Cracking up to Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if” jokes till you had tears in your eyes, catching his Blue Collar Comedy Tour live, or jamming to the hottest country music through his weekly radio show. Ah, those were the good ole’ days, huh?
And if you’re new to the Foxworthy bandwagon, you probably remember him from his Netflix special The Good Old Days (2022) or as a game show host on the American Bible Challenge.
Let’s go on a nostalgic tour and retrace Jeff Foxworthy’s education, career, and personal life. As a bonus, you get some exclusive high school yearbook photos of him, sourced from the Classmates archive!
Who is Jeff Foxworthy?
Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and TV/ radio host. He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated high school in 1976. As of 2025, Jeff is 67 years old.
Before becoming a comedian, young Jeff was actually working at IBM in Atlanta. It was a chance dare by his coworkers to participate in an open-mic competition that helped him find his passion. He took the stage at the city’s Punch Line comedy club, won the Great Southeastern Laugh-Off, and found his true calling in life. In just a few months, he quit his corporate job and began his journey to becoming the beloved comedian that we know today.
In addition to being the largest-selling comedy-recording artist, Jeff has also hosted and starred in major TV shows, authored several books, and performed at hundreds of stand-up shows. In his spare time, you can find him spending time in the great outdoors, either fishing, hunting, or unplugging at his farm.
Where Did Jeff Foxworthy Go to School?
School Education
While information about his middle school isn’t public, Jeff does reminisce about saving money to buy comedy CDs, memorizing the lines, and enacting them for his friends when he was a kid.
A teenage Jeff Foxworthy graduated from Hapeville High School in Atlanta, Georgia in 1976. He was quite the athlete and played in the varsity teams of 3 sports: football, basketball, and baseball. He was also a student council and yearbook staff.
College Education
After graduating high school, Jeff attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, only because “it was the least expensive and closest to home.” But, he left just before graduating and walked in his father’s footsteps by working in mainframe computer maintenance at IBM.
What Does He Look Like Today? Jeff Foxworthy Then vs. Now
Take a look at a young, teenage Jeff Foxworthy vs. the man you probably recognize today:
Retracing Jeff Foxworthy’s Career
Comedy
Jeff’s career took off when he released his first comedy album You Might Be a Redneck If… in 1993. His redneck jokes soon became his signature. In 1995, he put out his second album Games Rednecks Play. Both of these albums went triple platinum, which means they sold more than 3 million copies each!
This success made him the first comedian with a triple-platinum album. His second album even got him a 1996 Grammy nomination for ‘Best Spoken Comedy Album.’
His fourth album also hit wild success. Totally Committed (1998) came with a one-hour HBO special, went on to achieve “gold” status, and got him another 1999 Grammy nomination. Some of his other comedy albums include Big Funny (2000) and Have Your Loved Ones Spayed or Neutered (2004).
In the early 2000s, Jeff and a few of his other friends, namely Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy (who replaced Craig Hawksley after 26 shows), began touring together, performing stand-up sets. Known as the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour,” they told jokes onstage for 6 years to great success. Even after it ended, Jeff, Bill, and Larry toured together under the title “Them Idiots Whirled Tour.”
TV Shows
Jeff has starred in and hosted quite a few TV shows. As an actor, his most noteworthy appearances have been in the sitcom The Jeff Foxworthy Show (1995-1997), the documentary Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2002), and his Netflix special The Good Old Days (2022).
He has also hosted several TV shows, such as Foxworthy’s Night Out (2006), Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (2009-2011), and The American Bible Challenge (2012-2014).
If you love animated movies, you may be pleasantly surprised to find out that Jeff has voiced some of our favorite characters. He has lent his voice in movies and TV shows such as The Smurfs, Phineas and Ferb, and The Garfield Movie.
Books
In addition to wowing the world with his jokes, Jeff has also authored more than 26 books. A lot of them feature his redneck jokes, with some children’s books, a cook book, and even an autobiography thrown into the mix.
Awards
Jeff has bagged 3 awards for his comedy and 12 nominations, including 3 Daytime Emmy nominations for being an outstanding game show host.
His awards include:
- Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic: 1990 American Comedy Award
- Favorite Male Performer in a New Tv Series: 1996 People’s Choice Award
- Gene Weed Special Achievement Award: 1996 Academy of Country Music Awards
Who Are Jeff Foxworthy’s Parents and Siblings?
Jeff was born to parents Jimmy Abstance Foxworthy and Carole Linda Foxworthy. He was the eldest of three children. His siblings are Jay Foxworthy and Jennifer Foxworthy.
His dad was an IBM executive who left Jeff’s family when Jeff was 9, going on to remarry 5 times after that. After the divorce, his mom worked as a keypunch operator, struggling to keep the family afloat with her minimal wages.
What Are Jeff Foxworthy’s Wife and Kids?
Jeff Foxworthy’s wife is Pamela Gregg, and they’ve been married to each other for 40 years. He first met her in 1984 at The Punchline comedy club in Atlanta. Incidentally, the very first time he saw her was also the time when he won the contest. A year later, they were married in an intimate ceremony. Talk about winning the jackpot in a single day!
Pamela has co-produced several of Jeff’s comedy ventures and is also a well-known philanthropist.
The couple have two daughters:
- Jordan Foxworthy, aged 33, a production coordinator at Tenderfoot TV,
- Julianne Foxworthy, aged 31, a representative for Compassion International, a Christian humanitarian org.
As of now, Jeff and Pamela have at least 5 grandchildren.
Where Does Jeff Foxworthy Live?
While Jeff’s career eventually took him and his family away from Atlanta to the bright lights of Los Angeles, after making it big, the couple began building their dream mansion in Atlanta in 1997. They moved back home that very same year after his sitcom, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, got canceled.
The Foxworthy family moved into their exquisite mansion after it was completed in 2000. In 2020, they put the house on the market for $2.99 million and downsized to a smaller property nearby. The couple currently live on a farm, where they enjoy a lot of family time.
Does Jeff Foxworthy Have Social Media?
Yes, he does. You can catch up on Jeff’s personal life and enjoy his stand-up comedy clips through his social media accounts.
- Instagram (202K followers as of October 2025)
- Facebook (3.9 M followers)
- X/ Twitter (140.4K followers, although it seems like this account has been left to gather dust)
See Your Favorite Celebrities’ Yearbook Photos
The Classmates® yearbook archives go back decades, featuring high school photos of your favorite celebrities and old buddies alike. Whether you want to see what your favorite actors/ musicians/ comedians looked like before they went big, or just want to reminisce about the good old days, we’ve got you!
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Sources:
- https://roadtripnation.com/leader/jeff-foxworthy
- https://jefffoxworthy.com/
- https://www.dead-frog.com/comedians/comic/jeff-foxworthy
- https://www.jango.com/music/Blue+Collar+Comedy+Tour/_full_bio
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0289344/
- https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/255456.Jeff_Foxworthy
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0289344/awards/?ref_=nmbio_ov_ql_2
- https://artoffatherhood.net/jeff-foxworthy-talks-fatherhood-breaking-the-cycle-of-abandonment-getting-into-comedy-more/
- https://allprodad.com/jeff-foxworthy-a-heart-for-the-underdog/
- https://www.nickiswift.com/1173796/inside-jeff-foxworthys-35-year-marriage/
- https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1997/08/22/foxworthy-finds-his-way-home-after-7-years/
- https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/comedian-jeff-foxworthy-selling-custom-built-georgia-mansion/
- Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
- Midwest Communications, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
