TV Cover
Jeff Foxworthy gains young following with 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'
Are you happy to be a game show host?
You are if you’re Jeff Foxworthy. The comedian didn’t foresee himself in that role, then came the offer for “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”— the popular Fox contest that resumes new episodes at 8 p. m. Friday. Adult players answer questions based on elementary- school textbooks en route to a potential $1 million payday . . . with five children on hand to assist.
“I gave up trying to understand television a long time ago,” the amiable Foxworthy says. “I’ve been on some shows that made people say, ‘Why is that still on?’ but I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something that people seem to like so much. Whenever I’m at the grocery store, at least six people come up to me about it.”
Foxworthy admits that when the show’s executive producer—“ Survivor” mentor Mark Burnett—first approached him, “I wasn’t really looking to go back and forth to Los Angeles [from home in Georgia] again, but I told him, ‘Mark, whether I do it or not, this is a great idea in its simplicity, just having adults take an elementary- school test.’ ”
Once he accepted the offer, Foxworthy learned the effect quickly. “I went from being the guy everyone saw at the gas pump and went, ‘Hey! You might be a redneck!’ to people coming up everywhere I go and saying, ‘I’m not smarter than a fifth-grader.’ And I tell them, ‘If they didn’t give me the answers, this would be the shortest show on television.’ I don’t pretend to be [‘Jeopardy!’ host] Alex Trebek.”
Still, “5th Grader” has brought Foxworthy a new following beyond the fan base he already had from his country-flavored humor.
“Little kids aren’t necessarily aware of who comedians are because they don’t get stand-up comedy,” he says. “Almost overnight, though, I could even see it at my own kids’ school. All of a sudden, second-graders were pointing at me and going, ‘That’s the guy! That’s the guy!’ ”
Such familiarity inspired Foxworthy to pursue something extra. “I’d written maybe 28 books, but I had always talked about wanting to do a kids book,” he recalls. “I thought I could, because I’d always thought up silly poems and stupid little songs for my girls. After ‘5th Grader’ started, my daughters said, ‘Dad, you ought to do that book now, because every kid knows who you are.’ ”
The result was last year’s best-seller “Dirt on My Shirt,” which Foxworthy terms “the hardest thing I had ever written, but I really enjoyed doing it, because it was something totally different for me creatively. Your vocabulary’s constricted, but it still has to make sense and still has to be funny.”
When “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” is off the air, Foxworthy hears about it from fans, but he won’t have to worry about that for a while. In addition to the show’s prime-time return, a syndicated weekday edition debuts in September. It will run 30 minutes instead of the full hour, but Foxworthy doubts faster pacing will harm the game.
“I’m sure we’ll be feeling our way,” he says. “[Contestants] won’t have the same deliberation time, but I think I can still pick on them. That’s kind of the fun of the show. Even if they’re getting it right, they’re still answering first-grade questions. I try never to be mean, and I actually find myself rooting for them. I want everybody to make money.”
On the cover: Jeff Foxworthy with the “class” (from left), Jenna, Jonathan, Francesca, Olivia and Bryce.
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