I find this comedian to be extremely unfunny, but I have to hand it to him: he has completely fabricated a character, sold it to the public, and made millions without 99% of the public realizing that he is even doing a character.
So, I'm not sure whether I consider him a phony, or extremely clever/subversive (a la Andy Kaufman). Here is Daniel Whitney (Larry the Cable Guy's real name) before he created the character, decked out in GAP-style duds, looking like a chubby Seinfeld: