THE ED MYLETT SHOW - How to Laugh, Love, and Let Go, with Jeff Foxworthy

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

What happens when one of the greatest comedians of our generation sits down to share not just laughs—but the wisdom, faith, and life lessons behind his journey? This conversation with Jeff Foxworthy is more than an interview—it’s a masterclass on humility, purpose, and what truly lasts. Jeff is known as the best-selling comedy recording artist of all time, with a career that has spanned decades on stage, television, and beyond. But in this conversation, you’ll meet the man behind the jokes. Jeff opens up about his roots, the pain of growing up with an absent father, and how those experiences shaped his commitment to family and faith. He shares how comedy wasn’t just a career—it was a God-given gift, one he’s worked to steward faithfully over the years. What moved me most about Jeff isn’t just his success, but his perspective on identity and legacy. He reminds us that what you do isn’t who you are. Fame, wealth, and achievements all fade, but character, kindness, and faith endure. As Jeff puts it, attaching your worth to temporary things—whether beauty, muscles, or material success—will rob you of lasting joy. True identity comes from something eternal. This episode is full of wisdom for the next generation. We talk about living with humility, the danger of bitterness, and why forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. Jeff’s reflections are as real and grounded as they are inspiring, and they’ll leave you evaluating your own life, not by what you’ve achieved, but by the legacy you’re building for those who come after you. This is one of those rare conversations that’s bigger than entertainment—it’s about faith, purpose, and the timeless lessons that outlive us all. If you’ve ever wondered how to stay grounded in success, how to pass on wisdom to your children, or how to live a life that matters long after you’re gone, you’ll want to lean into every moment. Key Takeaways: Why your identity should never be tied to temporary success or circumstances The power of seeing your gifts as a responsibility, not an entitlement How childhood wounds can become fuel for building stronger families Why forgiveness and humility are central to living a free and fulfilled life How to think generationally and leave a lasting legacy of faith and purpose This isn’t just an interview; it’s a legacy conversation. Jeff’s words will make you laugh, make you reflect, and make you think about the story you’re writing with your own life. And the best part? This is just the beginning. Stay tuned—Part 2 of my interview with Jeff Foxworthy is coming soon. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ←  ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WEBSITE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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So hey guys I'm super excited to give you an opportunity to look again at a conversation that changed my life with the great Jeff Foxworthy. Obviously, he's one of the funniest comedians of all time, one of the most successful comedians of all time, but we go beyond that in this interview. We get into faith, we get into

how his story actually really happened and a lot of the principles that have made him the person he's become in the comedy and acting space I think you're going to love this conversation here's what's great when we're done with this one we're going to have Jeff on again you're going to see part two of this interview updated newer questions etc etc so today's going to be awesome dive into this the great Jeff Foxworthy I welcome back to the program everybody I'm so excited to have this man here today because I've been a fan of his work for a long time but as I started to research him I became a bigger fan of the man behind the microphone,

what he stands for and his story in his life. I think there's going to be an amazing amount of lessons on life and success and abundance here today. He's got a special out that is hilarious on Netflix called The Good Old Days. He also happens to be the number one seller of comedy albums in the history of the planet Earth, like of ever. So that's kind of a big deal. But I'm more impressed with the kind of man, husband, and father that he is,

as I've learned more about him. So Jeff Foxworthy, welcome to the show, brother. I'm honored to be here. Thanks for having me, Ed. I got to tell you, you're special, everyone, you got to go watch the good old days.

It's one of the few things, Jeff, that my wife and I actually agree on when we watch art or comedy. Usually I'll watch a comedian. I think they're really, really funny. She's like,

ah, I just don't get it, you know, and then there's stuff she loves. I'm like, this is terrible. Turn this off. I can't do an hour of this,

right? So I got to tell you, one, it's clean for everybody who wants to listen something that's clean but it's very rare man in my house that we both agree something's funny and this special was definitely it so well done my wife and i have those shows like she likes some of them that i go you know what i'm on the road next weekend so why don't you save that

until i'm on the road and you can watch that because this ain't doing nothing for me so yeah save deal man so i want to talk about you a little bit we'll talk about the special too but i'm always fascinated so is my audience with people that become mega successful at something i call it max out. They've maxed out a particular area of their life, whether that be family or business, money, their career. You seem to have done that in a bunch of different areas. Yet, as I dug into you a little bit, you don't really come from that. Not at all. Let's just start with, because I think it gives people a hope. I mean, these stats were true guys. Number one selling comedy album person of all time. It's not like I needed to introduce them. Everybody knows who Jeff Foxworthy is. So

something good's happened there. But your dad was kind of an interesting dude, right? Tell him a little bit about your dad and where you come from. My dad grew up in the country in Georgia, a little town called Sandersville, and went to work for IBM. And so he met my mom. They got married. My dad was a character in that he was a good dude. But when he was five years old, his dad literally went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back. And so that, you know, that did something to him. And so he ended up leaving when I was young. He ended up being married six times and had a thousand girlfriends in between. My mom went to church five times a week and, you know, didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't cuss. And so they were total polar opposites. But there's something that happens to you as a kid,

no matter what your parents say, when one leaves you, you feel like you weren't worth sticking around for. And no matter what they say, that's what you feel deep down inside is I wasn't worth sticking around for. And so kind of early in life, I was like, all right, if I ever have kids, my kids aren't going to feel this way. I was always fascinated by comedy. When I was a kid, I used to buy comedy records and memorize them and go to school and do them. Looking back, it was, I totally believe it's a God-given gift. This was the gift that I was given. I'd have no idea why I can do it, but if you said to me, hey, go write me a hundred jokes about home security, I could do it. I could just take a piece of paper, whatever the subject.

