Donnie Baker at The Rust Belt -- May 1.
Saturday, May 1, 8 p.m.
The Rust Belt, 533 12th Avenue, East Moline IL
Performing an eagerly awaited comedy set in the venue's first live event since 2020, frequent Bob & Tom Show guest Donnie Baker – the self-described “Kentucky redneck caricature” who's the brainchild of comedian Ron Sexton – headlines East Moline's The Rust Belt on the May 1, his standup set treating patrons to an evening with the blissfully rude character who describes himself as a “trapped in the '80s” guy who “will never admit defeat.”
The character of Donnie Baker first made an appearance on radio's The Bob & Tom Show in 2005, when Sexton was doing voice work on a number of popular characters for program episodes. After growing attached to this particular figure known for catchphrases such as "I’ll say it right to your face!" and "State Law!," Sexton decided to take his vocal act to the stage. He consequently developed Donnie Baker & the Pork Pistols, a comedy band that played radio hits including "Okay to Drive" and "Not My Rubber," and in 2015, Sexton took Donnie Baker to YouTube, where his most popular video "Missing Boat During Shark Week with Donnie Baker" has now accrued over three million views.
Describing his comedic alter ego to LEO Weekly, Sexton said, "I don’t know why it always struck me as funny, but I thought it would be funny if someone was on the phone on a radio show, and then rudely started yelling at someone off to the side. When we went out on the road, people were convinced [Donnie] was real, and I was a little afraid that being out there like that, it might lose its charm." Yet Donnie Baker was an immediate hit with audiences, because as Sexton says, "Everybody works with, everybody went to school with, or everybody is friends with" somebody like Donnie.
"I never intended Donnie Baker to hit the way it did," Sexton told LEO Weekly. "I thought it was kind of a throwaway character that might last a few phone calls on Bob & Tom, and that would be it. I just had an idea about this guy that was self-confident for all of the wrong reasons, and I thought, 'Aw, heck, I’ll try it.' But it wasn’t until he kind of blew up and I was taking him out on the road for the first time ... that I thought Donnie might actually be something."
Donnie Baker takes the stage at 8 p.m. on May 1, admission is $25, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRustBeltQC.com.
