Bob Farmer, Kentucky Democratic Candidate For Agricultural Commissioner, BLISTERS Eastern Kentucky In Comedy Routine. Watch Video.

Update: Democrat Farmer apologizes for Eastern Kentucky jokes
By Beth Musgrave

FRANKFORT — A Democratic candidate for the state’s top agriculture job apologized Tuesday for jokes he made about people in Eastern Kentucky during a comedy routine several years ago.

A clip of Bob Farmer, a Louisville marketing executive running for agriculture commissioner, was included an Internet advertisement paid for by his opponent, Republican state Rep. Jamie Comer. In the clip, Farmer, in a performance at the Derby Dinner Playhouse in Danville, Ind., makes jokes about Eastern Kentucky, where his wife is from.

Farmer said Eastern Kentucky is a place where “cars are on blocks and houses are on wheels.” In another outtake, Farmer says someone told him the FBI would not investigate a particular county “cause all the DNA is alike and there ain’t no dental records.”

Farmer goes on to say that people in Eastern Kentucky did not trust him because he had shoes on and had all of his teeth.

Farmer, who has been in marketing and in public speaking since 1982, said he has been doing the routine for nearly 25 years. No one has ever complained.

“I apologize if it offends anyone,” Farmer said. “I don’t want to offend people.”

Farmer issued the apology after the Republican Party sent out a news release on Tuesday, demanding that Farmer apologize.

“If the Kentucky Democratic Party does not renounce this fool’s ridiculous little routine, it will lose every bit of credibility with voters,” said Steve Robertson, the Republican Party chairman. “To Bob Farmer I would say this: don’t quit your day job…whatever it is. You will not be Kentucky’s next Agriculture Commissioner.”

But Farmer added that Republicans wouldn’t have made the routine an issue if they weren’t worried.

“When did they lose their sense of humor, when I got 15 points ahead?” Farmer said.

Farmer, who has never farmed, beat four Democratic opponents in the May primary. A CN/2 poll conducted earlier this month showed Farmer leading Comer, 48% to 33%, despite never having run for political office before. At the time of the poll, Comer dismissed Farmer’s lead, telling CN|2 that people either think Bob Farmer is the current Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer or that he farms.

Comer defeated Shelby County Judge-Executive Rob Rothenburger by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in the Republican primary.

Farmer said the remarks have been taken from a DVD of some of his speeches and comedy routines that was released in 2006. Farmer said that he expected the Republicans to make those comments an issue in the campaign.

“If this is all they have to hang their hats on…I mean, come on?” Farmer said.

Dan Logsdon, the chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, said Tuesday that Farmer’s comments were not funny.

“Mr. Farmer has apologized for his offensive remarks, which he needed to do,” Logsdon said. “His comments were neither funny or appropriate.”

Farmer is currently the spokesman for the Farmers’ Almanac. He also frequently travels the country giving speeches and doing comedy routines. Comer, a cattle rancher and a state representative, says he has the experience and ideas to make Kentucky’s nearly $4.5 billion agriculture industry more profitable. Farmer counters that what Kentucky farmers need is someone with his marketing and business expertise who can introduce Kentucky products to a wider audience.