And I could, I don't know why I can do it. But so that's why it's a gift is the same way other people can create music or the same way people can make a brick wall that just looks beautiful. You know, it's their gift. Yeah. And so I can't even have ego about it because I mean, I really can. I don't know why I can do it. I love it.

I'm so thankful that I've gotten to make a living doing it. And I've worked at it. I mean, I, I, I, I felt like, all right, you've, you've been entrusted with this. You're the steward of this gift. What are you going to do with it? And so I always worked really hard at it, you know. Would you think there's any keys to being a good storyteller?

I'm just curious because I think the ability to tell a story transcends everything almost. It makes you a better father, mother, business person, salesperson, stand up, actor, whatever it might be. Telling a story is a really important skill in life that most people. people, I don't think ever realize they probably should get pretty good at. I think you're 100% right. We all know somebody at work that's like a great joke teller and somebody that's a terrible joke teller. And I think the good one, they learn to keep in the things that only the things that are needed. The people that are not good at it, throw in all these

ingredients that you don't really need to make it work. But there is an art to it. And I think part of it is being interested in stories. You know, you're that guy. You're, you want to know somebody's story. Everybody, I meet. I'm like, so what's your story? Where are you from? You know, I want to know, where'd you grow up? How'd you grow up? Because I'm interested. Yeah, same here. Especially in salesmen. I tell people all the time, like less is more, you know, even doing the show. Bingo. Bingo. I think they add too much to their pitch. Because the more, when you're in business, the more you know, the more you add to the story, the more you think you need to tell them. you know more facts, you know more information.

Just get to the point. But I want to go back just for a second because I think it was a really powerful thing you said. You said that no matter what happens when you're a parent in this divorce situation, that when you leave that that child feels something they shouldn't feel, I heard you say that you really grew up feeling like you weren't worth staying for. And I was, I'm honest with you, Jeff. I was driving in my car prepping for this, you know, I'd listen to different stuff. and I started to like get all filled up in the eyes thinking about it's probably a lot of men right now

not just men women too but they're thinking right now maybe I'm going to leave my family and go get a new one get something shinier and newer or younger or less drama or what would you say to someone who's thinking about maybe right now thinking about doing something like that who's got babies or kids at home not even about your spouse what it does with your kids is it is it breaks a trust you know and trust is a weird thing if i i'm a visual guy so i imagine it like a coffee cup and it's built just a drop at a time a drop at a time and it fills up with trust but when you lose trust you dump it all out of it's all gone in one second and i think that's what happens when parents leave their kids is their kids look at you and go crap i thought it was you and i

of anything else. And if it's, and you can walk away from me, then even though we might repair this, you're going to see where the glue was because there was a big trust broken here between you and I. I mean, I would encourage people to really think about that before you do it. And I know people get in situations where it's just unbearable. But you always think about the husband and the wife. It's the kids that carry the most of it through life. You know, before COVID hit, I had spent 12 years leading a men's group on Tuesday mornings at the homeless shelter in Atlanta. And most people end up in a homeless shelter because of some type of addiction is, but the longer that I worked there and got to know these people, what you realize

is something bad happened to them early in life. They either got abused physically, sexually. They got abandoned something bad happened to them and the hurt was so great that they couldn't deal with it on their own. So as they got older, they started numbing to it. Might be with alcohol, might be with drugs, but they started numb into it. Well, when you're doing that, you're not employable. You're not somebody that a company can depend on. So you're not employable. You can't have your own space because you can't pay for your rent. So you're hanging around with your friends and your family and you're taking from them to the point where they go, no more. I can't do this. anymore and that's how people end up on the street and so the addiction is just the symptom that the diseases that hurt that happened when they were young and so if you can ever go back and deal with that hurt and drag it out of that locked up basement room in the soul and pull it up the stairs and pull it out in the front yard and let the sun hit it and call it what it was then they had a chance to get better they had a chance to put their life back together my dad was an alcohol

then became sober for 35 years and he had tried to get sober very many, many times. And one of the chapters in my book is called One More Try. The reason that it's in there is my dad gave getting sober one more try. And that one more try when there was no evidence that he probably could was the time that it worked and he stayed sober for 35 years, ironically, one day at a time. And my dad was one of those guys with that hurt. I just think if you're thinking of leaving your family, I'm not saying that there's all shame in doing it and there's circumstance where you should, but maybe you ought to give it one

more try. And I think that's worth saying. The other thing that just went past there because he has humility, Jeff just sort of barely touched on this, but I want you to imagine you're one of the most famous people on the planet and you end up what you do on Tuesdays, which is what he started to do. He starts basically a men's group, a Bible study with homeless people at a shelter. This is what this man's been doing for over a decade to help people. And he just sort of glossed over that. But that's not an everyday thing a celebrity is doing, or really even an everyday person. in Zoom. We're all everyday people. I really researched you, bro. And you walk in there. A friend takes you there, right? I hear this story because that, it sort of changed you. Because we all

have judgment. We all make assessments. And by the way, everyone, listen to this. You judge yourself. A lot of you carry a lot of shame where the divorce you've been through or a bankruptcy or a mistake you've made. And you carry these bags around with you and you think, okay, this disqualifies me from being happy. This disqualifies me from being successful. You know, I don't come from the right family or I left my, all these things you think you've done and you carry them all your life as some barrier between you and your happiness. So you walk into this homeless shelter. If you don't mind telling the story, your buddy brings you there and you meet this dude Jason, right? I even remember the guy's name because the story's so powerful. And you're right on the money with that assessment is,

you know, every morning as I'm kind of doing my devotional, I ask God, I'm like, let me get off the judgment seat. I do not want to judge people. But so for a long time, time. My wife and I were like the head of fundraising for the Duke Children's Hospital up in North Carolina. My brother played football at Duke. And so that was the connection. So I was always doing stuff with kids with cancer. And I honestly had nothing to do with homeless people. My dealing with homeless people was to row the window down and have them five bucks. Go away. And so a guy invites me to lunch down at the shelter. And the first kid I made is first person in the shelter is this 21 year old kid. And I'm looking at me healthy. I'm like, dude, what the hell are you doing in a homeless

shelter? Go get a job. And his name was Jason and he sat down with us. And like I said earlier, I said, so Jason, what's your story? You know, why are you here? And Jason said, well, it was me and my mom and dad and my brother. He said, then when I was 12, my mom killed herself. He said, and two years after that my brother killed himself and it was me and my dad and my second year of college my dad killed himself and he said i got to the point i could not hurt anymore so i started smoking crack and ed i'm sitting there going hell i would have started smoking crack yeah i did i don't blame you one bit you can't nobody can handle that kind of pain yeah and that's how we ended up on the street But from being down there, and you know, I kind of did this.

