I spent two hour in gridlock traffic to escape Los Angeles for one of its weirder suburban offspring : the city of Brea . There , at the Improv , I unite with three touring comic who are trying to give the South a better name – as somewhere intelligent , reformist , and advanced .
Then , five minute in , they contribute me a shake that contained a Schedule I banned drug .
This was my launching to the comedic minds behind a new political identity element that you ’ve probably see scroll down your Facebook timeline : the Liberal Redneck . Trae Crowderis the face of the videos , take a shit small , ego - barb declarations that tackle miscarriage right and gun laws but mix down - home southerly drawl with a left - be given yet folksy perspective . Along with co - writersCorey Ryan ForresterandDrew Morgan , they are currently criss - pass over the commonwealth as The WellRED Comedy Tour . It ’s for telling jokes , and also to back their raw book , The Liberal Redneck Manifesto : Draggin ’ Dixie Outta the Dark .
Jason Grindle
I caught up with the comedians in the green room before the show . They ’d been on the route since the summer , promoting their material , a new Bible , and an inevitable comedy special . They had tales . But first , I needed to stress the opiate - similar herbaceous plant kratom .
They explain the drink ( a messy stirred concoction ) is actually a Southeastern teatime that people have been drinking for one C to relax . “ pitiable snowy people have been using it forever and a day , ” Corey explain , “ but then plenteous bloodless people found out about it . Now , at the goal of the calendar month , it is place to become a agenda I illegal substance , in the same category as heroin . ”
“ We usually just purchase it at the gas station , ” Trae explains .
Trae Crowder/Youtube
I take a big swig . It tastes like bad teatime . “ Wow , that ’s very … satisfactory , ” I muster .
“ Yeah , ” he reply . “ That ’s about the best you could say . ”
They’re trying to shake up America’s notion of the South
keep on track of who says what in the group becomes a fool ’s errand . The three comedians are in such sync that it ’s cleared their decade - recollective friendship goes deep than a bare penning partnership . Most sentences ( and jokes ) are a three - gentleman job , and after a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. when they ’ve been recounting their lives for multiple podcasts , they even start occupy in my question . I ask , “ Is this all a routine ? ”
“ This is exactly who we are , ” Drew answers . “ We ’ve been talking about … woolgather about doing this together for 10 eld now on back porches . Now we ’re doing it . ”
“ And we ’re just now getting tired of drinking with each other , ” Corey says . “ That ’s where the business sector of being professional comedians begins . ”
The three men of the WellRED Comedy Tour may write and execute a Liberal Redneck eccentric , but it also comes from their view and performance evolve over years of touring , baseball club , open mics , and verbalize out . In southerly clowning , you’re able to either throw the accent mark and pretend you ’re from anywhere , or you’re able to lean into the Jeff Foxworthy theoretical account intemperately . People are stunned when these comic do neither , which results in salty public debate coming through a twang that audiences approximate as trustworthy and down - to - globe yet less , perhaps , informed .
“ Does it often feel like you ’re at betting odds with thing like Larry the Cable Guy and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour ? ” I take . “ Does it experience like what you ’re trying to do here is , in a bigger sense , to pay off America ’s impression of the South ? ”
All three men reply at once , and ordination is not restored to the elbow room until we all have a whiskey in hand .
Their solvent work up around a musical theme . These guys do n’t palpate diametrically opposed to Blue Collar Comedy ’s massively successful ( if stereotype - reinforce ) speculation . Jeff Foxworthy , they suppose , is a outstanding author and performing artist who gets fault for more than his percentage – consanguine to Nirvana being blame for the death of grime . Larry the Cable Guy , on the other hand , is a millionaire from Oklahoma who sounds like hoi polloi they know and is civilize a character , which is difficult to esteem in the same way . They also acknowledge the Blue Collar Comedy snub off opportunity for other Southern performers , some of whom were already scheduled to film comedy specials . Because Hollywood already had “ enough of those types . ”
Now I intend I understand exactly what this tour is in reaction to .
How to survive an endless road trip with two other dudes
I wondered how three friends , even tight 1 , managed to stay on tour without ever up and killing one another .
“ We ’re in a red miniskirt - van right now , ” Corey inform me , “ because Drew reserved an SUV for the wrong calendar week . ”
In response , Drew tip directly into my recorder and shares some feedback on Corey ’s news and personality that are unsuitable for mark . This is going incisively as well as you might look . The whiskey has counteracted any potential calming effect from the contraband Asian tea .
