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formation of what Foucault calls knowledge-power. Jokes tell us what
and who are to be considered funny. They dictate who can laugh at
whom and with what level of impunity. Considered collectively,
Foxworthy’s jokes emerge as an influential body of work, a foremost
commentary on what signifies redneck in the early 21®* century. While
much of his oeuvre draws on the well-wom stereotypes that construct the
poor and working-class white in negative terms, we can also note
tensions between these stereotypes and Foxworthy’s attempts to situate
himself within a strand of redneck identity. Through him, we can witness
the hegemonic struggle for meaning that reveals what is at stake for the
performer, those he depicts, and the larger soeiety.
As noted, when Jeff Foxworthy expresses a desire to “get past
this redneck thing,” we reeognize that any attempt he makes to do so
would be a positioning of himself against a discourse that he has been
actively complicit in maintaining. In purely economic terms, he has long
surpassed any link that he might have had to the working classes. As a
multi-millionaire celebrity whose distinctions include selling more
comedy albums than any other entertainer in history, he is a success by
any financial standard. Further, he circulates comfortably among the
economie and Hollywood elite, and over the years his cultural appeal has
moved closer and closer to the mainstream, perhaps peaking with his
hosting of the television game show. Are You Smarter than a Fifth
Grader? (2007-2009).
Still, the fact remains that for much of the consuming public,
Foxworthy remains “that Redneck guy.” Indeed, most of his work from
the past decade continues to evoke class-based monikers, ineluding
redneck, blue collar, hillbilly, hick, and on rare oecasions white trash.
The bedrock, of course, remains his “You might be a Redneck” oneliners. The set-up and punch line of the individual jokes is quite basic. In
fact, it is partly the repetitive simplicity that has allowed the jokes to
infiltrate popular culture so effectively. Most often they open with the
subordinating eonjunction “I f ’ and are followed by a clause that
describes a particular behavior or personality trait. The joke is then
completed by the punch line, “you might be a Redneck.” For example,
“If your daddy waves at traffic from the front porch wearing nothing but
his underwear, you might be a Redneck” (Foxworthy, The Redneck 32).
While Foxworthy’s biography contains its fair share of humor,
the book is also a vehicle for the author to come to terms with his own
origins and later suecess. He explains that Davey Allison’s death “started
me thinking about where I’d eome from and wondering what had
happened to the little boy who grew up three doors down from the end of
the old Atlanta airport runway. Believe me, I know I’ve come a long