Jeff Foxworthy will readily admit he's not smarter than a fifth grader.

But he points out that he's in good company. There's been many an academic who has been shamed by the superior knowledge of a 10 year old on the prime-time game show Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

"It's funny because you have people who have PhDs from Harvard and Yale and they get stuck on the second grade question," he says.

Best known for his wildly popular 'You might be a redneck if ...' quips, Foxworthy's career got another boost when he started hosting the family friendly program in 2007.

He noticed his fanbase starting to shift from adult "redneck" fans to multi-generational families.

"Little kids didn't know who I was before," he says. "Now, even on my own kids' campus, I hear these kids whispering, 'That's the guy from the show.' "

When the series' creator, Mark Burnett, approached Foxworthy about hosting Are You Smarter? the comedian wasn't sure he was the right man for the job.

"If you'd asked me five years ago if I'd host a game show I probably would have laughed at you."

But Foxworthy loved the idea and was eventually convinced by Burnett to sign on.

"I like doing it because I can still be funny," he says. "I'm not like Alex Trebek pretending I know all the answers to the questions. If I had to answer the questions it would be the shortest show on television."

In addition to his hosting duties, the Georgia native has just finished writing his third children's book and is currently on the road with his stand-up routine. He performs at the Convention Centre on Saturday -- not the MTS Centre. He was originally slated to play the arena, but was shifted down the block so the Manitoba Moose could use the venue for Game 1 of the AHL Alder Cup Finals.

"Creatively, it's a great time for me," he says. "I have a lot of different outlets. I'm probably a little ADD. But it makes me happy to do this. What more do you want than to make people laugh?"

Foxworthy, it seems, has always had a knack for comedy. When one of his co-workers at IBM dared him to perform at a local open mic night, he took the challenge and never looked back.

"I quit my job at IBM and my parents thought I had lost my mind," he recalls. "Five years later I was on Johnny Carson and my mother was like, 'You wasted all those years at IBM.' "

In 1993, Foxworthy's series of observational redneck jokes ("You might be redneck if you view the next family reunion as a chance to meet girls"; "You might be a redneck if you think the stock market has a fence around it") became a pop culture phenomenon.

Although that routine has been good to Foxworthy, it's been hard for him to shake off the redneck stereotype, particularly in such places as L.A. and New York.

"I've caught some of that attitude," says Foxworthy, who has also enjoyed massive success as part of the Blue Collar Comedy troupe with fellow comics Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy.

"People say you're not hip, you're not cutting edge. But I never tried to be. I think the majority of the world is not hip."

While Foxworthy does crack some redneck jokes near the end of his show, since it's "now required by law," much of his routine focuses on everyday observations about his family, friends and other things that strike him as odd.

He attributes his continued success to the fact he has never believed his own hype.

"You can't make yourself something you're not," he says. "I still live in Georgia. I live next door to my brother. I bring my kids to school each day. I still drive a pick-up truck. Some people say to me, 'I thought you'd be driving a Maserati.' But I'd rather be driving a pick-up truck."

All earlier purchased tickets for Foxworthy's MTS Centre showed will be honoured at the Convention Centre on Saturday.