Corey Ryan Forrester, Trae Crowder and Drew Morgan|Jason Grindle
turn out the team has been in the zephyr for the last few months , hire car for any longer layover . Along the way , they ’ve plague a longsighted lead of hotel rooms and drollery condos – room owned by larger clubs for the talent to stay in .
“ You ever see the comedy condo in Denver ? ” I ’m asked . I have . It is amazingly nice , but also fill with children ’s toy dog , which can get creepy in the correct hands .
“ We leave behind some artistic creation on the walls there , ” Drew informs me , “ but it was made from cheese . We write on it that the art was indeed made from cheeseflower alternatively of rouge , so if they have a smell , they ’ll sleep with where that come from . ”
Trae Crowder/Youtube
Tonight , the boys are finally staying at their first Airbnb . Throughout the audience , the boniface keeps texting to check that her Arabian tea is OK . I repeatedly inform them that this is unusual body process for an Airbnb and that quat - sitting probably falls beneath their duties as jet - setting clowning superstars on the ascent .
I ask how they detain alive on the route . “ We ’ve had to block up wassail , ” comes the reply , while we all cut the swallow order we placed . “ We ’d wassail and deplete in the morning and reach out for a nap and it was unsustainable , ” Trae says . “ There ’s an eternal serial of excuses . ‘ Oh , we ’re in this new metropolis ’ or ‘ Oh , this cat is around ’ or ‘ Oh , we do n’t have anything else to do . ’ And some of us were gaining weight . ”
Drew chime in : “ This is the first day on turn we went for a run . We ’ve been saying we were going to do it … since May . ”
There ’s a beat of eastern Tennessee gag .
That face when you think a guy just rolled a bomb onstage
The big doubtfulness for the Nox is what America looks like when you take your overtly political show on the route , in the yr of our election 2016 , and reserve mathematical group Q&As in a comedy club every night . It sounds potentially volatile .
“ People know what they ’re getting with us , ” Trae explain . “ When this Liberal Redneck character take off online , we were n’t indisputable what this would be . I did n’t know if anyone who wish a YouTube TV would then show up to see us perform live . Turns out they will . You do it who is n’t come to our shows ? The local district attorney who voted Republican his entire life sentence . But untried , energetic , mass looking to be challenge – they get it . ”
They detail the weirdest moment in the tour . In Johnson City , Tennessee , a dude in the audience was bring a kazoo after caper , which was already screwy , but during the Q&A he range a can of pork barrel and beans out onto the degree , and Corey literally mean it was a bomb . “ It was my reverence , ” he said , “ that we finally had one of Those People show up , and we ’d made them that upset . I roll up eat the beans on stage , so it all turn out funny . But still . Yikes . ”
“ During these Q&As , do people believe that you ’re actually liberal or do they think you ’re playing a part ? ” I ask .
“ They believe we ’re big , ” Drew says . “ Theydon’tbelieve we ’re in reality Southern . ”
You know you’re a liberal redneck when
This is n’t to say that these three comics are n’t unaware of the expert they ’re doing since finally starting to farm content after days of joke about it . Trae shut the conversation about what America looks like at this point by letting me know what he ’s see .
“ When you get embark on in comedy , ” Trae says , “ your only concern is being risible . multitude let you know if you were suspect or not . That ’s the end . With this tour , we have a band of people coming up to us with tear in their eyes because we ’ve made them feel good , comfortable , bang , or challenged . Especially parents of gay and trans kids , who are hearing this group of guy in the public center offering sexual love and support for their kids in part of the land where people are n’t loose to hearing it yet . So , yeah , we ’re having a fun rockstar meter on the road , but we ’re also making a conflict and it is … heavier than what you ’d require comedy to be . It ’s important to recognize when you ’re create a variety for the good , and to chase that . ”
After that , Blur ’s “ Song 2 ” bulge wreak and Corey want to go give the Nox . The room explodes in clapping , and a packed house just outside of Los Angeles resolve in to be fight to be better by a group of dear ol’ boy from outside Knoxville . That ’s your 2016 ‘ Mericuh .
Sign up herefor our daily Thrillist electronic mail , and get your fix of the best in food / drink / fun .
