Larry The Cable Guy is no joke; besides voicing Mater, the down-home tow truck whose antics gave Pixar two major hits and their first critical pounding (Cars 2), Daniel Lawrence Whitney has built a very profitable career around his character, equal parts good-hearted buffoon and flannel-toting, cut-off-wearing Southern slob. This writer was still left scratching his head over Only in America With Larry the Cable Guy, a History Channel reality show starring Mr. Whitney in character as he explores the various hobbies, careers and illegal activities that undoubtedly define and promote American stereotypes. What I wasn’t expecting is that the show, while overlong and sometimes dull, moves at a fast pace and that Larry makes for a decent host.
One thing to appreciate from the get-go is that Only In America has no pretensions about delivering dry facts with an air of importance; then again, I haven’t watched the History Channel in a good decade so frankly, I have no idea what’s going on the airwaves. If this show is anything to go by, it’s light and fast but hardly educational. With Larry The Cable Guy at the helm, what did you expect? The basic breakdown per episode goes something like this: Larry travels to a place renowned for a unique practice, say, making moonshine, where he meets with several people (some are characters in their own right) who will guide him through the episode. The time is devoted to interplay between Larry and his guides, with Whitney settling on easy targets and childish jokes. The reason it works is the same reason Larry remains a popular character: he’s not mean but earnest and lazy, and his behavior shapes the approach of the series.
At approximately 40 minutes per episode, it’s a stretch, but each episode squeezes in two or three segments that tackle historical landmarks, uniquely American fascinations like riding sweet hogs, and head-scratchers like racing jumping frogs. Larry’s role is largely to ask rarely insightful but sometimes funny questions and occasionally interject as the guides explain their trade. If the titles of the 10 episodes included on the two-DVD set don’t clue you in, probably nothing will: “Larry Makes Moonshine,” “Larry Goes To The Swamp,” “Larry Shoots Guns,” “Larry Gets The Horns,” “Larry Breeds Mules,” “Larry Races Dogs,” “Larry Gits A Gator,” “Larry Goes Trucking,” “Larry Is An Astronaut,” and “Larry Rides With The Hells Angels.” I bet you thought the Ernest movies had bad titles.
There’s no stand-out episode in this pack, but it is an entertaining way to kill time. The production values are solid and it fits the bill of a network reality show. Our host is sporadically entertaining but Larry’s more-is-more approach to cracking wise and mouthing off does let the viewer warm up to him and forgive the fact that there is very little actual history being learned about. You certainly see the history on the screen, but without a narrator to hold your hand, it’s difficult to grasp the importance of it beyond surface level. For example, Larry mentions that Mark Twain wrote on the jumping frog contests and we see a contest take place, but I couldn’t help but wish that we dove in a little deeper; these contests are innocuous now, but at the time, there must have been something special to them that attracted a great mind like Twain’s – you can read his story here. Maybe it's not fair to expect so much, but considering you’re investing time and watching a show that attempts to elevate “country” history (thanks DVD back cover), Only In America doesn’t so much disappoint as slack off consistently – fair enough for a show featuring a Southern gent with an affected accent.
DVD Bonus Features
Nothing, which is reasonable, but even a few minutes of bloopers would have been a nice touch as Larry occasionally riffs unexpectedly and those moments are among the best on the show.
"Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy: Volume 1" is on sale August 30, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy, Documentary, Education, Television. Written and directed by Various. Starring Daniel Lawrence Whitney.
