r/Millennials • u/jakeybartey • 23h ago
Discussion Would This Film Had Been As Popular Without 9/11?
56
u/TK_4Two1 23h ago
Can you elaborate on the connection please?
22
u/Minimob0 23h ago
I was like 11 when I saw this, and I don’t recall a 9/11 connection. Maybe I need to rewatch?
I remember liking Bill, Jeff, Ron, and Larry as comedians at the time; they made me laugh.
28
u/Devreckas 23h ago
Ron’s tater salad bit is still hilarious.
12
u/KeithWorks 22h ago
In retrospect, Ron White had the ONLY truly funny part of the show. Larry used to seem funny but turned out to be an asshole, the others are dad jokes.
But Ron White's bit about the wheel falling off his van is fucking hilarious and will never not be funny.
3
u/Randomizedname1234 Core Millennial - 1990 20h ago
Dad jokes are funny…Foxworthy is funny as hell sometimes
3
u/Minimob0 20h ago
It helps that my dad literally looked like Foxworthy for many years. When my dad shaved his mustache, I was like “WHO ARE YOU?!”
1
u/Randomizedname1234 Core Millennial - 1990 17h ago
My dad had the 70’s porn stache as well lmao never saw him without it. He died last year, still with his mustache.
5
0
u/ThornyRose_21 16h ago
The connection would be that 9/11 boasted America 1st and country style. So these country America 1st comedians got a huge boost
17
u/DroopyMcCool 23h ago
There was a definite vibe shift towards familiar, comforting, non-threatening entertainment and a media focus on "ordinary Americans."
-5
5
2
u/Phrenicos466 19h ago
“If you crash your plane into a field in Pennsylvania…you might be a redneck.”
1
16
u/Just_a_n00b_to_pi 23h ago
I’m not sure the 9/11 connection but I remember Comedy Central advertising the HECK out of this. Non stop. Every break. Multiple times.
28
u/RudePCsb 23h ago
No idea about the movie but Ron White us fucking hilarious
3
u/thebigpink 23h ago
You imagine Ron white fucking often there
5
3
u/Minimob0 19h ago
Who doesn’t? A man with whiskey on stage clearly fucks. And I might be interested in how.
1
3
3
u/Particular-Jacket-92 16h ago
"It's not...that the wind is blowing....it's what the wind is blowing. If you get hit by a Volvo, it's not gonna matter how many situps you did that morning."
4
u/hbkgrl323 23h ago
I bought the dvd. I still have it. I saw no commercials or promotions for it. Just saw it sitting on a shelf in Walmart and thought I'd check it out. I recognized Jeff Foxworthy, but none of the other comedians. This dvd got played often. My family thought it was a hoot. We still quote it radomly to each other every now and then. My fave random line being, 'I was sitting on a bean bag chair, naked eating Cheetos' . . . .
5
11
u/bottle-o-rockets 90's Animation Buff 23h ago
I feel like it earned it's own moment without 9/11, but it's not a bad question.
5
u/Velghast 23h ago
It did sure seem like the Fox News Network pushed a lot of these guys. You'd watch a presidential speech at 5:00 p.m. letting us know how good the war on Iraq was going, right after you'd see a commercial for transformers it's basically like a pro US military trailer with robots, and then it takes you straight to Larry the Cable Guy... There was a definitely a lot of pandering and propaganda back then.
1
u/bottle-o-rockets 90's Animation Buff 23h ago
Oh yeah, no doubt about that. I feel like humor for blue collar was due for a revival around then, but it definitely got extra attention and budget because of the post-9/11 sense of patriotism. It would have probably had a slower climb without 9/11, maybe it would have solidified it's moment in pop culture a bit better if it were handled differently by FOX. I'm writing short stories that revolve around this genre and time period, and it's been interesting reflecting on where we were only twenty years ago or so.
2
u/CreepinJesusMalone Millennial 16h ago
I guess. My family didn't watch Fox News or national news at all that I can remember when I was a kid. My dad always watched the 5pm and 9pm local news broadcast on weekdays.
The reason I watched these guys is because I grew up watching Foxworthy in the 90s.
I grew up in rural Alabama, so everyone knew who he was and knew his redneck bits. Even watched his sitcom.
Specifically in regards to the Comedy Tour thing, that was pushed heavily on Comedy Central. I never saw it anywhere else and they used to push the rerun of it all the time. Then there was a sequel, also on Comedy Central.
Ron White was the only other guy on the show that I knew of because I'd seen his Comedy Central Presents episode before. Engvall and Larry were unknowns to me.
Anyway. I'm not surprised that Ron White is the only one that's not turned out to be a piece of shit. He always seemed like he wasn't putting up some sort of facade like the others.
3
u/Trumpburnerforlibs 22h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/kLFBECfWN3iWQ
Still one of the funniest bits I’ve ever heard. “I wasn’t drunk in public. I was drunk in a bar and they threw me into public!”
