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Growing Up

Ron “Tater Salad” White was born in Fritch, Texas on December 18, 1956. He was raised in Texas and graduated from Deer Park High School in 1976, which is just outside of Dallas, Texas. He spent many years working in odd jobs and was also in the United States Navy for a short period of time. White spent about twenty years hopping from local club to local club with his comedy, never really making it big at all in that time period.

Flourishing Career in Comedy

In the 1990s, White started to gain some notoriety as he made his first CD Tater Salad (Busted in Des Moines). In the year 2000, he started working with the other three members of the Blue Collar Comedy crew. Though he wasn’t in Comedy Central’s television show Blue Collar TV, he was in all three of their movie/ tour expeditions: Blue Collar Comedy Tour: the Movie (2003), Blue Collar Comedy Tour: Rides Again (2004), and Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road (2006). In addition, White has also independently recorded Drunk in Public (2003) and You Can’t Fix Stupid (2006).

Tater Salad

If you’ve seen Ron White, first you know that he always comes on stage with an alcoholic drink and a cigar. It’s also well known that White drinks an excessive amount of alcohol off stage as well. Also, if you’ve seen him, you have probably heard his story about “Tater Salad”.

As he tells it, when he was a young adult, he was arrested in his home town for being “drunk in public”. The police officer booking him was his childhood neighbor from a few doors down, so they knew each other well. As the officer was booking him, he asked White if he had any aliases and White replied sarcastically by saying, “They call me ‘Tater Salad’.” Many years later, White was in New York City and got arrested for being “drunk in public” (big surprise) and the officer ran a police history on White. He then approached White and asked, “Are you Ron ‘Tater Salad’ White?”

It’s a great story and when White tells it on stage, it’s hilarious. The story may even be true. However, that’s not where his nickname of “Tater Salad” originated. When White was in the Navy, one of the other sailors (Hoskins) was suppose to relieve him from his post so that he could have a turn to partake in a picnic that was going on at the time. As he grew impatient, he hollered to his buddy, “Hey, Hoskins. Get up here and relieve me before somebody eats at that Tater Salad.” From then on, Hoskins called White “Tater Salad” and the nickname stuck.

Personal Life

The majority of Ron White’s personal life is a mystery as he only shares what he chooses in his comedy routine. Other than that, he’s pretty close mouthed about his personal life and background. He was married to a woman named Barbra and they have one son together, Marshall White. In June 2004, he married Barbara Dobbs. He also has three dogs: a bulldog named Sluggo and two Scottish Terriers. He sometimes talks about Sluggo in his comedy routines; however, the original “Sluggo” died and he has a new dog named Sluggo.

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