Jeff Foxworthy “The Good Ol’ Days” Review
Jeff Foxworthy released his first stand-up comedy special in 24 years to Netflix this week. The set both intentionally and unintentionally shows his age.
Foxworthy has been a constant entertainer since his last comedy routine, as he still seemed right at home on the stage.
Foxworthy rose to fame in the industry using his redneck background to spark interest in his work. In this special, he avoids using the jokes that led him to fame.
However, Foxworthy presents an act centered around reminiscing on his childhood and the past that comes off more like listening to your grandfather complain than it does a comedy routine.
The jokes aren’t entirely bad, but there were only a couple of jokes throughout the special that caused an audible laugh.
The special is called “The Good Ol’ Days” which means this theme is intended, but hearing that line repeated every two minutes in the special becomes excruciating.
A majority of the jokes are basic “before we had the Internet we had to….” Moments that may only be funny if you’re one of the people who lived through that period.
Foxworthy makes every joke about “olden” times. Although “jokes” may not be the right word. He seemingly just described what life used to be like, getting laughs from his older fans in the audience.
He tells about how before the Internet he used encyclopedias, used maps instead of GPS and how his mother still uses a flip phone. The whole special felt more like a TED Talk than a stand-up special.
Foxworthy doesn’t only lean into his old age for his jokes, it gets a bit worse when he shows his immaturity. In between his lines about being grown up, he throws in multiple childish jokes about farting, body parts, and bodily function that range from cringeworthy to outright gross.
The few times the act shined was when it went away from its structured premise. Following the recent trend of comics-making unfunny pandemic jokes, Foxworthy did a long bit about his wife. The bit was a 10-minute laugh-filled one as he imitates his wife and leans into some stereotypes of women in her age bracket.
The best moment of the whole special came right at the end when Foxworthy closed by telling a story from his tour with Larry the Cable Guy. The story took place across multiple days and ended with a punchline that believably could have come out of the mouth of Larry himself.
It was noticeable throughout this one-hour show that Foxworthy wanted to avoid any remotely offensive topics as much as he could have. He sticks to his theme and doesn’t poke fun at any person outside of his family. The idea is commendable, but it leaves the special with many more laughs to be desired.
Overall, “The Good Ol’ Days” was a dull stand-up special by Jeff Foxworthy that didn’t bring out many laughs throughout its run.
Rating 2/5 stars
Evan Smith is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ers5828@psu.edu
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Evan Smith
First-Year / Broadcast Journalism
