The More Serious Things Get, the More Valuable Comics Get

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"I think people are way too into what comedians do," says [Dan Whitney], who spoke by phone with nary a whiff of the thick accent he puts on for his routine. "If people like you, you're a nice person and you're funny and you resonate well with them, they're going to support what you do."

He's no fluke. Comedy albums are doing well overall. Four others are among the top 75 on Billboard's country albums chart: Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road, Roy D. Mercer's Black & Blue, Ron White's You Can't Fix Stupid and the late Jerry Clower's Classic Clower Power.

Wade Jessen, director of Billboard's country charts, also thinks there's truth to the old adage about humour being the best medicine. The working-class -- country music's traditional base -- "certainly hasn't shared in this economic prosperity that the (government) would like everybody to think is happening," he said.

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The More Serious Things Get, the More Valuable Comics Get

By John Gerome

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An awful lot of people think he's the funniest thing this side of the Mason-Dixon line.

But offstage, self-professed redneck Larry the Cable Guy is not really Southern and -- on thi...

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