And it's all the things that I missed from my dad. And I don't remember the actual moment that had happened. But I just made God my dad because of the prodigal son's story. He said, you can't do anything bad enough to make me love you any less. And you can't do anything good enough to make me love you anymore. I just love you with all that I am. That is who I am as a father. And so my dad wasn't there.

And I'm like, all right, if you're here every day and you love me, whether I screw up or whether I do good, you're going to be my dad. And so I'm just like, all right, my dad's here. And there's, trust me, there's still days. I'm 63 years old that I go, yeah, can I just climb up in your lap and you rub my head right now? Because I don't know what to do. And that's kind of the point that Jason got to. But the cool thing was Jason got off crack. really jason went back to college got his degree and he's been a practicing nurse for almost seven years

no way i didn't hear that part of it no yeah yeah yeah think about it it just makes me want to cry i mean yeah yeah you're such an interesting guy to me all these years i've always sensed kind of like the holy spirit on you there's just a kindness to you and your work and um me i have to tell you i was watching this talk you gave i'm driving and i had to go into a meeting and uh i'm think I'm a study on this guy. I was really funny. After going to this meeting, and it's about 30 minutes into about an hour long talk that Jeff gave that you can all get on YouTube. It's called Purpose on Tap. I just think it's special. And I found myself, I'm not getting out of the car. And here I'm a 50-year-old man in my car in this parking lot, and I'm late for

this meeting. And I'm not letting myself go into this meeting until you're finished speaking because it was that big of an impact it made on me. And I'm not, that rarely something like that happens to anybody. So I just want to acknowledge you for that, man. I mean, you've made me laugh a lot in my life, but more recently, you really made me think and contemplate and evaluate. And as I was looking at you, I want to make sure I acknowledge that in you. As I was looking at you, I'm thinking, you know, I come from a dad as an alcoholic. Jason comes from this background. That's just three a billion times worse than you and I. But you are a little guy whose dad leaves, right? And that's a difficult thing. What do you think the difference is? Because some people use that

story as sort of covered to be a victim their entire life for their lack of happiness or success. Other people can come from the same exact household and they make a success of their life or they do something pretty special with their life. What do you think that difference is? Ed, I don't know because my sister has been kind of mad at my dad, her whole life. And I will say to her, you know, this is a poison you're making, but you're drinking. He's been dead since 1999. Even if he wanted to change it, he couldn't change it.

It's done. But I don't know what makes some people deal with it and some people don't. Do you remember like an old Dan Fogelberg song, Run for the Roses? Absolutely. About the horse had born in the moment of it. And it's talking about running for the roses

in the Kentucky Derby, but there's a line in that song and it used to hit me. I was like a teenager where it said, breeding and it's training and it's something unknown and that something unknown would always make my eyes well up I'm like but but it was like I had something in my gut that that said I'm gonna be okay I'm gonna I don't know where I'm going but I'm gonna make it and I'm not even doing this like some kind of prosperity thing I think this will sit well with you so a few years ago I'm doing an interview and the lady said to me she said well you

do stand-up comedy, you write books, you host game shows, you paint, you draw, which one are you? And I went, wow, that's a weird question. And I said, well, those are all things that I do. I said, and I love what I do. And I love the fact that I get to do more than one thing. But when you say, which one are me? It's not who I am. Who I am is I'm a dad and I'm a husband and I'm a brother and I'm a son and I'm a person of this community and I'm a child of God. So as I go through my life, what I do may change dozens of times, but hopefully who I am stays consistent across all of it. And I just kind of felt that at a young age. It's like to know who you are. You know, I remember because we came from, you know, it's kind of the wrong side of the tracks,

but we had a good baseball team. And one time we went across Atlanta to play the kids at the big private school. And when we got off the bus, they were making fun of us because our uniforms were pretty crappy. And that stuck in my mind my whole life because as I'm getting off, I'm like, you don't know anything about me. How can you judge me? All you know is I got a crappy shirt on, you know, and then at the other end of my life

where people go, oh, you're rich. You don't understand. I said, no, still, Jeff, I just got a better shirt on. Oh, man. Still the same guy. You know, good, brother. Yeah, there's a danger in attaching one's identity to what you do. Well, because it's going to go away.

You got it. If it's your beauty, it's going to go away. If it's your muscles, it's going to go away. And so why attach your identity to something that's not permanent? It's very conditional. And it's one of the things that robs people from their happiness. Then they also start to think, well, if I can get to this next level success, then I'll be happy.

or I get this thing. I get this jet. I get this car. I get this house. And they delay what is within them right now that they could experience until some future destination or achievement that may or may not ever happen. And then when they get there, that's not enough and they've got to get another one. And so it's, that's so profound that that's what you do and it's not who you are. And I hope everybody just heard that. The twisted tale of Amanda Knox is an eight episode Hulu Original Limited series that blends gripping pacing with emotional complexity, offering a dramatized look as it revisits the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox for the tragic murder of Meredith Kircher and the relentless media storm that followed.

