Accent on the Funny

In one of those occasional coincidences of randomized music enjoyment, Ive heard "Outfit" by Drive-By Truckers and Jason Isbell (the latter's live version) several times over the past few days. The song has an admonition from a father to a son that goes, "Don't worry about losing your accent/A Southern man tells better jokes". Which is a lovely segue into today's topic.

I stumbled quite haphazardly across Corey Ryan Forrester during the early days of the pandemic. If you looked at him, and listened to him talk, you'd make some assumptions. You'd miss by a mile, too. The Chickamauga, GA (home of Marjorie Taylor Green) native is a deft comedian, an unabashed liberal, open about his mental health issues, and a thoughtful essayist.

Here's his alter ego, wrestling champ The Buttercream Dream on the topic of mental illness:

Here's a bit from a show in Denver a few years back:

And finally, another character, this one a Southern politician:

Forrester is part of a cracker comedy collective known as WellRED Comedy, which also features Trae Crowder and Drew Morgan. The Bitter Southerner did a recent story on the group that's both a good history and an insightful look at their complicated relationship with their heritage.

I don't know much about Morgan, but I've gotten into Crowder's stuff after finding him through Forrester. He's reliably excellent online in talking about hypocrisy in conservative politics, as you can see here.

WATCH: “The people of Ohio said to Republicans — uh, I think I’ma vote for my vote SHOULD count… this is all about the future of American democracy, y’all… it is THIS close.” 🇺🇸

As always Tennessee’s own @traecrowder has the best takes on everything 🔥 pic.twitter.com/qYdipgsrZB

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 9, 2023

He's also the headliner of the WellRED team's tours, where he brings the funny:

Talked about Jason Aldean this weekend. pic.twitter.com/AteCkaNWc4

— Trae Crowder (@traecrowder) July 24, 2023

I guess Southern men do tell pretty good jokes.