Who's Dave (Gruber) Allen, and where the hell are his pants? Crossing swords with The Naked Trucker

Not since Kris Kristofferson went grill-to-grill with Ernest Borgnine in Convoy has Hollywood created something that the average trucker could point to and say, "Yeah, that's me." It's even worse for the brave, butt-chafed Bedouins of our nation's highways and byways: The naked truckers.

Until now. With the premiere of The Naked Trucker & T-Bones Show (Wednesday, Jan. 17 on Comedy Central), naked truckers everywhere find their lifestyles affirmed in a half-hour comedy series that's part Blue Collar Comedy, part Mr. Show with Bob and David, and nearly all concealed by a strategically-placed guitar. Radar talked to series co-creator and co-star Dave (Gruber) Allen—The Naked Trucker to Saturday Night Live alum David Koechner's T-Bones—about his stint as trippy guidance counselor Mr. Rosso on Freaks and Geeks, why his new persona prefers to be in the buff, and the early days of Comedy Central.

RADAR: A lot of people probably know you as Mr. Rosso from Freaks and Geeks. Do people ever come up to you and ask for advice about whether to join the band or the math team?
DAVE (GRUBER) ALLEN: I wish I could do that! Just give free advice to people. I wish that were the case. I offer advice freely, which I don't think is solicited. People recognize me from it, because he's just me in a corduroy jacket with patches on it. You probably saw through that. When Paul [Feig, series creator] was putting the characters together, I had to audition for it, but I think he knew. It's like, If Gruber can do it and wants to do it, I'll put him through the paces. I was pretty lucky.

What about you made him think you could be the cool-but-not-so-cool guidance counselor?

I don't know. Everybody's had a guidance counselor like him. And so maybe when he realized, We'll expand the world of the teachers and administration at McKinley, right? Let's include a guidance counselor and have that guy. The equivalent of the character in my school was actually a media teacher. You know, he was kind of hip. I graduated in '76, right? Media back then was Super-8 film. People weren't making music videos and all that: it was kooky Super-8 films.

You had one of the first shows on the Comedy Channel, the network that would eventually become Comedy Central. What was it like back then?
It was really cool. It was completely brand new. They were finding their feet.

Like the Wild West of comedy?
A little bit. It was modeled after MTV: Let's show a bunch of clips and then have VJs or Comedy Jocks. We had, and I'm not joking, 15-second things where me, Dave, and Steve Higgins tried to do something joke-y between clips of, like, Monty Python. We got to choose some of our own, like, That's a good movie, that's a good movie. But it was weird. It was a clip show.

"First of all, it's THE Naked Trucker. And I only emphasize the article because there are other naked truckers out there"So, in your eyes, how has it changed?
It's completely different now. I would say what's changed is the format. The Comedy Channel, especially, was to be credited and faulted for the standup comedy glut. If you remember, in '89, when the Comedy Channel started, it was like, Here's a bunch of standup comedy! Sort of an egalitarian approach to it, like, Hey, if you live in any place that gets cable, you can watch these comics that other people would see at the Improv in New York or the Laugh Factory in L.A. And now everyone's going to see 'em and get the jokes that, "Men are different from women" and "Dogs are different than cats." You know what I mean?

And now?
It's a different vibe. I like Comedy Central as a channel, because it really hits everybody.

Where does The Naked Trucker & T-Bones fit in there?
I think The Daily Show is really funny: it's smart, it's clever, it's fairly topical in a headline sense. We're not topical on our show, it's kind of evergreen stuff, but the tone of it, the point of view of it, is as crazy as South Park sometimes, and as goofy as Blue Collar stuff.

So tell me about Naked Trucker. Where's he from? What's his deal? And where are his clothes?

That's a good question. First of all, it's The Naked Trucker. And I only emphasize the article because there are other naked truckers out there. In fact, since we've started the show, people will occasionally send me things, like, "Here's a piece about a trucker who was naked and running through the woods and it turns out he was on crank" or something. The Naked Trucker is Everyman and Everywoman. He represents everybody. And that's an easy way to skirt being very specific about who he is. Here's a very bogus way of telling you who he is: Like the Dalai Lama is whoever that guy is for that generation.

He's been anointed The Naked Trucker.
Exactly! I just happen to be the guy who got to be on stage or get a TV show, but there are other naked truckers out there. Oh, and where are his clothes? I want to address that. He wears boots, socks, a hat, and, parenthetically, a thong just so no one freaks out. And a gee-tar.

A strategically placed guitar.
Exactly. And you'll notice not too many reverse angles.

What drew you to truckers and this kind of all-American comedy?
All-American comedy! God, see? You should write our press release. No joke. That's great. Because too often people ask, "Are you guys like Deliverance?" All-American. That's a nice way. One through-line in the show, without being like, we're so philosophical, is freedom. Just kind of doing what you want to do. That's an American dream, right? Just being free. That has political implications. And religious and social and economic and all that stuff.

Or the freedom to not wear pants.
Yeah. Exactly. See, Trucker's free from the iron rod of the textiles industry: A pair of socks and a hat. That's all the textiles he supports.

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