The twisted tale of Amanda Knox is now streaming only on Disney Plus. Get to Toronto's main venues like Budweiser Stage and the new Roger Stadium with Go Transit. Thanks to Go Transit's special online e-ticket fairs, a $10 one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel on any weekend day or holiday anywhere along the Go Network. And the weekday group passes offer the same weekday travel flexibility across the network, starting at $30 for two people and up to $60 for a group of five. Buy your online go pass ahead of the show at go-transit.com slash tickets. You know, you were talking about where you come from a little bit. I just was like thinking about how you got started telling even the first night of your comedic life is like a pretty big night in your life, right?

So just everyone doesn't know this, this is a guy who's working at IBM. Most people probably did not know that Jeff Foxworthy worked at IBM, right? That's what he was doing for a living. I think your dad worked there too, if I'm not mistaken. That's how I got the job. I was, I had flunked out of college. I was working at a grocery store. And I think my dad said to one of his buddy, give my kid a job.

And so it sounds more glamorous. I was carrying a tool bag and fixing machines. But it wasn't singing to me. I knew while I was doing it. I'm like, crap, this isn't my parking space. This isn't my lane. And I worked with a bunch of guys that always went to the local comedy club in Atlanta. And they go, dude, you're funnier than those people at the comedy club.

You should go up down there. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know. And so they entered me without my knowledge. They entered me in a contest, not an. amateur night, a contest for comedians, for working comedians called the Great Southeastern Lapoff. And they came back and they said, we entered you in this contest. I'm like, oh, crap. So I went and wrote like five or six minutes of material about my family. And I went down in the first night on stage. I was so nervous. I won the contest. A minute and a half into it.

And I was like, this is what I want to do. This is what I was made to do. This is my gift. And, and then I came off and this girl came over to talk to me and I was so nervous I spilled my drink down the front of her sweater and I mean I made a joke I said well I guess you're never going to go out with me and she said well you didn't even ask me and that girl I've been married to for 37 years so I met my wife in my career less than five minutes apart unbelievable same place some night and by the way everyone there's a lesson in that which is he went and did something he was terrified to do and sometimes on the other side of things we're super afraid of that we feel ill prepared for is our dream and that's not hokey or corny maybe it's even occurring to you right

now listening to me say it right like how'd this both happen that night if you don't go do something you're totally terrified to do not completely prepared for you don't get your career which is your dream the platform to influence people like you're doing right now nor potentially this amazing thing you're most proud of, which is your family. And it was because you did something you were freaking not ready to do and afraid to do. And on the other side of that was this gift, right? It's the consequence of saying yes. It's just going, yeah, okay, I'll do it. And it doesn't mean you're not scared. But that's all bravery is, is being scared and doing it anyway. And I got over being scared to go on stage. But yes, it's the consequence of that was how it happened for me.

at the mission as the guy looked at me and goes man these guys have never been in a small group of men like to done a small group bible study would you lead it and i certainly one the most qualified guy to do it but i went yeah okay i'll do it you know there's a five million people more qualified than me but i'll do it yeah and it was the consequence of saying yes that it ended up being one the most impactful things in my life and i tell my kids ed i said you know what i want you to do in life I want you to fail. I want you to fail a lot because if you're failing, you're pushing the boundaries. You're trying to find the boundaries of what you're capable of doing.

If you never fail, you've never pushed that boundary and gone too far over it to win up. That's not my thing. So fail a lot, man, because then you're pushing it. I love that. And God doesn't call to qualify it. He qualifies the call. We all probably heard that saying, but it's true. I've experienced it in my own life, all these things I wasn't ready to do or prepared for.

And people say, well, how do you step into that space? For me, I must just say this to everybody. I know it's true for you, too. My business partner is God. My business partner is Jesus. So for me, I got a good partner who's got my back all the time. So I step into these things with some measure of faith, not really in myself, but in who's got my back and who my partner is. And that he'll, if I'll step boldly in faith, some of these answers and thought,

and the words and the whatever's, the people, the places, the relationships sort of appear because I've stepped in faith. When you don't step in faith, I think oftentimes those people, the thoughts, the circumstances, the meetings, the connections don't show up because you've not stepped into that uncomfortable unknown place. That's just how I look at it. I think you're right. And you've got like this light and you're like a porch light where like moths are attracted to it. It sounds kind of corny but but we live in a world now where people they want the likes they want it's it's uh give me the likes give me the likes it's it's almost important to get to the point where you go i don't care i don't care i this is what i do you know i know like within what i do i would net i i i have

i'm not mean-spirited about it if i hurt your feelings with anything i've ever said please forgive me i'm sorry that was not the intent so if you don't like you don't like you me as a con i don't care i don't care i mean i hope you find somebody that you like because laughter is really important you know it's kind of like the release valve that keeps the boiler from exploding yeah but how do you feel about though jiff like lately yeah you know obviously the other night when we're recording this we'll be out pretty soon but this the situation happened with will smith and chris rock where chris rock's making jokes right and you've had this situation this goes to your special it's called the good old days and he just reflects on some of the things

that are funny that are just also beautiful and sometimes better or just different than they are now. But then, you know, you've seen whether you agree with the messaging or not, but, you know, Kevin Hartst had the cancel culture. Chappelle's had major issues. And those are just a few. But how do you feel about, because comedy is art, right? And so what are your thoughts on this like, that's not funny to me, so you're a bad dude type stuff? It's, we have a real hard time as a society of laughing at ourselves now. And within that lies the problem because we have to give up our need to be right. When you have to be right, then the other has to be wrong. And people don't want to engage in any kind of relationship where they have to be wrong all the time. And so

they just go the other way. And as a comic, it's kind of our job to just hold things up and go, why do we do this? Why do we do that? We're truth tellers. Why do we do this? Why do we do this? And when people start attacking that and they don't have the ability to laugh at themselves, it means they think that they've got it all figured out.

