Foxworthy goes back to school on Fox show

Jeff Foxworthy was a pretty good student — an "A and B" kind of guy when he was in school.

And yet he always seemed to get attention for something other than his academic achievements.

"I think every single report card I had ... said, 'Talks too much in class,"' Foxworthy said in a teleconference with TV critics.

There's a framed note he got from his high-school principal hanging in his office — a note he got backstage the first time he did his stand-up act at the Fox Theater in Atlanta.

"It said, 'I can't believe I'm shelling out money to hear the same kind of junk I used to try to put a stop to,"' Foxworthy said, "because I was in his office a few times and (he was) just staring at me going, 'What do you think you are, a comedian?'

"Apparently so, Mr. Gibson."

And now Foxworthy is a game-show host. Plus, he's gone back to school at the same time. The comedian is hosting Fox's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader," which premieres tonight at 8:30 on Ch. 13.

The conceit of this show is that grown-ups might not be as smart as kids. Or, at least, that adults can't remember everything they learned in elementary school.

The questions are all at the fifth-grade level — or lower — and if the adult contestants answer enough of them correctly, they can win a million bucks. And if they need help in subjects like geography, math and social studies, they can turn to the five real-life fifth graders who form the show's regular panel of, um, experts.

Foxworthy said they're not "MENSA kids or some brainiacs. They're just above-average fifth-graders, but they're right a lot more than the adults are right."

He said it's not that the adults are dumb, it has more to do with how long it's been since they were in fifth grade.

"If it's a fifth-grade question, (the kids) have seen it in the last few months. Even if it's a second-grade question, they've seen it in the last three years," Foxworthy said. "Whereas the adults haven't seen this stuff — some of them — in 20 or 30 years."

Apparently, however, sometimes the adults are just, well, not so smart when it comes to answering the questions.

"One of them was, 'Name the states that border the Pacific Ocean.' The adult says, 'California, Oregon and Washington,' and locks the answer in," Foxworthy said. "I'm walking around thinking, 'I think Alaska probably touches it, too.'