'EVERYBODY LIKES YOU, YOU'RE BORING'

Comedian Rodney Carrington says he's no "artist" -- just an East Texas beer drinker in a cowboy hat who gets paid for running his mouth.

His comedy takes the form of one long story sprinkled with punchlines and honest opinions he doesn't care whether anybody likes.

"I don't want to change anybody's mind and I don't want to sell Amway," he said.

Carrington, who has made TV appearances on "Evening at the Improv" and TNN's "Comedy Roundup," will perform twice Friday at Chance's on Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. Shows are at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

He is politically incorrect and occasionally X-rated but makes no apologies.

"I tell it like it is and I don't hold anything back... If everybody likes you, you're boring," Carrington said in a phone interview from Lambert Field in St. Louis. He was on his way home to Tulsa for a quick visit with his wife, Terri, and their two children.

Marital infidelity, topless bars, prostate exams, having a hangover at a religious revival and misadventures at Wal-Mart are some of the topics Carrington thinks are worth talking about.

He doesn't discuss politics, though he likes President Bill Clinton. "He hasn't done anything the rest of us haven't done," he said.

Carrington also plays the guitar and writes songs, many of which bear titles that can't be printed in the newspaper.

"Dancing with a Man," which features the comedian Carrot Top dressed as a woman, currently is one of the top 50 videos in the nation.

Another of his ditties is "Grandpa Got His Teeth Knocked Out in 1932."

His new album, "Hangin' With Rodney," carries a sticker warning parents about explicit lyrics.

But the Longview, Texas, native doesn't think anything is offensive about his act to people who aren't laced too straight.

He blames Jack Daniels -- the whiskey -- for getting him into show business. A college theater major, he decided to enter an amateur night contest at the bar where he worked.

What followed was five years of driving from club to club in his pickup truck and eating Beanie Weenies out of a can for dinner.

Carrington says those were the fun years. Now he has the pressures of an agent, a manager and a record company. "There are people that depend on me now more than just my family," he said.