And none of us have it all figured out. You've got your lane and you've got a lot of that figured out. And I got my lane and I got a lot of that figured out. But there's a lot of other lanes I know nothing about. And so every day, you and I are both coming to a hundred, in the road and we're having to go do I go this way or that way and we're all doing the best we can but I don't have to be right there were things that I argued vehemently for when I was 20 that at 60 I go now I've kind of changed my mind on that one totally agree with you I got to tell you something

it's interesting that people ask me the old do you get you know what have you learned I said honestly one of the things I have learned is how little I know I thought I knew a lot more at 30 than I know I don't know now at 50 and I'm always concerned when I have a friend who never changes their mind, right? Mind should change more information. We should evolve mature, right? It always concerns me when someone never changes their mind. Never says, I'm sorry. Oops. What that tells me is you haven't researched it at all or you haven't engaged in conversation on it, you know, because I've changed my mind about a million things. And if I had any advice, I was telling my youngest daughter this the other day, and I love this child so much. But, you know, when she's not the child I want to be with when I have

my heart attack, you know, it's my oldest one who's very common there. But I told her, I said, you want to know what? I said, baby girl, the biggest thing that I've learned in like, the most helpful thing that I've learned in like is this. And like I said, I'm visual. I go, let it go. Let it go. And I literally, I mean, I know you guys are listening to me, but I'm opening my hand.

And I go, let it go. I used to be the guy when I was 20 and somebody cut me off in traffic. I'd be on his bumper and I'd be changing lanes, you know, yelling at him and screaming and now it happens and I go let it go let it go why do you think we don't you think we're control we think we can control everything you think that's what it is yes yeah and and in something like covid shows you you don't have control over anything you don't have control over where you get this little invisible virus that may or may not kill you you don't have any control over what's going on in ukraine right now you don't have any control over what's going on

sadly, in the houses of Congress right now. And you have very little control over things. But that doesn't mean it's hopeless. It's the one who spoke the universe into existence has control. And if you will rightly take your place in this and go, hey, I don't have control, but I trust you and you do. So, and you've given me these gifts. So let me quit wasting time being pissed off at dad or let me quit wasting time yelling at the guy in traffic.

and let me use these gifts and these things. You know, everything, if you look around, I'm looking at your office here behind you. You got a poster on the wall. It was created for a purpose to promote this book. Chair I'm sitting in was created for a purpose, so somebody didn't have to stand up. So if you do believe in a creator and these things,

these simple things were created with a purpose, then what about you and me? And it's not my purpose. God, what a waste of time. What a waste of my lap if I'm going to be yelling at somebody in traffic or sitting home and wrenching my hands over what's going on in, you know, what's going on in places I don't have any control over. Let me deal with what I have control over. I have control over being a good dad. I have control over being a good husband. I have control over being a good steward of this gift that I've been given. I don't have any control over what somebody thinks. thinks about me. So I'm letting it go. You know, and I love it, but I'm letting it go. The other thing you've done, though, you know, speaking of control, you had longevity. And everybody wants this in their career. Like, even if you're a business person, I've known so many people who used to be wealthy that no longer are because they had it going for three or four or five years, right? Or eight years or whatever it might be in their careers. You know this

in your industry. Someone to last as long as you've lasted is there's a handful. out of millions and millions of people there's a handful that last decades and i think one of the things that you've done that i'd like you to address is i've tried in my life by the way making mistakes every day made tons of them many of them i'm very embarrassed by but i try to protect my dream i try to protect the momentum and that means and i heard you say this like i know me a little bit and so i got to not put myself in situations that my dumb butt would make a stupid decision on right or a bad thought or about a thing. And you were talking about, you know, don't make the big mistakes in life. And I think you're referencing like the blue collar tour, just when you've

toured in general, sort of decisions you make, because you kind of know you a little bit, right? And so, and this is no humans is sort of the, I guess the bigger picture case. But I'd let you talk about that a little bit. Well, I mean, it's the cloth that I'm cut from too. You know, my dad was married six times. I had a thousand girlfriends. So for me, Like, alcohol never did it for me. You know, it just never was, you know, it just didn't do it. Drugs didn't do it. But I like a pretty girl.

Always have liked a pretty girl. My younger brother likes a pretty girl. But it was, as we talked about at the beginning of this thing, it was important to me, A, to honor my wife, but two, did not break this trust with my kids. And so when we would be on the road and the other guys would say after the show, hey, come on, let's go to the bar and have a few drinks. I don't think, I don't think there's anything wrong with having a few drinks. But this is what I knew about myself.

If I got in there and had one and we're having fun and then we have two and then we have three and then somebody sits down next to me with a lot of cleavage showing and they smell good. Now I've put myself in a situation where I'm vulnerable to mess up the most precious things in my life. I put myself where I'm vulnerable to break that trust with my kids and to break that trust with my wife and so what I would say was you know what I'm going back to the room I'm going to order room service and I'm going to call home not because I'm a prude not because I'm a do goody

it's because I knew where the fly paper was and that was the place that I could I could screw up everything I had worked for I could break that trust that I wanted to have my with my kids forever in in a single moment of weakness so I'm like I'm going I'm walking the other way I think that's one of the biggest lessons you'll ever hear on my show is kind of know yourself. I just think it's, I've watched most things not prevail, not because someone wasn't good at something, but because they've made a decision or a choice at some point. It might even be to spend all the money they make prematurely. It could be just that your proclivity to spend money.

But it's these things that you kind of know intuitively about yourself that you need to avoid, that you don't protect yourself from you often enough. And that's one of the keys to someone like you in your life. The whole thing in the special is about the good old days. What made you do that on that topic? I was just curious because it's hilarious, right? The stuff about the one at the end about you, I don't know. I want to give this away.

