Rodney Carrington says there is only one thing he has yet to accomplish during his long and fruitful career as a comedian.
"Quit — that's pretty much the only thing I haven't done," Carrington said.
While the Texas native might have intended for his answer to be tongue-in-cheek, it was rather on the money. To call Carrington's career as a showman ultra-successful would be somewhat of an understatement. He has sold more than three million records — including Morning Wood (2000), which hit gold status, and a platinum-selling catalogue of greatest hits.
This is all in addition to a live show that consistently draws sold-out crowds across the country, putting Carrington among the top 10 highest-grossing touring comedians for the last 10 years.
"Now, if I can just get to the finish line," Carrington said. "[Fans] are still showing up and still buying tickets. As I get older, a lot of my material changes. I'd like to think that the people who come see me, they're getting older with me. As we get older, our priorities change."
Even though Carrington is one of the more well-recognized performers in the comedy world, there are still plenty of misconceptions floating around about him.
With a cowboy hat and a Larry the Cable Guy-esque dialect, many rush to label him a country act. Not helping matters is the fact many of his songs — with such titles as "Letter to my Penis" and "Show Them to Me" — carry a sound akin to cliché country tunes.
"The only reason it's country is because I only know four or five chords," Carrington said. "If you listen to every song I ever did, you'll see some of them are country, but most of them are not. What's funny to me is when people call me a country comedian. They see the cowboy hat and automatically think it's country."
On account of his millions of album sales, many label Carrington a musical comedian. In reality, that's only a small portion of his act — one he adopted many moons ago on a whim.
"I bought a guitar when I was bored on the road," Carrington said. "I believe it was in Columbus, Georgia. I learned three or four chords and I showed the crowd and the owner of the venue said if I brought it up on stage, I better do something funny with it."
