Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
Larry the Cable Guy is about to move back to Nebraska, though his thriving movie, television and comedy career keeps him on the road 300 days a year.
We caught up with him last week amid a whirlwind publicity tour for “Cars 2,” the widely anticipated animated Pixar movie that opens Friday. Whitney provides the voice for Mater the tow truck, a good ol' boy with a rusty exterior and a heart (or is it a carburetor?) of gold.
He was born Daniel Lawrence Whitney in Pawnee City, Neb. But 48 years later, everybody knows him as Larry the Cable Guy, after a redneck character he invented for radio call-in shows in 1992. Larry stars on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall, and he hosts a History Channel show called “Only in America, with Larry the Cable Guy.”
Whitney's personal life is humming as well. Since helping make “Cars” an Oscar-nominated hit in 2006, he and his wife, Cara, have produced son Wyatt, 4, and daughter Reagan, 3.
The family is about to move its primary residence from Florida, his home since age 16, to Nebraska (he wouldn't say exactly where) so his kids can grow up in the rural atmosphere he loved as a kid.
For the first time, Whitney dropped the Cable Guy persona during the interview, though his friendly answers were laced with his special brand of humor.
Q. Where are you today?
A. I'm in Lincoln. Just got home to Nebraska, and I leave again tomorrow. I started doing publicity for “Cars 2” last month. I did Canadian press last week. Not sure if I'm gonna do international. (Director-screenwriter) John (Lasseter) will go over. He was supposed to do Canada with me, but his dad suddenly died. (Paul Lasseter, 87, was a car-dealership parts manager and inspired Lasseter's love of cars.) So I did it alone. Makes you feel good when Pixar leaves everything in your hands. Not bad for a kid from Pawnee City.
Q. Where did you do the voice work for “Cars 2”? I know you did some at the Mixing Room in Omaha last December.
A. I did a bunch of touch-ups there. The movie itself, I think it took eight sessions at Pixar in Emeryville, (Calif.). At the end, I think there were five lines I redid at the Mixing Room to match something. It took eight minutes. Did a little bit in Florida, too.
Q. Michael Keaton and Michael Caine joined the cast this time. Did you get to spend any time with them or Owen Wilson and Bonnie Hunt?
A. You know what? No. You never really get to see any of them. They normally don't hang out with a B-lister. The only person I've seen is Emily Mortimer. She and I did a bunch of press together in Emeryville. She's awesome. Wish I could do all my interviews with Emily. She has an English accent, and I put on my Southern. Next thing you know we were picking up each other's accents.
Last time (for “Cars” in 2006), I never met anybody till the premiere. John took us out to a steakhouse for dinner. It was strange. Me and my wife sitting with Bonnie Hunt and Tony Shalhoub, Paul Newman and his wife (Joanne Woodward), Cheech Marin. Everybody was super nice.
Paul Newman was great. I was at the elevator with him, and I was nervous. He put his hand out, said it was nice to meet me, that he enjoyed watching me on Comedy Central. He quoted one of my jokes.
I introduced him at the (“Cars”) premiere at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. I said, ‘You'd never know he was in his 80s. He was out driving a race car going 140 today. But he's the only character in the movie that had his blinker on the whole movie.' He laughed, but he said, “I'm gonna get you for that.”
Q. The movie is about an international grand prix. Does Mater the tow truck like traveling in foreign countries?
A. Mater just likes hanging with his buddies. When McQueen (star race car, voiced by Owen Wilson) asks him to go, he's very excited. He's the one who called the race to McQueen's attention.
Almost every word out of Mater's mouth is hilarious this time. But when it's crunch time, you see a Mater you wouldn't normally see. That was the only hard part. I had to have Mater come across serious, and there are really sad parts. A complete 360-degree prism of emotions. I enjoyed doing that. For the serious parts, I'd think of putting myself in the same situation, or my little boy. First line I said like that, John said, “Oh, man, that's good.” I almost made myself cry.
