Ron White talks marriage, sobriety, friendship with AC/DC's Brian Johnson and more

On stage, Ron White is rarely seen without a tumbler of scotch in his hand. But here's a little secret.

"Much to some of my fans' chagrin, I drink probably more tequila than I do scotch," White said, calling from his home in Montecito, Calif. As a matter of fact, the Texas native has his own tequila line, Number Juan, and recently spent his first wedding anniversary vacationing at a Hawaii home owned by billionaire Patron founder John Paul DeJori.

Then again: Scotch, tequila, what does it even matter? White remains the same irascible, uncensorable raconteur no matter what he's drinking. While White's star shot through the roof when he co-starred on Jeff Foxworthy's early-millennium Blue Collar Comedy Tour, he's arguably at the top of his game in 2014, scoring a Grammy nomination for his most recent album, A Little Unprofessional.

A stable career owes much to a stable home life, and for that, White can credit his third wife, singer Margo Rey. The sister of White's longtime friend and opening act Alex Reymundo, she and White married last October after decades of friendship and six years of courtship. In that span, Rey was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she and White have worked together to support charities like Brides Against Breast Cancer.

Occasionally, White and Rey also work together just for fun. On Saturday, White will perform two shows at Morsani Hall of the Straz Center in Tampa, and Rey and her band will headline an after-party at the Straz's intimate TECO Theater.

Before the show, White called to talk about love, sobriety and his friendship with AC/DC singer Brian Johnson, who lives in Sarasota. Here are excerpts.

You guys just celebrated your one-year anniversary, right?

Yeah, that first year is a fun one. (laughs)

How so?

Oh, you know, you just get used to living with someone, so it's very, very trying. And we're both artists, which doesn't make it any easier. And then we've had some big losses this year; we've lost some important people. So it's been tough that way, also. But it looks like we're gonna make it right on through it, and it'll be just fine.

Yeah, I saw where in your shows, you're paying tribute to some comics who've passed on, like Robin Williams. Were you close with him?

What happened with Robin was, about seven years ago, I had a brief bout with sobriety that I was able to overcome with the help of my friends. I was in a rehab in Malibu, and one day they said, "We're going to take you to this meeting," and they wouldn't tell me what it was. They took me to the Bel-Air Hotel, took me to a table, and it was Robin Williams and Bob Goldthwait, who's his best friend, who's been sober for a long time, and roped Robin into it. I think he was an alumni of the place I was going to. He didn't know me from Adam, and he was just on the whole time. We were just having so much fun. We didn't talk one minute about the unbelievably boring subject of sobriety, and we just did jokes and laughed and it was unbelievable. He just built a big ol' soft spot in my heart. The he offs himself, and it's really hard to swallow.

How is Margo's health? Is she good these days?

Yeah, we seem to have won that one, but nobody's handing out any guarantees over at the cancer shop. But right now, it looks great. She had a recurrence last year, and the treatment for that was pretty radical, and left her really beat up. Never affected her voice — they aimed everything away from her vocal cords. She had four-and-a-half-octave range, so she could hit her high notes flat-footed right after radiation. But her stamina went from zero to back where it is now, which I would guess is around 90 percent.

How is it you haven't relocated permanently to Florida? It seems like you love fishing, you love the climate and you're buddies with Brian Johnson, who lives here. How is it you're still in California?

You know what, we talk about it. And we love Sarasota specifically. Margo and Brenda (Johnson, Brian's wife), they're travel companions. They just took their mother on a cruise all over the place. They went skiing together this year. We may someday. I'm a little house-heavy right now, so I can't be buying another one.

What do you and Brian do for fun on the Gulf Coast?

We play golf and we drink too much and smoke too much and listen to music too loud — same thing we've always done, it's just we do it together now. And I try to figure out what he just said. "(Mumbles in a gruff, unintelligible brogue)!" "What?"

What advice do you have on working with your significant other? Because I imagine you probably didn't travel or work with your previous wives the same way you do with Margo.

No, no, no. It is difficult, because Margo's show is so much more complicated than mine. She's got five musicians with equipment and backline and all that stuff, and I've got a bottle of whiskey. So it's a little easier to put on my show. But it gives me something to do that I love after the show, and it gives her great exposure. Now, sometimes we'll let her play the same venue I do. When we're in New Orleans, we both play the Mahalia Jackson Theater, and she goes on after me. Sometimes that works great, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the fans think she's headlining the show. But I just can't follow her. Somebody complained: "I didn't pay to hear somebody sing!" Well, all right, f--- you then.

What does she do when you're on stage, and what do you do when she's on stage?

When I'm on stage, I don't know what she does. (laughs) But when she's on stage, I'm in the front row, digging every minute of it. She's the most engaging entertainer I've ever met or seen, and I can't get enough of it. I've been watching her for 20-something years, since she was 19, so longer than that, I guess.

How long does your courtship go back?

I've known her for 28 years. Now, we weren't lovers. I thought about it, but when I was doing a selfie. So this happened later in life, about six years ago, when I was going through a divorce and Margo was single, and I found out she was touring with Broadway roadshows. I knew that she was in L.A. and started a jazz band. And you just can't watch her sing and not fall in love with her. She just melts my heart. She can make me cry anytime she wants, just by singing. She just moves my heart.

What's your favorite song to hear her sing?

I watched her make Brian Johnson cry singing The Nearness of You in his living room, a cappella.

What is the scenario where she's singing a cappella in Brian Johnson's living room?

Oh, Brian loves her. Brian's says (adopts that thick brogue again), "She sings like an angel! C'mon, Margo! Sing us a tune! You're a proper singer! I'da shite that one out!"

Did Alex ever have any reservations about you dating his sister?

Yeah, he did. For really good reasons, too. I mean, we're not much alike — I'm kind of a slob, she's a really, really clean freak, and that's never a good mix. And other reasons — he's Mexican and she's his sister, and you have to stab someone. They're a stabbing culture. I'll tell you something funny: I was talking to this comic, and I was telling him, "Alex, he's pissed about me seeing his sister." He goes, "You give me Alex's dates, I'll hold my sister down and let you f--- her." (laughs)

*****

Ron White performs at 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday at Morsani Hall of the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. Tickets are $49.50 and up. Click here for details. Margo Rey headlines a post-show concert at 10:30 p.m. at the Straz Center's TECO Theater. Tickets are $20. Click here for details.

-- Jay Cridlin, tbt*