Weekender recently interviewed “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” comedian Ron White, who is known for his cigar, scotch and dead-pan Texan wit. White will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the Convocation Center without his “Blue Collar” compatriots.

Weekender:Please tell me you’re not naked, eating Cheetos and watching TV.

Ron White: I am not naked or eating Cheetos or watching TV, so you can rest assured.

WE: How’s the “Ron White Show” pilot going?

RW: We did it, and it was a big success in every way you can measure it except that [Warner Brothers] didn’t pick up the series, but TBS picked up the animated part. We just signed a deal with TBS to do an animated show called “I Don’t Know What” about I don’t know what. I know it’s going [to] have me and my dog, and probably my wife in some little universe that will be named later.

WE: How do you look animated?

RW: I think I have a little more upper-body strength when I’m animated than I do in real life.

WE: For your tour, some of the money from the “VIP Ticket Sales” goes to Ron’s mom’s retirement fund. Can you please explain this?

RW: Well, people scalp tickets to my show, right? You can buy tickets to my show for $200 or $300. People scalp them on the Internet, and so I decided to let mother scalp 10 pairs of tickets to every show. These seats are first, second or third row, and mother will beat you up on the price a little bit but not as bad as the rest of the scalpers will. I think she doubles the price of the ticket, then she makes me autograph a picture, and I don’t know, maybe she makes some fudge, I don’t know. I don’t pay that much attention to it.

WE: Is the name of your current tour still “Drunk in Public?”

RW: You know what, I really don’t know. I guess that’s what they’re calling it. I think when Bill Cosby tours, it’s just “come see Bill.” But actually, I’m doing so little material from “Drunk in Public,” now it kind of seems silly to name it that. Just come see the show.

WE: Did you know that when people write down the way you say “public,” they consistently spell it p-u-b-l-i and then the “c” and the “k” are capitalized. So can you say it, just so we can write it that way?

RW: PubliCK.

WE: So here are a couple of hard-hitters: Are you afraid that you may be perpetuating the negative stereotypes of blue-collar people because of the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour?”

RW: No, that’s ridiculous. I guess more than anything else, we embrace them. Now my character, or me, I drink and smoke cigars. That’s not anything that the blue collar folks would admit. That’s white collar. I smoke $20 cigars. Not a lot of people working every day smoke $20 cigars four times a day or drink scotch that’s $400 or $500 a bottle. Larry the Cable Guy, on the other hand, may embrace them. You know what, it’s all just for fun, and if people don’t understand that, that’s fine. I know people write negative things about all of us, but I never read it. I know some people are going to get offended by what I have to say, but I would probably get offended by what they have to say. I just don’t monitor it.

WE: Do you regret the pilot commitment you had at ABC that didn’t allow you to be in the “Blue Collar TV Show”?

RW: I still, to this day, believe that things happen that are supposed to happen. I still do the “Blue Collar TV Show” every once in a while, on a very limited basis, and I miss the guys. I don’t get to see them as much as they see each other, which means I don’t fight with them as much as they fight with each other probably. But no, I don’t regret it. Things are going too well for me to live with any kind of regret right now. I mean, we’re still going to make another “Blue Collar” movie in March, called “Blue Collar Comedy Tour: Enough Already,” [although] we’re probably not going to call it that.

WE: When did you start smoking and drinking during the set? Was it gradual or did you just one day say to yourself, “OK, I’ll do this.”

RW: No, it was really early on. I just didn’t know what to do with my hands. I’ve done so many shows; I’ve gotta have something to do while I’m up there. The one time I did [David] Letterman, they didn’t let me drink or smoke, and you could tell my hands [were] just searching for something to play with.