Photos by Alexander McKim
Prichard Auditorium hadn’t hosted a celebrity in years. What was once a venue hosting boxing, Jesse Owens and the Harlem Globetrotters had gone largely underutilized recently. That is until Larry the Cable Guy, AKA Dan Whitney, brought his “Larry’s Nebraska Road Trip” comedy show to Falls City.
Larry’s tour kicked off on January 23 in Kearney and will end on March 2 in Chadron after nine stops across the state. Larry, a native of Pawnee City, is donating proceeds from the tour to Theatre Programs in his performing areas. The Falls City High School and Sacred Heart High School Theatre Programs will split the proceeds from the show.
How you know Larry depends on your age. In the 1990s, Dan began his career by making regular appearances on the radio, namely 101.9 The Edge of Omaha and the Todd and Tyler Show, as his character Larry the Cable Guy. The Cable Guy, as he was often known, is known worldwide for his redneck attire and made the phrase “Git-R-Done” famous.
In the early 2000s, he was a member of the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour,” which included comedians Bill Engvall, Ron White and Jeff Foxworthy.
The next age group knows Larry as the beloved rusty tow truck Mater from the 2006 hit Disney/Pixar movie Cars. The movie features an all-star cast of voice actors and was a box office hit, bringing in $462 million. Larry made subsequent appearances as Mater in Cars 2 and Cars 3.
The newest generation may know Larry from his time on The Masked Singer in 2021 or from his Netflix standup special, Larry the Cable Guy: Remain Seated, from 2020.
Whatever or wherever you may know him from, Larry has become a worldwide sensation and has brought laughter to millions.
Since creating The Git-R-Done Foundations, Larry has donated over $7 million to various charities.
Lines began at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, as many braved the cold as the lines wrapped around the building until the doors opened at 5:00 p.m. Approximately 1,600 tickets were sold to the event, one of the largest crowds at the facility in recent memory.
Larry told the sold-out audience that it was great to give back to the theatre departments of Sacred Heart and Falls City and that he was proud to be from southeast Nebraska.
Special guest Nick Hoff, a Hastings native, warmed the crowd up, and Larry kept the full house laughing for nearly 90 minutes.
Larry will be recording a comedy special featuring all new material on Saturday, March 15, at the Bilheimer Capitol Theatre in Clearwater, Florida.