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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Ron White walked first onto a stage as a stand-up comic on Sept. 17, 1986.</p><p>He knew immediately that was what he was created to do &#8212; what his &#8220;odd brain&#8221; could handle.</p><p>Known for his cigar smoking and tequila drinking style, White will be at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m. Jan. 28.</p><p>White used to drink scotch, but not anymore. Since his brother-in-law discovered a tequila called Number JUAN in Mexico, that&#8217;s all White drinks. He and his brother-in-law now own the tequila company.</p><p>White can&#8217;t wait to get back to Wilkes-Barre. He won&#8217;t remember much about our city until he sees it again, but he isn&#8217;t afraid of a little snow and cold weather.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s what I dream of,&#8221; said the tall Texan.</p><p>White called from Nashville while dealing with resolving a broken water pipe in his home in California.</p><p>Memory lapse aside, White said he will &#8220;walk out on stage, beat the crowd to death and then gut &#8216;em.&#8221; He added, &#8220;I know it sounds like an unusual approach to stand-up comedy.&#8221;</p><p>I asked White what he&#8217;s like off stage. He said he&#8217;s the same as on stage &#8212; he smokes cigars constantly and drinks tequila all the time. And he loves to golf.</p><p>&#8220;I believe in being true to who you are,&#8221; he said. &#8220;All successful comics are. I&#8217;m a little rowdy in life. I&#8217;ve had to apologize sometimes for things I&#8217;ve done, but I will not apologize for who I am.&#8221;</p><p>One of his more famous quotes is: &#8220;I had the right to remain silent&#8230;but I didn&#8217;t have the ability.&#8221;</p><p>White knows he sometimes offends people. He also knows he can&#8217;t always please everybody.</p><p>&#8216;My fans are pretty much like me,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We chose the party crowd over the church crowd. Don&#8217;t get me wrong, the church crowd can still still come to the show, but don&#8217;t expect a prayer meeting.&#8221;</p><p>White told me he has an &#8220;odd brain&#8221; that doesn&#8217;t allow him to always do what&#8217;s right. He never graduated high school and has been diagnosed with ADD &#8212; Attention Deficit Disorder.</p><p>&#8220;As a kid, I was put in the slow classes,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Although I&#8217;m not dumb at all; actually, I&#8217;m pretty smart. But my brain doesn&#8217;t process at the rate they teach in schools, so they put me on the short bus.&#8221;</p><p>White always knew his brain would allow him to do something. He knew he could &#8220;hold court&#8221; forever and he could make people laugh.</p><p>So when that first stage appearance presented itself at the Arlington Texas Funny Bone Comedy Club back in 1986, White knew in an instant he had found what it was his &#8220;odd brain&#8221; could do.</p><p>&#8220;And I haven&#8217;t looked back,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Stand-up comedy is a hard thing to do, but it comes real natural to me. I don&#8217;t look at it as work. It&#8217;s what I do.&#8221;</p><p>White will keep doing it, he says, as long as people remain interested in what he has to say.</p><p>He&#8217;s a Dallas Cowboys&#8217; fan.</p><p>&#8220;We took this year off to let Romo&#8217;s shoulder heal up,&#8221; he said.</p><p>And he loves NASCAR and, especially, the game of golf. He loves to watch it and he loves to play it.</p><p>I asked him if he was a good golfer.</p><p>&#8220;Yeah, I play well for a 59-year-old raging alcoholic,&#8221; White said, admitting he carries a 12 handicap.</p><p>A couple more gems from White:</p><p>&#8220;I believe that a bad Super Bowl halftime show is still better than a soccer game.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Diamonds &#8212; that&#8217;ll shut her up&#8230; for a minute.&#8221;</p><p>And then, &#8220;Other states are trying to abolish the death penalty&#8230;mine&#8217;s putting in an express lane.</p><p>White is always working. When he&#8217;s not playing a house like the F.M. Kirby Center, he&#8217;s trying new material in small comedy clubs in Los Angeles. He watches footage of himself on stage to hone his skills.</p><p>&#8220;If you want to continue to be one of the big boys, you have to stay on top of your game,&#8221; he said.</p><p>When he was a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy, the group sold more than 8 million record albums.</p><p>&#8220;It made me famous and wealthy,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It changed my life forever. I really don&#8217;t know where I&#8217;d be without it.&#8221;</p><p>However, White said when it was over with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, it was really over. He said none of them knew how successful it would be.</p><p>&#8220;But I guess you can say I was a little too rowdy for those guys,&#8221; White said.</p><p>His nickname &#8220;Tater Salad&#8221; &#8212; was earned while he was in the Navy when it became known he loves potato salad.</p><p>That&#8217;s not so rowdy, but here&#8217;s some advice if you go to the show &#8212; bring an open mind and a seat belt.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Oboyle_Bill-2-1-14.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_RONWHITE2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Ron White </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_RONWHITE2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Ron White </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Stand-up comedian Ron White bringing his rowdy style to the Kirby Center