. It's pretty nice, actually. I live in Montecito, but I can't commute from there - it's 90 miles away. You can't depend on the traffic, and right now we're shooting the new HBO series in Studio City.
Is this your first series?
Yeah. It's something I considered a long time but I was never that interested in television. I had tons and tons of offers for bad four-camera sitcoms and (expletive deleted) movies. I just always turned them down. I don't want to drag my fans to something bad, 'cause eventually they'll quit following you. I was offered this show and turned it down three times. But I'm glad I'm doing it. Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is an amazing woman. She's really hitting her stride now (on HBO), without the stranglehold of (network) censorship.
What's your part?
I play a rich guy from Texas that smokes cigars and drinks scotch and plays golf and owns a jet.
Was it type -casting?
Type -casting. Only difference between me and this guy is he's way richer and has a nicer jet.
What's the premise?
It's kind of a dramedy. It's hilarious, set in Texas, focusing on an uber - wealthy Dallas real estate family. The matriarch of the family is Lily Tomlin. Lily is just unbelievable. Mary Kay Place is also in the cast. She was on "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" a long time ago.
The series just follows this family. None of it's punch-line funny ; it's human condition funny. It's just beautifully written. It's just hilarious. I'm so jaded you could carve me into a Buddha, but I laugh at the table readings for an hour. I'm really proud that I waited for this series instead of doing something (lousy).
Does it interfere with you r stand-up gigs?
No, no. HBO can't pay a lot of money to a recurring guest star , so since I had to rent this house here, pay doesn't come close to making my house payment ; , so they understand I gotta work. So they shoot my part around my schedule.
You'll be in Vegas on Saturday. You play here a lot, don't you?
I've done a lot of shows in Vegas and I've always had a blast. Usually I come there in December, so it's not too hot. We do it around rodeo stuff. Last time it was for the National Finals Rodeo, but this time it's PBR (Professional Bull Riders). I have two bucking bulls I'm a partner in. Scene of the Crash is one of them and Nervous Waters is the other.
How did you get into bulls?
I'm from a little town in northwest Texas. I'm a rodeo guy. Everybody is in that part of the country. Our high school had a rodeo team. I understand the sport, and it is a sport. Larry the Cable Guy, he was the first one to do it - he sponsored a bull, called it Holy Moly or Git 'er Done or something. Then Bill Engvall got one he called Here's Your Sign. A fan wrote and said why don't I get one and name it Scene of the Crash, which is the first line from a bit in my book. I thought it was a good idea so I partnered up with Tom Teague, who owns Teague Bucking Bulls as well as a gigantic trucking company. When I started sponsoring the bull it was 50 and O. It had never been ridden . Then just last week he was ridden by Justin McBride, the No. 1 bull rider in the world. He won $200,000 off my bull. I was doing an interview and the reporter said I was quoted as saying the bull was unrideable. "How does that make you feel ?" he said. I said, "No. 1, Scene of the Crash just got out of rehab 10 days ago and he started smoking again. Now give me six months with him, I'll get him off the liquor, get him off the cigarettes, lose some weight, 'cause he grew a gut." Then I tell them, "I think he got ridden by Justin Timberlake."
Did you always want to be a comedian?
Nah. I never knew it was an option, you know. I admired all the comedians. As a kid I had every comedy album I could lay my hands on . Andy Griffith, "What It Was Was Football." Bob Newhart. Flip Wilson. Bill Cosby. George Carlin.
How did you get your start in the business?
Specifically, I came back from the Vietnam War with a pretty nasty drug problem. I've always had demons. I just kind of leaned that way. I was mandated by the courts to go to a drug abuse program called the Palmer Drug Abuse Program. Eventually I went to work for them, but I needed to be there. I had a really bad drug problem. Then I became their primary public speaker. I'd go to these high schools and tell these kids my life story. I'm like 21 years old. I realized that this is a place where I'm really comfortable, talking to people from a stage. I got so good at it, it kept getting funnier and funnier and eventually the principals started going, "You know, we don't think drug addiction should be this funny." I go, "Well, tell them your story then." I could make them listen. I could make them laugh. I was really good at it. Even then I didn't realize I could be a comedian.
When did the realization hit?
Years later they built a comedy club between where I lived in Dallas and where I worked as a window salesman , and I was very intrigued by it. The first time they had an open mike night somebody from my office went and came back and said , "Ron, you're funnier than these people. You should go do this." So I wrote four minutes of rip-snortin' comedy and gave it a try. I didn't have any idea it would turn into this 21 years later. I'm certainly not the overnight success people think I am. I was 29 when I first walked on stage as a comic.
When did your career start to gel?
Budd Friedman had the Improv at the Riviera in Las Vegas. He opened a new Improv in Dallas. He came in and saw me - I was doing six-minute sets in the show - and he said I should come out to Las Vegas and work. Budd Friedman is God to me. He's more famous than most of the comedians. He gave me the job in Vegas. My name's there on the four-story billboard. It was fantastic. I was six months in the business and my name was on a billboard in Vegas. Then nothing happened for 15 years. Then I got famous.
Because of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour?
That's what set things off for me. I was always good friends with Jeff Foxworthy. I opened for Jeff on the road for years. That wasn't all I did, but I worked with him a lot. Jeff always believed in my talent, but not my work ethic. It was his goal for a lot of years to make me a famous comedian, and he truly sucks at it because it took him for (expletive) ever. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I got (expletive) to do, better than sitting around all (expletive) day waiting for Foxworthy to make a move.
Did suddenly being rich and famous change you?
I started drinking better scotch and smoking better cigars.
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