Q. Is Mater's role in “Cars 2” bigger, smaller or about the same as in the original “Cars”?
A. Bigger. In fact, he's the center of what's going on. Before, it was all McQueen. Mater was just his buddy. This is Mater's tall tale. It's about McQueen and the race, but the story is centered on Mater getting caught up in an espionage thing where they think he's a spy.
Q. How has your relationship with director John Lasseter evolved over the years?
A. We hit it off right off the bat. John's a regular guy. You'd think a guy so brilliant, with all that success, would be different. But if he was at a mall in Lincoln, he'd fit right in. Or at a farm bonfire in Kansas. His wife is from Arkansas, and he has a bunch of boys, and they're the important thing in his life. We like the same kind of things. He's a fan of my act, the Blue Collar stuff.
When I was working on the first picture, he'd always pick me up at the hotel. My wife came to stay at his guesthouse. He's like my older brother. He's that great. Nobody wants to let that guy down. So Pixar's product keeps getting better and better.
Q. What's been your favorite thing about your involvement with “Cars 2”?
A. The cash. No, really, just the fact that I'm in it. I look back on my career, all the things I've gotten to do. A lot of celebs wish they could be in an animated movie now. I'm in two. Now that I have kids, things change. I would never have thought I'd do kid movies. But “Cars” led to doing “The Tooth Fairy” for Fox. It was my first G-rated movie. It's fun, watching your kids laugh at the movie you're in.
Q. You were at Omaha's Qwest Center for the comedy tour in May. How did that go?
A. Awesome. It's always fun when Jeff, Bill and I get together. The crowd was great.
Q. Did you get to spend any time with your mom, your sister and other family near Lincoln that trip?
A. Sure did. I'm actually moving back to Nebraska. My little boy starts school this fall. I want my kids to grow up like I grew up. The last five years I've been going back and forth, four months in Lincoln, the rest of the year in Florida. Now the house in Florida is up for sale.
Q. Five years ago, when you were making the first “Cars,” you said you'd love to own a farm in Nebraska. Still true?
A. Yup, I got one. My family has loved life in Florida. But I'm a Nebraskan, my wife's from Wisconsin. I love small-town Nebraska. Only reason I left is my Dad got a job. Florida's been good to me. I got my start there. Whenever Florida needs me to do something, I'll be there. We just gave a big donation to the Arnold Palmer Hospital there. Here in Lincoln I do donations as well. I love both states the same. But I love Nebraska way better. Some of my best friends in the world I went to high school with in Nebraska. I left in 10th grade, and we're all still buddies.
Q. Your son, Wyatt, wasn't yet born when you made the original “Cars.” Now he's almost 5. Has he seen the movie?
A. He did see it, and he loves “The Incredibles.” No, he loves the first movie. He and my daughter have seen it probably 116 times. Whenever they want to watch that they say, “I wanna watch Daddy.” Reagan, her first words were, “Mr. Larry, tear down this crib.” She's 3 going on 4. Wyatt is 4 going on Ritalin.
Q. Last time we talked, you were on the road 290 days a year with the Blue Collar Comedy tour. How's your schedule these days?
A. I was right at 300 days (on the road) this year, but with History Channel work, too. I had to cut down my tour to 140 dates this year. I had 160 days of History Channel. Just signed up for a second season.
Q. Any more movies in the works?
A. “Tooth Fairy 2” comes out soon. I think we'll do sequels for Fox Home Video. We take the movies one at a time, with the economy like it is. I'll be finishing up on the “Cars” promotion. Then the second season of “Only in America” will keep me busy until Dec. 14. And doing my (stand-up comedy) shows. I put out a greatest hits album not long ago.
Q. Anything you want to say to your Nebraska fans?
A. Yeah, I love my Nebraska fans. I love the state of Nebraska. I just love it. I was born here, raised here, and I bleed Nebraska red. Seventy-five percent of the shows I do, I have a Husker hat or shirt on. I always try to represent.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
