Carl Hurley

Carl Hurley “is probably the most played artist on XM’s (Satellite Radio) Laugh USA,” says Sonny Fox, XM’s comedy programmer. “He is the epitome of our slogan ‘good, clean fun,’ He makes you laugh and appreciate life at the same time. Carl is the funny uncle we all wish we had in our family…he is one of a kind.”

Carl grew up in a two-room cabin built by his father in the Appalachian foothills of Laurel County, Kentucky. “We lived so far out in the country we had to go towards town to hunt.” His childhood was spent swapping yarns in a family of colorful storytellers.

Carl attended local schools (in East Bernstadt, KY) and then worked his way through Eastern Kentucky University (milking cows on the college dairy farm). After earning a doctorate in education from the University of Missouri, Columbia, he returned to Kentucky to work three years in the State Department of Education, and then taught eight years in the College of Education at Eastern Kentucky University.

His ability to enliven his college lectures with humor led to invitations to speak outside the classroom, and soon he was traveling widely to entertain audiences of every variety. After earning tenure as a professor, he resigned the classroom to become a full-time speaker and entertainer—becoming known as “America’s funniest professor!”

“I’d didn’t leave teaching,” he says, “I just expanded my classroom.”

Today, Carl and his wife, Angela, live in Lexington, Kentucky. They have two grown children, Lori and Chad, and two grandchildren who are now making their way into some of Carl’s routines.

Drawing from his roots in the tradition of such other American humorists as Andy Griffith and Garrison Keillor, Carl delights audiences with a healthy clean sense of the absurd. At 5 feet 6 inches, he’s rotund and jolly, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, a sublime sense of the ridiculous and an ever-ready punch line.

Carl’s comedy is a popular feature heard each day on the comedy channels of SIRIUS and XM satellite radio.

He is featured on many of the popular television videos produced by Bill Gaither (who describes Carl as “a brilliant comedian disguised as an irresistible ‘good ole boy’”). Other appearances include the Grand Ole Opry and the stage of the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center in Kentucky where he is an honorary member.

Carl has 15 comedy recordings and is the author of a book about growing up in Appalachia entitled “We’re Weren’t Poor – We Just Didn’t Have Any Money,” all available now online at CarlHurley.com, iTunes, AmazonMP3, Walmart.com, Starbucks.com and other retailers.

Need to laugh? Then go see the doctor – Dr. Carl Hurley…America’s funniest professor.