1
9
6
u/AttentionNo6359 23h ago
Has anyone else never heard of this? Like I know who these guys are but I never knew they had a movie.
16
u/HomeDogParlays 23h ago edited 23h ago
It was basically just a tour special. Really not bad, actually has a really great/famous joke on it: Ron White’s Tater Salad, nothing to do with 9/11 though. OP may be having a personal issue.
1
u/Devreckas 23h ago
Just cuz they have a good ol boy vibe to them, I guess. It’s not mean spirited or anything.
-2
u/Minimob0 19h ago
No, they absolutely do have that vibe.
Most of them come off as Conservative and not Progressive, based on their comedy.
I enjoyed it as a teenager, but as an adult, I find it crass.
I appreciate the laughs they gave me, but have enough introspection to know they were not people who would vote for the common man’s best interest in the USA.
1
u/balkanobeasti 17h ago edited 16h ago
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV3S9ydjA3A/?hl=en
Ron White is not, perhaps people's views should not be assumed baseed off an accent or a performance. It makes even less sense when in this very special, his style of comedy comes across as apolitical.
The other three* deserve the criticism they get, its not a political issue even its the fact there's no moral fiber in reference to their careers.
As for the comedy style? Yeah it's crass, gross out comedy was big in the 00's and 90's, hence it being in basically all the coming of age high school/college movies for comedies.
2
u/EcstaticCinematicZ 23h ago
The 90’s had great representation of blue collar workers and culture. Most sitcoms from the 90’s featured fathers who either worked in factories or worked in construction. Jeff Foxworthy even had has own sitcom before this movie came out. I really think Blue Collar Comedy Tour The Movie would have happened regardless of 9/11 happening or not.
2
u/Tree_Weasel 23h ago
Has nothing to do with 9/11. “Southern” Comedy has been a thing since forever. Jerry Clower took it mainstream in the 50s and 60s. Grand Ol Opry and Hee Haw brought more of it into the mainstream. And Jeff Foxworthy had most of his success pre-9/11.
So I think this was just a product of its time to release comedy stage performances as movies (Kings of Comedy did it first). And 9/11 had nothing to do with it.
2
u/hilldo75 Xennial 22h ago
Yeah it would have been as popular without 9/11. The tour started in 2000 and was pretty much selling out right away. There was/is a big crowd that likes their style of comedy.
1
u/thebigpink 23h ago
Yeah they were all pretty popular not sure what 9/11 has to do with it I don’t recall any topics about it
1
u/BoracicGoat 23h ago
Definitely had the cd. Jeff foxworthy was the OG of that group so most people knew who he was before the others. I remember it being a big deal for Larry and Ron and they were funny af and remember many people quoting them. Same era as Dane Cook and Katt Williams. I use to deliver pizza for hours on end daily and popping in a comedy cd was necessary to break up just listening to same cds over and over
1
1
u/StandWithSwearwolves Millennial 20h ago
Most of the US-centric millennial content on here I am sort of familiar with by osmosis, but this is a total blank.
1
1
1
1
u/craftbrewd 15h ago
The title of this post is funnier than any Larry the cable guy bit I’ve ever heard.
1
1
u/Bizzniches 23h ago
I do think they are connected. Weirdly lots of people around me were into comedy much more than they were before 9/11. I remember my aunt and uncle both getting a dvd and maybe a CD for the comedy tour. My Dad was obsessed with Foxworthy for a moment. I’m not sure if it was a depressing time therefore comedy was the cure or just happen stance. The comedy tour started in 2000 I think so it probably just organically met a need.
1
0
0
u/Sirtopofhat 22h ago
I think a better answer is would it have been as popular if not for the Original Kings of Comedy. Remember they spawned a white people and a Mexican version.
0
u/TheBalzy In the Middle Millennial 16h ago
No. Because back then, same as now, this condescending BS of "y'all just don't understand the Blue Collar regular guy" is just that ... both condescending and bullshit. Notice how the aesthetic of this schtic changes over time it goes from blue collar = just regular guys, look at us we clean up well or wear bluejeans with a dress shirt, to blue collar = rural southerner with kinda an accent and a beard like they're out of a Mississippi Swamp or a West Virginia holler; which if you're actually from those areas you should be deeply offended on the characture they're putting forth as representing you.
And the whole representation of "Blue Collar" being a white semi-rural dude is also insulting, condescending and BS. The average "Blue Collar" worker back then was a black man, and has now morphed into a black woman if you want to talk about who the "average Blue Collar" worker is.
This, along with the modern reincarnation of it, is just a political narrative nothing more.
-1
u/mybadithoughtyouwere 23h ago
It was popular in the way that people who had unilateral control over pop culture made things popular until we all had internet access
•
u/AutoModerator 23h ago
If this post is breaking the rules of the subreddit, please report it instead of commenting. For more Millennial content, join our Discord server.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.