In the 2000s, Larry the Cable Guy seemed ubiquitous after the heights of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.

He voiced Mater in the 2006 Pixar hit “Cars” and its two sequels. He toured incessantly, regularly selling out big arenas. His catchphrase “Git-R-Done” is now part of the American lexicon.

But Larry, the stage persona of Dan Whitney, is also a family man and in recent years, the 60-year-old has cut his stand-up schedule by 90%, he said in a recent interview. “I still love being onstage,” Whitney said, “but you get sick of the travel.”

For 15 to 20 years, Whitney said, he was on the road an average of 287 days a year. He has since reduced his workload to a mere 24 dates a year, spending most of his time at his Nebraska farm.

“My kids grew up on the tour bus,” he said. “… We toured so hard from 2003 to 2015. I have since started slowing down as my kids get older.” (He has a son and daughter, both teens.)

He took advice from Jeff Foxworthy, who ignited his career by placing him on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour in 2000.

“He’s always a good mentor to me,” Whitney said. “He told me a long time ago that you only get to see your kids grow up once. If you don’t have to be somewhere, don’t do it. I have taken that to heart. Once they started middle school, I completely changed my schedule.”

Whitney created Larry as a character calling into radio morning shows in 1991 but didn’t start using it onstage until 1997, nearly a decade into his stand-up career. Whitney turned Larry into a lovable drinking, partying divorced dude even if he wasn’t married at the time and was not a big drinker or partier.

The character is so enmeshed in his being, he said, he answers to either Dan or Larry.

“The more I did the character, the closer he got to me,” Whitney said. “I began throwing more of my personal experiences into the character.” But only maybe 20% of what he says onstage is true.

His fan base, he said, may or may not know his real name or actual background. “I don’t think most of them care,” he said. “They come out to laugh. I don’t think they look into it that much.”

He also does a weekly Sirius XM show, “Larry the Cable Guy and the Fun Bunch,” every Wednesday. “We used to do a week in review, but the news got so crappy,” he said. “People are so divided. We didn’t want to add to the hate and division. So we just talk nonsense. We want people to tune in and laugh.”

It has been six years since the last “Cars” film, but the franchise lives on with animated shorts, toys and games. “I’m always doing voice-over work for some sort of video game or talking toy somewhere,” he said. “We did ‘Cars on the Road’ on Disney+ last year, which was kind of like ‘Cars 4.’ It’s Mater and Lightning McQueen on a road trip. It could have been a movie but instead, it’s nine 10-minute segments.”

July 9 birthdays: Actor Richard Roundtree is 81. Musician John Tesh is 71. Actor Jimmy Smits is 68. Actor Tom Hanks is 67. Actor Kelly McGillis is 66. Singer Jim Kerr is 64. Singer Courtney Love is 59. Actor Pamela Adlon is 57. Actor Scott Grimes is 52. Singer Isaac Brock is 48. Musician Jack White is 48. Actor Linda Park is 45.