Well, because my father-in-law, that's just his mantra. He's walking around with his pants up to his nipples, griping about, you know, how the world's gone to hell and it was better in the good old days. And so COVID gave me a chance to just really do a deep dive and go, was it really? all right. So let's go back to, you know, for me, my childhood, and I'm going to look at the way education was there and the way education is now and the way communication was there. And just every aspect, and literally it had a big chart. And I'm just writing on one side, going back and writing on the other. And like everything in life, there were things back then that were better than they are now. You know, we were probably more centered as families and communities because we weren't as spread out then. But then there's things now like communication and all that obviously are better now. But it was fun because it was multi-generational material. As I'm playing with it, you know, you can see, oh, the older folks are laughing at this, but then let's hit it back.

And now the younger people are laughing at this. And then so it involves, you know, people from 20 to 70. It was, it was fun that way. And just kind of looking at life from, you know, from this end of the court. Have you felt pressure? to be relevant this long. I asked Sebastian Manascalko has become a pretty good friend of mine. He was on the show. And, you know, Sebastian right now may be the number one stand up on the planet, right? Absolutely.

He's still in all these arenas everywhere he goes. And I said, brother, do you feel pressure for this not to end? You know, for it not to end? He goes, yeah, I do. And I wakes up and it kind of drives me. It's a pretty healthy thing. But I'd be lying if I said, I wasn't afraid it was going to end. And then people have asked me, have you always been, you know, whatever success I've had,

is it all chasing the positive all the time? The truth is, that's the compelling thing. But I've also sort of, I don't, I don't want to be broke. You know, I don't want to not have a platform where I can serve people and make a difference. So I guess for me, there is a motivator there. How about for you? I'm just curious, what moves you? Is that ever occurred to you all this time? I mean, the notoriety must have been something was just shocking to you. And then did you want to keep it and harness it? Or did you not care? You just let go, as you said earlier.

The notoriety has always kind of embarrassed me. I mean, I say that I don't know, I mean, this derogatory, but I've always told people, I'm two decisions from drywalling, you know. I mean, I know how to drywall and I'm two decisions from doing that for a living. So my goal, when I started this, I wanted to make $100,000 a year. I mean, I thought that was the king's ransom, you know, and now I've made twice that in a night, you know, just unfathomable. But, but I find, I mean, I'm very thankful for things like my farm because lands one of those things you can't really own. You're, again, just a steward of it.

But I don't want stuff. I'm a guy. I'm a blue gene and t-shirt guy. Yeah. I'm not motivated by stuff, but I do want to take care of the people that I love. And I want to take care of the people within my community that don't have the ability to do that for themselves. And so, and I've been blessed by having a job that I still love. I love what I do.

I like people. You know, people come in and go, I know you hate this. I go, no, I don't. I like people. Never in my mind when I quit. When I quit my job, my goal was to be a comedian for, two years because I thought I'll have a great story when I'm a granddad one day and go, you know, there was a time I was a comedian for a couple of years. Never in my wildest dreams

did, I think 38 years later. Not only would I still be doing it, I'm still doing Netflix specials. Amazing. If you're a Canadian HR or organizational leader bogged down with toxic workplace complaints, take a beat and work it out with Fermata workplace solutions. Serious complaints require timely affordable resolution. With services in workplace investigation, mediation, and assessments, the path to resolution is clear with Fermata workplace solutions.

Schedule a free consultation at firmaida.org. That's F-E-R-M-A-T-A dot work. Take a beat, work it out. How long did it take you to be financially successful? So that night happens, you're on stage, you win that contest. From that date, how many shows do you think you did before you went,

I hit my goal of that $100,000, let's say. Well, I can tell you. So when I quit IBM, I was, this is 1984, I was making $32,000 a year. My first year in comedy, I did, and I know this because I've got the little notebook, the pocket calendar thing. My first year in comedy, I did 406 shows and I made $8,300 for the year. So I made a quarter of what I was making at my other job. But I knew that this was the thing I was gifted in.

I knew if I put in the work, I had a chance here. And it was making my heart sing. So I didn't even think about the money. My wife, God bless her. She was acting. She quit acting and took a job for a milk company. So we weren't starving to death because she believed in me. She was the one that told me to quit IBM.

She goes, you've got all this creative stuff inside of you. And if you sit in a cubicle, the rest of your life, life you're going to explode do it hold your nose and jump and i tell all my my friends i'm like your life needs a few hold your nose and jump moments even though i wasn't making money i'm like this is what i was made to do i and you're not i'm going to work hard at it i'm not going to you know be chasing waitresses and all this is what i want to do and and and when i look back that is the common denominator for everybody when i was starting whether it was jerry or Jay Leno or Judd Apatow or Chris Rock or whoever, they all worked at it.

They worked, you know, it doesn't just, and I'm sure it's that way in, in every business and every creative business. It was the people that put in the work that, and not all of them like Judd ended up being stand-up comics. Yeah, right. Is it all it's cracked up to be? It is. No better feeling in the world when, you know, it was funny early on, because my wife used

to love acting and and I would say let me write you five minutes so you can you can know what it's like for me and she goes no she goes you know if I'm in a bad play there's somebody else to blame it on I can blame it on the director or the writer or and she said when you're when you're going down the toilet doing stand-up it's just you and I said yeah but when it's going good there's no better feeling in the world I wish everybody could see your face as you just said that some of these folks will watch it on YouTube, but most are audio. And your face changed even when you just said, like you just lit up. Somebody told me early on, they said, you know when it's going good is when you stop to take a sip of water and there ain't one sound in the room. They're just waiting to

it's silenced, waiting on whatever you have to say next. Is that part of being funny, by the way? So I speak on stages and I tell, you know, blessed to be on some pretty big ones. And oh, people ask how do you refine your speak? I said, I watch standups because I think that's the hardest form. of communication the world is to walk out to a group of strangers and say something funny. Oh, that's a little bit of preachers. I'll watch preachers, some of the good ones, and I'll watch stand-ups. Those are the two that I've sort of modeled myself after. But I think in communication, the funny sometimes, the emphasis is in the pause, is in the silence. And this is true for sales. I think this is a lesson for everybody. It's true for sales, stand-up, public speaking, all kinds of

communication. Most people are afraid of silence, and you just hit on this. They're afraid of silence, because that's the awkward time, even in a dinner with somebody. You know, when you're with your really good friend, you can ride in a car for three hours and not say a word. Yeah, and you kind of know, right? Well, not my wife, but I do it all the time, yeah. Hey, that is, everyone, just so you know, for me, that is the funniest part of this special is the part where he talks about it.

