Larry the Cable Guy will git-r-done for CMT Christmas extravaganza

By Kate O__8217__Hare

Published: November 16, 2008

The guy on the phone says he’s Larry the Cable Guy, the sleeveless member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, known for saying, "Git-r-done.”

Then he says he’s Dan Whitney.

And under neither name does he have a Southern accent.

"If it’s a TV interview, I do it in character,” he says. "But if it’s just a paper interview, I just do it as myself.”

A Nebraska native who spent part of his youth in Florida, where he now lives, actor/comic Whitney created Larry for a radio call-in show.

While Larry doesn’t look much like Santa Claus, an elf or a reindeer, he’s now the centerpiece of his second Christmas special.

Last year on VH1, Whitney starred in "Larry the Cable Guy’s Christmas Spectacular,” a special set in Las Vegas and featuring a diverse cast of guests.

Whitney’s co-host for the event was Tony Orlando, and he returns in that role for the 2008 edition, a 90-minute special called "Larry the Cable Guy’s Star Studded Christmas Extravaganza,” airing at 8 p.m. Friday on CMT.

Taped as a live, free event at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, the event features Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, Terry Bradshaw, Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall in pretaped segments.

Appearing with Larry the Cable Guy in comedy sketches are Orlando, Fred Willard, Joey Fatone, Ross "The Intern” Mathews, ventriloquist Terry Fator, Victoria Jackson, Jennifer Aspen, Nadine Velazquez and Angela Little MacKenzie.

According to Whitney, the special is based on the classic Christmas variety shows of the 1970s.

"I grew up on Bing Crosby’s show and Andy Williams’, ” he says. "They don’t do them anymore.

"The people making the shows don’t think people still like that anymore. I know people still like it.”

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