Jeff Foxworthy had already established himself as a well known,
Grammy Award-winning comedian, best known for his jokes and stories about life as a
redneck. According to Foxworthy, he got inspired to make the tour when he read a review for the movie
The Original Kings of Comedy, and noting that the review considered the movie appealing to more of an "urban, hip" audience, which Foxworthy felt left out his usual demographic of rural audiences. Foxworthy had cast best friend Engvall in the
NBC version of
The Jeff Foxworthy Show, White was brought on as his comedy is based around personal experiences retold in his smoking, drinking Southern United States persona, as well as being a former opener for Foxworthy. According to White, when he was presented with the original tour concept, he admitted that he thought the idea "was retarded." Originally, Craig Hawksley was the fourth member of the tour, but after the original tour, was uncomfortable about performing in front of large audiences and chose to leave the tour. Foxworthy then asked Larry, who he had featured on his nationally syndicated, weekly, country radio show
The Foxworthy Countdown, to join. Each show initially featured White and Larry each doing 15-minute sets, followed by Engvall and Foxworthy each doing 30-minute sets, then the four comedians would gather together, sitting on stools on stage, doing varying comedy routines and jokes (such as Engvall's "Here's Your Sign" jokes and Foxworthy's "You Might Be A Redneck" routine) to close the show. Foxworthy, due to his high popularity at the time, was always the last performer. By 2004, with Larry's popularity growing, the order was shifted to Engvall, followed by White, followed by Foxworthy, then Larry, though now all of the comedians had more equal length sets. The tour that featured these four "good ole boys" proved to be such a hit that they recorded a live album in November 2001 and the first DVD called
Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie in the spring of 2003. The movie underperformed at the box office, but gained high ratings when aired on
Comedy Central. ==DVD==