Jeff Foxworthy – Foxworthy’s Big Night Out

Foxworthyès Big Night Out
Jeff Foxworthy, Brooke Dillman, Peter Oldring
Originally aired on CMT 2006
2 DVDs 12 episodes
CMT / Paramount 2007

Foxworthy’s Big Night Out is basically Blue Collar TV without Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall. It makes for a better show especially since Jeff Foxworthy had the brains to keep both Brooke Dillman and Peter Oldring, both excellent sketch comedians from Blue Collar TV.

He also kept the Redneck dictionary feature that is always fun to watch. Foxworthy’s Big Night Out is your basic half-hour country style variety show and it works.

Foxworthy’s Big Night Out is a tighter, smarter show than Blue Collar TV. It also gives Jeff Foxworthy a little more room to shine with a somewhat longer opening monologue. Though the monologue on show 2 is forgettable and some echo his stand-up material, most are pretty good, especially the one that opens episode 6 guest starring The Wreckers. Big Night Out features generally better sketches that play to Foxworthy’s comedy fortes.

The big change here is Big Night Out always features a country music star doing a song and getting involved in a sketch. This makes perfect sense as this was originally aired on Country Music Television.

The first show stars Kenny Rogers and he is very good as a preacher in addition to performing a new song and singing Islands in the Stream with Jeff Foxworthy. I am most certainly not a big fan of country music but the show and its format make it a bit more fun.

Of course, Blue Collar comedy has a large following that is probably also very much into country music so the format makes perfect sense. Country music fans will be somewhat irritated that the show usually ends with the star performing another song but viewers only get a minute of it.

Some of the sketches are very, very good, such as the one with the female construction workers hooting and hollering at guys with a big gut. It is a funny way to turn a cliché on its head and The Wreckers are pretty good actresses.

Other segments in addition to the Redneck dictionary and the comedy sketch are an interview bit where the guest star and Foxworthy share an embarrassing picture from their childhood.

Foxworthy sure seems to have a lot of those. The better sketches feature Brooke Dillman whose comedic style and ability to go for the laugh most certainly echoes Carol Burnett’s. I’d nominate her for obvious choice for a Burnett bio pic.

The guest stars on this 2 DVD 12 episode set are Kenny Rogers, Sara Evans, Trace Adkins, Pat Green, The Wreckers, Joe Nichols, Billy Currington, Montgomery Gentry, The Warren Brothers, Jack Ingram, Blake Shelton, and Hank Williams Jr. Not all of them are really good actors, Trace Adkins comes to mind, but they sure give it the old community college try.

Look for stand-up comedian Kathleen Madigan in episode 6 (with Joe Nichols) of Foxworthy’s Big Night Out.

Special Features on Foxworthy’s Big Night Out include seven minutes of Bloopers, four Best of Jeff’s Monologues, Behind the Scenes, The Homewreckers (the show’s scantily clad eye candy) and Fitness With The Cast.

The one weak point of this 2 DVD 12 episode set is there is no track list so good luck figuring out where your favorite show is. An insert would have been nice.

If you are a fan of Blue Collar comedy and enjoyed Blue Collar TV, Foxworthy’s Big Night Out will fit right in with the rest of your collection. If you like a country variety show, this 2 DVD 12 episode set will more than satisfy, this from someone who is not a big fan of country music.

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