You would think Larry the Cable Guy isn't the type of guy who, well, cries—let alone admits it.
But the comedian isn't always laughing...
The tears were flowing when he landed the role of the lovable Mater in Cars.
"I was so happy that I got it," the funnyman (real name Dan Whitney) told me the other day while promoting tomorrow's DVD and Blu-ray release of Cars 2. "As a standup comedian you work and you work and you live on the road and you wait for a big break. I got that letter saying, 'They're hiring you to do a character.' I was so happy, I just started crying."
Director John Lasseter hired him after seeing a DVD of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Lasseter said he knew who Jeff Foxworthy was, but admitted he wasn't familiar with Whitney. "John said to me, 'But then the first person that comes on was you! Within 30 seconds I was thinking in my head, Mater!'" Whitney said.
Whitney insists he has "no idea" if he'll be in a third installment of the franchise. "That's all John's decision," he said. "If he wants to do another, I'm happy. If he doesn't want to do another, I'm done too. I know that I'm voicing all the toys—anything that's Mater. I didn't want to get a sound-alike."
Whitney recently made headlines when he revealed earlier this month that he made a surprise visit to Sarah Palin's Alaska home as part of his History Channel series Only in America.
"I hope they're not mad that I'm talking about it," he said. "I wasn't going up there in a negative way. I was going up there as a fan myself. I like Sarah Palin. I think she's got balls. I like somebody that's got a set of nuts."