Hi I am Ron White / Tater Salad / Blue Collar Comedy Tour / Comedian. AMA

Kathy Griffin, Roseanne, Lisa Lampanelli.

Fuck one, marry one, kill one. Go.

Roseanne is the only one that was funny Kathy is not Lisa so I would fuck her and...I would kill Lisa Lampanelli but I would have to stand in line to do it!!!!!

Hey everybody its Ron ..ready to get started..Taters in the house

Welcome to reddit Ron!

Here's a welcome lase of you and Margo. Link

love the laser, cool video, thank you very much

Any chance you'll be bringing back this look any time soon? Thank you for years of laughs.

This proves what I said about not always having a black suit and scotch.. Do not look for this look to come back any time soon even though at the time it served me pretty well.... "Mucho chicks..I was throwing a lot of dick!!

Have you ever just gotten completely shit faced on stage and forgot your routine and just winged it?

Yes I have been on stage drunker that what I should have been ...

I didn't wing it.. I just did some of the better jokes twice!!

I know quite a few people who say that they don't like the Blue Collar Comedy guys, except you. Why do you think you're able to "transcend" the Blue Collar Comedy label and appeal to an audience that normally wouldn't appreciate that kind of humor?

I know quite a few people who like all the blue collar tour guys but me ..It's all personal preference ..I can't be all things to all people..none of us can..

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Yes I drink real scotch on stage... The $5 special is the best way to get it to my fans without Walmart or Universal Music getting a cut...Louis C K made this business model possible.... We r eliminating the middle man.... Its the new wave...

Ron, a follow up question. Do you really wear clothes on stage or are those fake clothes, like some sort of costume, for the show?

yes they are real....No fake clothes. I think even fake clothes are real clothes

Follow up to this, what kind of scotch do you like to drink? I think you said in one of your specials, that you couldn't say, but maybe you can say on here? :)

I can say on here and it's Black Grouse

Ron what are you drinking right now? I know you're drinking so don't say you aren't.

Also how's Sluggo?

Bong Water!!!!!!

More exclamation marks than sanity would dictate. ;)

i guess that means you don't have a question ;)

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Dan Whitney's father was a pig farmer and a preacher from Nebraska he was as red neck as they come.. He's not faking it!!

God, I'd love to hear what people in the industry think of that switch.

He made that switch so long ago the people in the industry were unhip to it ...I didn't start off with a black suit and a bottle of we all evolve into whatever we become!!scotch

Hey tater, long time fan. I have a few questions for you.

What is your best heckler story?

Who is the biggest asshole you know?

They are one in the same ..

Who is your favorite comedian right now, and who has had the biggest influence on you?

I've worked with Dave Attell at the Montreal comedy festival and I didn't even know I could laugh that hard... Me and my friends saw him in Detroit at the Comedy Castle.. He killed us for an hour and fifteen minutes!!!!! Bill Hicks is in my opinion the best comic of my generation and had more influence on me than anyone else...In the 60's and 70's I owned every comedy album that was released and listened to them over and over....I'm sure all of that helped shape me as a comic...

Off stage does Dan Whitney stay in character as Larry the Cable Guy or is he just his normal self?

Dan admits to putting on a thicker accent on stage, but its a stage persona and not that different than who he really is. He does not own a shirt with sleeves I looked at his closet on his bus and all that was in there was plaid sleeveless shirts

Hey Ron!

I've been a big fan of your comedy for years. Me and a friend of mine saw a show of yours in Chicago. At the beginning of the show you came out and someone was taking a picture of your on their cell phone. You slid down onto the bottom of the stage and stuck your tongue out for the picture. After the guy had taken it, he took his shirt off and started trying to talk to you and the rest of the audience and you told him "Your times over now buddy. And put your shirt back on".

What's the weirdest experience you've ever had with a fan/heckler during a show and how did you deal with it?

