INTERVIEW: Tickle gets ready to make moonshine and tickle your funny bone

Tickle, the star of Discovery Channel’s hit series Moonshiners, is ready to “tickle” the funny bone of American audiences all over again with his own spinoff series.

Watching Tickle’s weekly adventures in the illegal production and trade of moonshine alcohol is almost like peering into the days of Prohibition. The moonshiner and his friends are constantly trying to evade the authorities and make some hard-earned money on their high-proof liquid.

Tickle said his series came about after fan’s positive response to Moonshiners. “I really think that Discovery and, you know, everybody involved got looking into social media and different things and said, wow, you know, people really love this guy,” Tickle said recently during a phone interview. “And so ultimately I think it was the fans calling for it that really prompted it, and … Discovery Channel, you know, being the great station that they are … they look at stuff like that. And they said, hey, you know what, we have to give the people what they want. And I think that’s how I wound up with my own show.”

In the new series, Tickle stumbles (literally) onto an enormous lot of moonshine in the woods, and instead of leaving the jugs, he decides to take someone else’s products and try to sell them. “How could it not be a great opportunity, but on the same end … somebody else knows this is here,” he said. “I’m not the only one. It didn’t just grow here.”

After watching Tickle on TV, it would seem that he comes from a long line of moonshiners. However, the TV personality’s grandfather and great-grandfather were actually in a field far from the illicit trade of moonshine: They were preachers.

“I come from a line of preachers, and so I’m the first in my family to do it. But it was something that I was interested in at a young age, and met a few people and … started learning about it. It’s something I’ve been passionate about and something I had always wanted to do. So that’s kind of how I got into it. … I’m the first, and hopefully maybe one day I can pass it down to someone as well.”

Tickle said that if his grandfather and great-granfather were still alive, “they would want to whip my tail good.”

The sense of humor fans experience every week when watching Moonshiners or Tickle is a personality trait of this man that he seems to hold in high regard. Laughing with family and friends is a philosophy as much as a reality. “Even in the down times when stuff isn’t going your way, you can still have a little fun,” he said. “There’s no sense in just being completely down, totally down all the time. If you can’t have fun doing anything, you know, what’s the sense of even being around. You might as well make the best of any situation that you’re dealt. And that’s just what I try to do.”

Here’s another way Tickle puts it: “I always thought I was famous to begin with just nobody else knew it. Now other people know who I am. … I thought I was a star when I was 3 years old, you know, just nobody else knew it at the time.”

Despite the humor, there are real problems facing Tickle on a daily basis. Moonshining is illegal, and he needs to keep his activities hidden from the always-interested authorities. “Once you stop being scared and you stop looking over your shoulder for the police, that’s when they’re going to get you,” he said. “You have to always be watching out, saying you know, who’s seeing me go here, who’s seeing me go there. You have to do that. If you don’t, you’re going to get caught, and that’s the last thing any moonshiner wants.”

A logical question is why even film a show like Tickle. If Discovery Channel shows his whereabouts, doesn’t realty television pose a threat to his business? Tickle said the episodes don’t attract further scrutiny, mostly because they’re not taped live and it’s still difficult to pinpoint his location. For the record, the TV personality said he has never been arrested for moonshining.

“We’re good at what we do, and a lot of times we’re smarter than what we look,” he said. “One of the first things that every good moonshiner knows is to stay well-hidden … That’s just one of the first cardinal rules of moonshining, is to kind of stay as under the radar as possible when it comes to going to your still and come to making your actual runs.”

Of course, one way to solve the fear of getting caught is to legalize moonshining, an idea that Tickle supports.

“I think that it should be legal because it’s a part of our heritage, and it’s a part of what’s made this country as great as it is today. It was one of our first taxes that helped build our government. And I think just on that alone, it should be allowed to be legal. And I mean at least legal for you to make for personal use, at least.”

Moonshiners are a close-knit group, and for that reason Tickle believes the reality shows depicting this illicit profession are well-received. He said there was some backlash when Moonshiners first premiered, but the demand for the alcohol soon outpaced moonshiners’ fear of the authorities.

As far as legal moonshine, Tickle prefers his own brand. “They’re just trying to make something taste like what they think moonshine should be,” he added. “I think what I make is one of the best that’s around. And, you know, a lot of other people think that and come back, and they tell me that as well. So that’s one of the things that helps confirm that it really is.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Tickle airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on Discovery Channel. Click here for more information.