04/29/2008
Ron White at Talladega Raceway

After a Saturday night show in Springfield, MO, Ron took a break on Sunday to hang out at Talladega raceway. Click below for more info and a photo of Ron with NASCAR driver Kurt Busch, his Miller Lite Dodge race team, and comedian Alex Reymundo.

01/27/2008
White leaves them laughing
BY ALEXANDER CHOMAN
SUNDAY VOICE ARTS CRITIC

WILKES-BARRE — Grammy nominee Ron White brought his blue collar brand of stand-up comedy to town

Saturday night in the first of two sold-out performances at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts. The Texas-born comedian worked the Kirby stage dressed in black from head to toe with his patented smoke in his right hand and glass of scotch in the other. While a lot of White’s ‘R’ rated comedy bits aren’t fit for print, he nevertheless delivers them with much of the comedic genius of George Carlin or Lewis Black and not the vulgar-for-vulgar’s sake of someone like Chelsea Handler.

White plays his irreverent ‘Mr. Bad Guy’ routine to his advantage. His success though lies in the fact that he finds his comedy around him in everyday life — the airport, the freeway or even at his in-laws’ dinner table. He is an articulate, keen observer
of life’s funniest and most absurd moments.

“I was talking with my mom the other day,” he says in his deep Texas drawl. “And she’s always worried about our national levels of security alert and when the colors change and what they mean. I told her there should just be two — number one, go find a helmet and number two, put the helmet on!”

The Kirby Center erupts and White has scored again.

“I recently played an Indian casino in Minnesota,” he told the crowd. “When they told me that there was no alcohol allowed, I said I’d be careful not to scratch my knee or anything,” he said, referring to the antiseptic kind of alcohol.

“When they cleared it up and told me it was the kind you drink, I asked them if they were kidding. I said, didn’t you see my promotion picture when you hired me? For Lord’s sake, I have a glass of scotch in my hand. Was that a clue or anything?” he
asks rhetorically.

White’s quips all scored well with the Kirby Center audience. Even the show’s seeming brevity (93 minutes), didn’t dampen fans’ spirits.

If White has a down side it’s that sometimes his punch lines are deliberately crude when they don’t have to be. White is a very intelligent fellow and his audience appreciates his clever humor. I’m certain his hardcore fans don’t mind. It just seems compulsory to him but unnecessary for his audience.

As for his association with his colleagues on the Blue Collar comedy circuit, the time has come for him to cut the cord. He has separated himself by mere class and ability alone. And it seems that his fans couldn’t be happier.

©The Citizens Voice 2008