What Si Robertson Has Been Doing Since Duck Dynasty Ended
Silas Robertson — better known as Uncle Si — has been entertaining people with his quirks and hijinks since 2012, when he was first featured on A&E's Duck Dynasty reality series. He shot to household recognition with his infamous catchphrase "Hey, Jack!" and ubiquitous iced tea glass to become the most popular person on the show. Uncle Si and his aphorisms decorate many a piece of Duck Dynasty merchandise, and he has even received the coveted Chia Pet treatment. However, Duck Dynasty ended in April of 2017, and thereafter Robertson himself retired from working at Duck Commander, the duck-call manufacturing business featured on the show.
So, where is Si Robertson today, and what keeps him entertained since leaving the immediate national spotlight?
As it turns out, Uncle Si is something of a jack of all trades when it comes to hobbies: he's tried his hand at writing, music-making, and, of course, viral video analysis, which he conducted alongside his nephew Willie Robertson on his short-lived spin-off series Going Si-Ral that wrapped shortly before Duck Dynasty did.
Virtually the moment the show ended, Robertson released a book in May 2017. Entitled Si-renity: How I Stay Calm and Keep the Faith, the book is something of a behind-the-scenes-slash-memoir look at his entire life, including the part lived on the A&E reality show. This was actually Robertson's fourth published book. It followed after Si-cology 1: Tales and Wisdom from Duck Dynasty's Favorite Uncle — a collection of Robertson's "tall tales, crazy exploits, and quirky one-liners" –and two children's books, Uncle Si and The Christmas Elf and Everything's Better with a Beard, which features the entire Robertson clan.
Since then, Uncle Si has decided to lean full-tilt into a music career by founding his own country music group, Uncle Si and the Sicotics. The band consists of Robertson, his daughter-in-law Marsha Robertson (she, too, was featured on Duck Dynasty and is the wife of Uncle Si's brother Phil Robertson), and celebrated singer-songwriter Bridgette Tatum. They recorded a single, "As Seen on TV", in 2017, and subsequently released a self-titled EP.
Before the end of Duck Dynasty and at what was arguably the apex of his mainstream fame, Robertson expanded his reach on the small-screen by appearing on the television series Last Man Standing, playing a character called Uncle Ray in the 2013 episode "Back to School." He also dabbled in feature films, landing a small part in the 2015 Christian religion movie Faith of Our Fathers, and light-hearted family fare, lending his voice to narrate VeggieTales: Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas. However, the bite of the acting bug didn't have long-lasting effects, and Robertson hasn't stepped in front of the camera since Duck Dynasty ended in 2017. And it seems that won't change any time soon, as his focus is on Uncle Si and the Sicotics.
Robertson explained in a May 2018 interview with PopCulture.com that he had grown accustomed to a certain way of life during the heyday of Duck Dynasty, but he isn't about to let a lack of riches keep him from a career in music — something he had attempted in 2014 with the release of his EP Me and My Smokin' Hot Honey.
"I got to start making me some money somewhere. But I just chose the wrong industry to really make a lot of money," said Robertson. "I think there's a lot of goals that we want to meet as a band. I would love to see that we finish this record out, because I would love to see what we could write beyond what we've got. I think everybody believes it to be just this funny thing, and there's a lot of that on there. But there's also some moments that happen on there that are really important, and I would love just to be able to have the opportunity that we can all write together some more and see how deep we can go."
Finishing a full-length album is the band's current priority, as Uncle Si and the Sicotics are no longer actively touring the country. If you want to keep tabs on them, they regularly post videos on their Facebook page.
Though Duck Dynasty is over, Si Robertson's life clearly hasn't stopped for a second.