16
gear and took off, leaving me in the middle of Shit Creek” (29). As the
frightened Foxworthy runs after the car with a vigor that “would have set
a new school speed record,” he recalls “Everything that could possibly
happen to me flashed into my head as I raced through the dark. [...] I
feared that by the time the Goat People and Waterheads got through with
me, there would be nothing left to take home” (29). Luckily, he finds that
his friends are waiting for him at the end of the road. “You bastards!” he
yells. “Leave me in Shit Creek! The Goat Man was right behind me\ He
was this close to catching me!” (30).
Beyond the concern for his personal safety, Foxworthy deftly
illustrates the deeper fear of lapsing into and being caught by that
monstrous Other, the white trash abomination, the other self, trailing at
one’s heels, always threatening to subsume one’s identity into its own.
To find many more such monsters, we need only move into Foxworthy’s
redneck one-liners themselves, where we see a marked divergence from
the redneck as good honest folk and the slip into the old stereotypical
depictions identified by Duane Carr and others.
In his debut comedy album titled. You might be a redneck if...
the joke series first appears over halfway into the routine. Foxworthy
fires a quick volley of twelve jokes, all beginning with the subordinating
conjunction “I f ’ and followed by a description of some characterizing
behavior, then the warning “you might be a Redneck.”
The first 12 jokes are as follows:
• If you’ve been on television more than five times
describing what the tornado sounded like . .. you might
be a Redneck.
• If you’ve ever cut your grass and found a car . . . you
might be a Redneck.
• If your dad walks you to school . . . because you’re in
the same grade . . . you might be a Redneck.
• If you’ve ever been too drunk to fish .. . you might be a
Redneck. If someone asks to see your ID and show ‘em
your belt buckle . . . you might be a Redneck.
• If you’ve ever had to haul a can of paint to a water tower
to defend your sister’s honor . . . you might be a
Redneck.
• If your dog and your wallet are both on a chain . . . you
might be a Redneck.
• If every day someone comes to your door thinking
you’re having a yard sale . . . you might be a Redneck.
• If you’ve ever financed a tattoo . . . you might be a