You just got to go see this. I'm not, I'm going to make everybody go see it. It is, I had tears pouring down my face. and my wife is staring at me with like daggers the whole time because it was the funniest damn thing I've heard in years is that part of the special. I'm telling you everybody, it's worth even just that part is hilarious. Were you reading that off a cue card? Did you remember all that? No, Ed, I have a, I, I see it in my head. I learned a long time ago if you write things with long-handed, not computer long-handed, you have an 80% better chance of memorizing it.

many years ago I did a thing on one of the CDs or whatever where I was talking about them advertising prescription drugs. And I said, and 90% of the time, the side effects are 10 times worse than whatever the drug's supposed to cure. It'd be like, try new flora floor for itchyy watery eyes. It's flora floor. Side effects may include nausea, vomiting, water weight, gain, lower back pain, receding airline, exibus at Berea'sorias, instant chafing clothing. And I go and I rattle off 80 things in a row, the side effects from this thing. But in my mind, people go, how do you remember that? I said, I'm not remembering it. I see the paper. And so I'm just reading it. I'm just reading it off the paper. So it's not even like a big memory thing. I just see it. That's amazing to me. I'm telling you

that it's so damn funny. If you're married, actually, if you just have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, it is so dangful actually even if you have a mom it would be good for some of you with you your mom i actually thought about my mom too when you were doing that oh my goodness but but what about the pause like did you have to become comfortable with silence you know what i mean right that is yeah yeah i used to my i used to just want to just not give them a chance to breathe and just beat this knot out of them and then i realize the silence is even more powerful because if you stop and nobody's getting up to go to the bathroom, nobody's shuffling, you don't hear drinks it,

then what the silence does is it puts the ball in their court. And it goes, what are you going to do with this? You're going to give it back to me or are you going to try to do something with it? And so when you really got them, they go, I don't want it. You take it. You get the ball. So good. I got a few more things for you. By the way, I am thoroughly enjoying this. I am too.

Yeah, well, thank you. I admire you. One of the things you talk about that I heard you talk about is don't make the big mistakes. What are some of those? Help us avoid them or what you see as some of the big mistakes. What does that mean? Well, you know, most of the time when we go off the road and blow our lives up, we don't take a 90 degree turn off the road. We don't just turn. It's like that slow. drift, you know, and so the big mistakes are having the affair that blows your family up. Well, you don't just walk in one day and see somebody and go, hey, you want to, you want to screw it. It's, it's you start hanging out with them. Then you start, you know, making sexual references with them. And then you joke and then you start being left alone with them. And so it's that slow. It's not that 90 degree turn. You're just kind of breaking a little bit. You're just kind of breaking little bitty trust along the way, you know. And I, man, we're all good. We're all fallible. I mean, I'm, I have such the potential to do that that I got to, I got to put up a little

guardrail for myself to go, no, can't do that. Can't be along with them. Can't. Um, because it's the big mistake. I used to tell my kids that. Don't make the big mistakes. Don't, don't get in a car with somebody that's drunk driving because you, you, you, you can die from this or you can be crippled from this or you know those are the the life changers you know don't get pregnant when you're in in the 10th grade because i want you to have a full life not that having a baby's not a wonderful thing but there's a season for that and this ain't it um do you think this group so there's two groups with you though so you got the group that you lead before COVID with the the homeless folks and that's just beautiful work you've done and that grew

to from like a few to like a hundred people I think right so started with 12 yeah well not interesting that it started with 12 yeah ironically yeah what an interesting number but it grew but I think the other thing for me has been who I'm around is my friendship circle and this power of association people don't take it seriously enough if you really look at the lives of the five people you're around the most I mean really look at their not just their material success but you know they're they're their happiness, their peace, right, their contribution, like really evaluate them. Their emotional maturity is another thing. Like, people always want to be around people that accept them.

These people accept me as I am. I don't want people. I want to have a few friends. I'm like, hey, let's pick up before they come over. I want to have a few friends where like, we laugh our tails off, but I'm kind of accountable to them too, right? Like, that to me has been huge. And I have to think for you to have this kind of longevity and not make the big mistakes.

There's this other group that I think you meet with on Thursdays. or used to that, like, has been in your life forever. So discuss this because it may not be a Bible study for everybody. Some people might not want to read the Bible. Some people may not be people of faith, but having a group, right? So talk about that a little bit. Yeah, it's having a group of guys, you know, and I don't mean the sexist at all. But for me, it was having a group of guys that you could be accountable to, that you could,

that some guy could look at you and go, hey, dudes, I'm struggling at home right now. man, I'm, you know, I've been flirting with this girl at work where somebody else can speak some wisdom and do you and go, dude, be careful because you're going to mess this whole thing up. You're not going to have your kids. And so, yeah, there was a group. We met for breakfast, Thursday mornings in a barbecue, back of a barbecue restaurant for 18 years. And so what we did was we did life together, you know, when somebody was having kids, then you're sitting there like praying that night, man, please, please let this kid be safe.

