Ron White has scored big as a stand-up comic with a reputation for relating to everyday working stiffs.
He performs at 8 p.m. Oct. 9 in The Venue at Hammond’s Horseshoe Casino. Rocky LaPorte is the opening act.
After launching in 1986, White’s career received a boost in 2000 when he hooked up with the wildly popular Blue Collar Comedy Tour.
The persona cultivated by White reflected a battle-tested, cigar-smoking regular Joe who liked his scotch.
His style complemented the other Blue Collar comics: Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy.
The show toured for more than three years and grossed more than $35 million, prompting a 2003 Warner Brothers movie that was a massive hit when it aired on the Comedy Central channel.
“Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie” and the follow-up “Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again” have generated tens of millions of dollars in DVD sales and rentals.
White — a native of small-town Fritch, Texas — said he had no inkling that “Blue Collar” would become a phenomenon when he first hooked up with it.
“I had no idea; I don’t think any of us did,” White said in a recent phone interview. “It did for my career what happens to very, very few comedians — which is put me in the American home and built just a fantastic career out of it. It’s all based on the ‘Blue Collar Comedy Tour.'”
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White warns, though, that his act at Horseshoe Casino will be different.
“If you watch the ‘Blue Collar Comedy Tour,’ don’t expect that when you come see me by myself, ’cause it’s a little rougher,” he said.
White wouldn’t exactly describe his current style as being a tad more mature.
“I’d say it’s a little bit more immature,” he slyly clarified.
Schererville stand-up comic Nick Gaza has met White, and respects him.
“He’s a lot of fun to hang out with,” Gaza, who has headlined in Las Vegas, said. “He is a very funny guy, and he treats his opening act really well. Ron is probably one of the funniest guys out there working.”
Gaza says White is “likable and personable on stage” and ranks as a “great storyteller.”
Now 58, White was not yet 10 years old when he got hooked on a comedy record by a noted, folksy storyteller — Andy Griffith.
The recording was called “What It Was, Was Football” — a piece of material still considered a classic.
“I would listen to it as a little child; I loved the sound of the laughter,” White recalled. “I would get my parents to play it for me again and again and again. I was a comedy fan when I was a little kid.”
With Griffith as the springboard, White dove into the world of professional humor, using various stars for inspiration.
“It went from Bob Newhart, to Flip Wilson, to Bill Cosby, to Richard Pryor, to George Carlin, to Cheech and Chong,” White related. “I had all these records.”
Particularly influential for White was the subversive Bill Hicks, who died in 1994 at the age of 32.
“He was the best comic of my generation,” White said. “I believe that he was the real genius, and influenced a lot of people.”
White has molded his multiple influences into a stellar career that has seen him film a pilot for Showtime’s “Roadies.”
“It’s written and directed by Cameron Crowe,” noted White, alluding to the director of “Almost Famous” (2000).
“They picked me for the road manager; it’s a great part,” he continued. “It’s just the juiciest role ever. I don’t know if Showtime’s going to pick it up, but I assume they will.”
Although his appearance at Horseshoe Casino is billed as a “Nutcracker Tour” stop, White said the tour’s name does not reflect his show. He said the title is borrowed from the famous Christmastime ballet, and is a “pretty random thing.”
Much more connected to White is the term “tater salad,” which was used for his best-selling 2006 book “Ron ‘Tater Salad’ White: I Had the Right to Remain Silent … But I Didn’t Have the Ability.”
In November 2003, White unleashed what would be his breakthrough comedy CD, “Drunk in Public.”
That recording was followed by “They Call Me Tater Salad” — his first one-hour television comedy special that aired on Comedy Central.
White’s promotional biography states that the broadcast notched “the highest viewership for a Sunday program in Comedy Central history.”
Bob Kostanczuk is a freelance writer.
Ron White
Where: The Venue at Horseshoe Casino, 777 Casino Center Drive, Hammond
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When: 8 p.m. Oct. 9
Tickets: $49, $59 and $69; must be at least 21 years old to attend
Information: 219-473-7000, www.caesars.com/horseshoe-hammond