'Blue Collar Comedy Tour' Get Osbourne Helmer

[Thursday, June 27th, 2002]
"The Osbournes" helmer C.B Harding has come on board to helm the big screen adaptation of "Blue Collar Comedy Tour," reports Variety.

The movie is supposed to be a country take on "The Original Kings of Comedy" based on Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall's "Blue Collar Comedy Tour."

Financed and produced by Gaylord Films, pic will also feature yukmeisters Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White. Over the past two years, the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" has grossed more than $12 million and produced a bestselling live album released last November.

The film will present the show in its entirety, as well as behind-the-scenes sequences that focus on the individual performers.

Harding has yet to direct a narrative feature, but he recently helmed "The Three Amigos" -- a Latino take on the MTV Films' "Kings" comedy tour pic -- starring comedians Pablo Francisco, Freddie Soto and Carlos Mancia for Miramax.

The "Blue Collar" tour film will shoot this summer and could be released as soon as the end of this year. Gaylord prexy Hunt Lowry and head of production Casey LaScala will produce, along with Alan Blomquist and J.P. Williams.

While the tour's participants may hardly be household names in Los Angeles or New York, Middle America has embraced them with open arms: Foxworthy has sold more than 13 million units of comedy albums and is the author of 11 bestsellers; Engvall has sold more than 2 million albums, and his comedy CD, "Cheap Drunk," will be released in August on Warner Bros. Records.

Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White have become two of the country's top comedy-club draws.

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