Ron White: drinking, smoking and ranting
But they haven't hurt Ron White's career. The big, black-suited, Cheshire Cat-grinning comedian works with a Scotch on the rocks in one hand and a Camel in the other. He jokes about life as a traveling comedian and tells stories about his former wives, his dumb cousin Ray, his van wreck, and his drinking and smoking.
White, who formerly owned and ran a pottery business in Mexico, was discovered by fellow comedian Jeff "You Might Be A Redneck" Foxworthy, who happened to catch his very first open-mike night at the Funny Bone in Arlington, Texas. Soon, White became Foxworthy's regular opening act. Foxworthy got him booked on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend" two years ago, and at Montreal's Just For Laughs festival. He took him on "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour," along with Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy. The tour resulted in a successful video/DVD. White was signed by Fox to star in a sitcom based on his Mexican business experiences, but the pilot flopped and the series never saw the light of TV.
White has released his own comedy album, "Drunk in Public" and is on the road behind it, with a tour of the same name. On the disc, he talks about a variety of topics, as a club crowd yuks it up, screams and whistles.
His routine is littered with obscenities and sex jokes, but a few topics can be discussed in a family newspaper.
"Why does a pair of sunglasses cost more than a 25-inch television set?" he asks at the start of a hostile routine about being one-upped by a snooty salesman at a sunglasses hut at the mall.
He talks about flying on a tiny regional airline whose aircraft was "like a pack of gum with eight people in it."
"We departed from the Beaumont Airport, Hair Care and Tire Center," he continues. "We're travelin' at half the speed of smell. We got passed by a kite."
He talks about violent video games and how they're wrongly blamed for juvenile crime.
"They say that that's what's wrong with the youth of America today — they're learning how to accurately shoot guns through video games. It's not a parenting problem. Oooh, nooo."
He also jokes about prison sex, porno, one-night stands, mothers-in-law and vegetarians.
Something in White has touched a nerve in comedy fans. Now on his own headlining tour, he's been playing to packed houses. His two shows here tomorrow night at the Moore are nearly sold out.
The second show, incidentally, will probably be the better — because both he and the audience will have been smoking and drinking for quite a while by the time he hits the stage.
Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com
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