Talking to a heckler during a comedy show is third grade stuff!!! Making someone in the audience look bad is like playing ping pong with a chicken!!!! I now play rooms of 2000-5000 seats so hecklers are not an option so I now have them tossed out as quickly as possible. I worry about the people listening not the people who aren't ...I've been tossed out of a few places and I think sometimes it is just the right thing to do.

I have to know. When you got in trouble for having weed on your plane did you give them tater salad as an alias?

Right before I was busted with that weed my entire record was expunged by a Supreme Court judge ..I didn't know it at the time. But I was curious why it didn't come up. A few weeks later it was Ron White day in Texas and I met the Supreme Court Justice that saw my record and expunged it.

When did you first kinda have that realization that you were going to get big? For clarification, maybe your first killer joke and how many years of experience you had under your belt.
Love your comedy by the way! I'm a big fan

I think it was Margo that first realized I was getting big so she has me eating less and drinking less but it's just not working.. thanks for calling me fat......It was really after the Blue collar Tour was over and the release of the first dvd . I was in High Point NC and there was 40% more people than before and 14 people wanted me to sign their dvd but what I didn't realize was that every store only got two copies of the dvd so every person that got a copy came to the show . .the next week I was in Atlanta and all the shows were sold out when I got there and they were trying to add shows... We put a shown on sale at the state theater in Minneapolis and a 1000 seats sold out in two minutes..This all happened when I had been in standup for 17 years..

How much of your act is a character/persona, as opposed to what you're like offstage?

i found that over the last 27 yrs the closer i get to who i really am ... the more the crowd responds. today i just walk on stage & I AM RON WHITE ... pretty much the same guy off stage

Ron,

If you had to fight a dinosaur to the death in a Dinosaur Death Match using only primitive weapons and not allowed to set traps, what's the biggest dinosaur you think you win against? You don't have to name a specific dinosaur, just give us a size reference.

a cornish game hen

Have you ever found a standup stealing your jokes? If so, what did you do about it?

Yes, i took him out to the side of the building at the comedy corner in tampa. I shoved him up against the wall and told him i would kill him if another word of mine came out of this mouth, even in conversation. It was the Cincinnati Chili joke, so there was no way it was coincidence. Plus I had just worked with him.

What's your most ridiculous story from being on tour that most people haven't heard?

when i was a young & struggling comic my car had broke down. According to a receptionist at club I had a gig in omaha. so i jumped on greyhound bus (20 hours in through the snow) from Dallas, TX to Omaha, NB to make it to the gig. We encountered a jack-knifed "Little-Debbies" truck, waited behind it for 4 hours, the driver did not have the key to cargo area or else we would have chowed down. I arrived to the gig only to find out that i was 1 week early. I boarded the bus again, went home & bought a day planner & some little debbies. the girl that had giving me the wrong had info to begin with blew me in the sound room the next week to make it up to me ... which i think makes us even

At this point, are you tired of people calling you Tater Salad?

No.. It was really a nickname from years ago. My friends still call me Tater. Very few people call me Tater Salad.

What do you think about the legalization of marijuana?

i believe that marijuana SHOULD be legalized because i'm not a fucking idiot

Is Sluggo still alive? If so how is he doing?

Edit: Since someone pointed out Sluggo passed away, how is Sluggo II doing?

Sluggo would have been 30 if he hadn't died when he was 8. Margo and I have french bulldogs named Gurdie and Pearl . I would show you a picture but I'm not sure how to do it..

More importantly ... when last did the vet jack him off?

Also, when did you last jack him off, Ron?

he had it done 30 years ago ... professionally

You dress sharp as hell, where do you shop?

My suits are made for me. The rest come from Ross Dress for Less..

You seem to find your material for your shows based in your own life. As you have gained money and status through the years, have you found that the funny/weird stuff that would fit into bits for your show happening more or less often?

Do you feel like your style of comedy has evolved at all from the Blue Collar days into a more white collar style?

