Buckshot Red of Nashville has led quite an interesting life. “Growing up, my dad was Shotgun Red, the little puppet on Hee Haw,” he says. “He was on TV one night and somebody asked if he had kids. He said, ‘I got two boys - Buckshot and Slingshot - and a little BB on the way.’”
As a boy, he slept in the “King of Country Music” Roy Acuff’s dressing room at the Opry while his father, whose real name was Steve Hall, was on stage with Minnie Pearl.
Buckshot definitely inherited his father’s sense of humor. When his dad passed away, he found a way to carry on his legacy. “That was in 2018 and I was already doing comedy. I decided I wanted to go on stage and tell some of his jokes to try to get over the grief.”
He found he was on the road a lot and missed his kids, so when he was asked to perform with a local comedy tour, he jumped at the opportunity. The Redneck Comedy Tour Bus provides great entertainment that takes passengers all around Nashville and Pigeon Forge, as well as Branson, Missouri. In addition to sightseeing, they get to listen to hilarious commentary from talented comedians.
“Last year, I did over 382 two-hour shows and I've seen over 12,000 people. This year I'll probably do close to 500 shows.” Since Buckshot’s father taught him to appreciate his fans, his shows don’t end until everyone has left. He takes the time to sign autographs and take pictures.
The feedback he gets from his passengers truly feeds his soul. He had a couple from Wisconsin that had tragically lost their son and said that he taught them how to laugh again.
“I hear things like this on a weekly basis and I go home crying,” says Buckshot. “But I can’t take credit for that. God is the laughter, the humor, the creativity, and the talent – I’m just the messenger.”
His humor is not always “politically correct,” and he doesn’t worry about it, and it seems, neither do his passengers. “When people get on my bus, I may have two people from a Baptist church, six bachelorettes, and a biker group, but when the bus door closes, there's
nobody telling them who they should like, who they should hate and what they should think. They just laugh.”
Judging by the demand for his shows, he’s right. USA Today included the Redneck Comedy Tour Bus in its top 20 most unique tours in the United States. The tour has also received many other accolades. Richmond Ross, who owns Redneck, has become like a father to
Buckshot.
Buckshot also does his own comedy shows in Minnesota, where he grew up. “I just got a call from the Falls Ballroom in Minnesota. The last show my father did was there. They want me to do a show on December 28, the day my dad passed, and my dad's band will be backing me.”
He’s bringing along another fabulous comic from Nashville. “His name is Monty Hicks and he's like a brother to me. We do podcasts and other stuff together, so I’m having him open my shows for me.”
Comedy is surely a lot easier on his body than wrestling ever was. “When I turned 18, I became a professional wrestler here in Nashville,” he says. “I wrestled for all the major companies and in 2000, I was the NWA [National Wrestling Alliance] Rookie of the Year. I eventually signed with WCW [World Championship Wresting]. One night for a big show on Pay Per View, I jumped from the top rope all the way to the floor.” Buckshot suffered major injuries that ended his wrestling career.
Buckshot loves recalling his very first comedy show. “There was a well-known wrestler in the audience named Chase Stevens. My mom was also there that night. There were about a hundred people in this little dive bar and everybody' s hanging on my every word and
laughing. I'm thinking I'm just killing it. Later my mom tells me that right before the show, Chase went around to everybody's table
and said that he'd be sitting in the back of the room watching and if somebody didn't like my show, they were going to pay for it. We've been friends to this day and he's one of my biggest fans.”
Today Buckshot is as happy as can be, and so is his family. “My mother, Miss Daisy, has been with me from the beginning. She is my hero.” His 25-year-old daughter, Raven, is his manager. “I have another daughter, Daisy, and she's a fabulous mother. I’m now a grandpa to 17-month-old Antonio Munoz, who I absolutely love. Amarillo is my 11-year-old. She was born at two pounds, 11 ounces but is as healthy as a bull now. Then there’s my knucklehead son, Maverick. He'll be 10 this year.”
His son just might be following in his father’s footsteps. “When Maverick rides the bus with me, he's got a joke he tells, and I let him close the show. The first time I paid him, he couldn’t believe it. I told him, ‘You're not a professional anything until they pay you.’”
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