Clay Ratliff is coming to Eastern to give students a laugh at a different kind of comedy.

University Board Comedy Coordinator Chris Stanfield described Ratliff’s show, which will be at 9 p.m. in the 7th Street Underground, as “blue collar comedy.”

Blue collar comedy recently hit cable stations like Comedy Central after the success of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour Movie.

Ratliff said people might describe his comedy as blue collar, but he wouldn’t call himself that just because he’s from the South. He is friends with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour’s Ron White and Bill Engvall and has worked with them quite a bit, he said. However, the subjects they cover are different than what Ratliff jokes about.

“I talk about stuff that I know about; it just happens that I’m from Texas,” Ratliff said.

Ratliff, who grew up in a small, predominantly white community, normally jokes about pot smoking, beer drinking, chasing women and living life in general. Some colleges make him censor his jokes, he said.

“Sometimes colleges don’t like it when you talk about fun things,” Ratliff said.

If that happens, he said he will probably joke about the school censoring him.

His show also deals with breaking down stereotypes. A lot of people will come to the show thinking he is an “ignorant redneck from Texas,” he said. He hopes they will leave with a different opinion.

“He calls himself the funniest man in the trailer park,” Stanfield said.

Ratliff was the winner of the Mid-America Comedy Competition, Stanfield said. His other accomplishments include being a finalist in the Showtime Television Comedy Showcase and the NBC Television Comedy Talent Awards.

He has performed with known comedians such as Bobcat Goldwaite, and his first CD, “Stories from the Road,” was released in 2003.

“I spend about 40 to 45 weeks a year on the road touring,” Ratliff said.

Although he said most of these shows are at casinos and comedy clubs, he does about 40 to 50 college shows a year.

“I love doing college shows,” Ratliff said.