Thank you for giving me and my friends some of the biggest laughs of our lives. Please keep coming back to Montana!

probably more often, because more things happen to me now that my schedule is so busy.

i would have never classified myself as blue or white collar or even southern back then ... this is just my voice, i'm glad you've had fun with it

If you weren't a comedian, what other profession(s) do you think you'd be interested in?

Nobel prize winner.

I always see you with a cigar and whiskey on stage. Do you ever roll a little pot into those cigars?

no, my cigars are rolled by ZINO. Thanks for the great suggestion, i will be asking them to modify my blend.

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Thanks ... i think

Hey Tater. I'm an aspiring stand-up. What's one piece of advice every aspiring stand-up needs to know?

You can take the donkey to answer my question, or you can use the tram. It is the same price.

My advice is to be true to your own nature,.. and you're going to need a pen

You, Foxworthy, the Cable Guy, and Engvall are all stranded on a desert island. Who gets eaten first? Who does the cooking?

Edit: forgot Larry.

We eat Larry first then rummage thru his luggage for some Prilosec to help w/ the heart burn.

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The Duck Dynasty guys are millionaires and have a tv show but theyre still rednecks. Jeff was raised in a tiny house in Hapeville GA with a dirt yard. we were all broke when we started doing standup comedy and stayed broke for years and years. As the people on Duck Dynasty prove, having money doesn't really change who you are. We're not lower class, we're lower crust. Just because you get money, you don't hob nob with the upper crust. Blue blood gets you into that group, not money. I've always been more comfortable talking about my success than the other BCCT guys, but I feel like people like a good rags to riches story. Some people may be jealous, but for the most part, people say hey maybe it could happen to me. My original retirement plan was "maybe something neat will happen" and thanks to my fans, it did.

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I've only really watched his specials and remember him making me laugh pretty hard. I think he's an innovative guy and very honest. I don't listen to much standup these days, but I like Louis CK

What was your job in the US Navy? Did it have a profound impact on your current life in comedy?

i was a quarter master in the NAVY & i have no idea to how to do that anymore.

Hey Ron! Thanks for the AMA.

No questions, just thanks. You are one of the only comics who has remained one of my favorite comics throughout my lifetime. You taught me to appreciate a good glass of scotch, and the benefits of a van with a power-folding seat.

Honestly, though... I thought you were dead. Why did I think you were dead? Have there been rumors I've been too lazy to follow up on? Either way, if an AMA is a proof-of-life, this is the best birthday present ever.

Cheers.

Obviously I am not dead. It is odd whenever that rumor spread because my mother would hear them and freak out. But it is certainly believable. No one heard that rumor and said "Really? Ron? He always took such good care of himself "

Ron,

Big fan of yours, thanks for doing this AMA. Saw you at the Fox in Detroit a few years ago, great show!

Two questions,

What is your most memorable/funny on-the-road but off-stage moment that happened with you and the guys on BCCT?

Lots of comedians seem to rise and fall within a relatively short period of time. I believe you spent a few years before really "breaking out" on BCCT but where do you see your career in 10 years? Foxworthy has moved to radio broadcasts, Larry has done some movies and Bill has a TV show; would you prefer to surf Reddit and sip scotch all day or do you have anything down the road you want to do you haven't been able to do yet?

Ah hell, one more:

Pancakes or waffles?

We were in Phoenix about to shoot BCCT I.. doing a photo shoot just the four of us in a small room with one light and for some reason the light went out and within the short time period before the light came back on Larry the Cable Guy had pulled his pants down and faced the wall assuming "the position" and screamed " this is some bullshit"

It's gonna be a good day, tater.

What possessed you to become a comedian?

it was the path of least resistance.

What do you enjoy most about being in front of a crowd? Do you have any advice to people who become anxious at the thought of public speaking?

the energy transfer that i feel from the people is second to nothing. i have no idea how to overcome anxiety of public speaking. it has never bothered me