let the mom be safe when somebody's mom died you're there with them if for no other reason just I'm here you know why you bury your mom but we were doing life together going through work struggles together and I think it's real important in your life we weren't created to live in isolation that's what that's been the really weird thing with COVID is is this isolation. I saw a study where they were they were studying people that lived in isolation but had totally healthy habits. I mean, like ate vegan, exercised every day and all. The people that lived in community, like had that group of friends. It didn't matter if they smoked, drank, whatever. They lived longer and happier lives than the people that lived in isolation, no matter what their

health habits were. You need people around you. I always said Elvis needed somebody around him to go, drop the cape and the hat. Stop. Stop. You're acting like an idiot. Stop. Michael Jackson needed somebody to go, dude don't be taking this stuff to go to sleep stop yes and you need people speaking truth into your life and and the people that are telling you what you want to hear that's not your friends your friends are telling or the people that are telling you things that you don't necessarily want to hear you know to go hey buddy i love you but you need to be careful here or you need to watch this and so you need people that care that love you enough to speak truth to you yeah yeah Yeah, so good, Jeff.

All right, last question. It's actually, I hope you remember this story or this analogy. So I've been around faith all my life and, well, not all my life. That's not right. But I've been around faith most of my adult life. And very rarely does somebody say something at Irwin McManus, who's a pastor on my show, he was a pastor, he came on my show. And he said something I had never heard before that stuck with me,

which is that all other faiths about or basically about what you need to do to get to God. And he said, what I love about my Christian faith is that my faith is all about what Jesus did to get to me. And it just has always stuck with me. It's that stayed on my heart. There's a second time. And it happened yesterday and it came from you. So there's pressure on you to remember this. But you talked about, we've all sinned in our lives, guys. We've all made mistakes. And we carry this stuff with us because we do want to be better people. We should try to aspire to be better. We should try to do good in our lives. That's the whole, we were put here to do something great with our lives, but we fail often. And it was the defense attorney analogy. Do you remember that?

Please tell me that you remember it because it's, I do. I do remember that. And it's not going to leave me, Jeff. So would you just share that with everybody in the last couple minutes here, that whole concept and thought? And so here's the other thing. So for me, there's a lot of things that having an organized religion that I'm not a fan of at all. But I'm, but I'm, but I'm really big on faith. And it's this one, the amazing thing about it to me is it's not based on how good we are. Because you say we all make mistakes. I, I, hell, I'm going to make them today. I'm going to make them tomorrow. And no matter how bad in my heart, I don't want to do it, I'm going to make them. So it's not based on how good I am. It's how good he is. And so what, what, and that's what happened at the

cross was, was he goes, hey, I love you enough that there's got to be justice for all this bad stuff that you've done, but I'm going to pay the price for it. And so being the visual guy, it's like sitting in a court and they're going through your life and going, all right, and what about the, you know, the time you drove drunk and, you know, had sex with your buddy's sister in the back of your car. And, and it's, I just depicted the defense attorney's just being Jesus and he stands up, holds up that hand with a hole in it. He goes, I've already paid for that. And what about the time you do this?

Already paid for that. You know, and that's, what is, what about that is not attractive to somebody? To be loved? Because that's, that's what we all want. And as a comic, you're always looking, what do we have in common? We all want to be loved. We all want to be heard. But we all want to be significant.

You know, we want to mean something. we all search for significance and to me then the story of jesus is he goes not only do you mean something to me you mean everything to me you you meant i let them do this and i could have just held up my hand and band of angels was i let them do i let them beat me and i let them nail me to a cross because i love you this much so you don't mean something you mean everything to me and and and this is not I'm not a preachy guy. And if you don't have faith, you and I can still be friends and we can still hang out and we still laugh. You know, this is just for me.

This is, this is my lane. And it works. And I, and I, and I, and I don't want to sit in judgment of anybody's faith or lack of it. That's not my job. This, I'm just telling you my story. Yeah. I love your story. And I'm, I can feel it right now.

My audience wish we were going another hour, but you got a busy day. and I enjoyed this 10 out of 10 tremendously brother I think you're well and I love your heart for other people to want to mentor to you know to it's it's like holding helping somebody else hold their heavy rock you know to go here man give me that side of it I'll help you hold it for a minute and that's I think that's awesome that you just got a heart to mentor people that way thank you brother and I love your heart as well so everybody listen to me I know you enjoyed today's show. Number one thing I'm going to ask you to do is share the heck out of it, because this is going to change people's lives. The second thing I'm going to ask you to do is go watch

the good old days on Netflix and get to Jeff Foxworthy.com or as Instagram or wherever to get all the stuff that he's doing all the time. But you've got to go watch the good old days on Netflix. No matter who you're with, you're all going to love it. You're all going to laugh. It's one of the rare pieces of art that I think everybody can agree is just dadgum funny stuff. So. Thank you, man. Yeah, because I got to do grandson. I got to buy him some more toys. So yeah, go watch this thing.

I think a lot of people would like to be that grandson right about now. But brother, thank you. You're absolutely wonderful, man, and I'm very grateful for our time today. Well, I thank you for having me.

I appreciate this forum so much. It's kind of fun to step out and kind of, you know, tell part of your story that you don't get to tell very often. So thanks. I'm grateful you did it. And now everybody, you know this,

the power of one more. Go get my book. Go pre-order it, order it, depending on when you're listening this thing. It'll change your life as well. All right, everybody, God bless you. Max out your life. So wasn't that awesome? I have to tell you, that was one of the interviews, and I don't always do this, where I listened back to it all the way through.

And then I did it again. And I've been telling people for years that it was one of the top interviews we've ever done. So I'm so grateful I got to have you guys see this and hear it again. Cool news is we're doing it a second time. And I have a feeling this one's even to be better than that one. So stay tuned, everybody. God bless you. Max out. Thank you.