Alan Robertson (center) is leaving his Louisiana church to work with his Uncle Si (left), dad Phil and other family members on “Duck Dynasty.” (Anne Wermiel/NY Post)
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It’s Sunday morning, and Alan Robertson, dressed in all black, steps up to the wooden pulpit at White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ in the small town of West Monroe, La. The crowd of nearly 1,500 erupts into applause.
His dad, Phil, mom, Kay, and Uncle Si sit in their usual spots in the back of the massive church, while his younger brother, Jase, and sister-in-law, Missy, sit up front in the third row.
His family is easy to spot, especially for fans of the mega-successful A&E reality show “Duck Dynasty.” Phil, Si and Jase are dressed in head-to-toe camouflage, with their long, scraggly beards resting on their chests. Si removes his baseball cap for the service, but Phil leaves his dark sunglasses on, as they both sing and bob their heads to the hymns.
The Robertsons gather together regularly for church, but for years they’ve been split over the show that’s made them famous to 9.6 million viewers. Alan has never appeared on “Duck Dynasty” — he’s the only brother of the four who’s avoided the spotlight.
Until now.
When the show returns for Season 4 on Aug. 14, Alan will join the cast. He’s hanging up his job as a full-time pastor to work for the family business (duck call manufacturing) as the company’s Beards and Beauty Wrangler — managing p.r. and speaking tours for the family.
The suited, clean-shaven Alan, 47, looks like an overly plucked duck next to his hirsute, hunting-clad kin.
“The beards are so iconic,” admits Alan, the eldest brother, who only lets his facial hair go wild during hunting season. “All this time I’ve been flying under the radar; I can go to Starbucks and get Mama coffee.”
“That is about to change,” Phil says in his deep, Southern drawl.
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The Robertsons are a real-life “Beverly Hillbillies,” only set in the South — a backwoods family that struck it rich with their company Duck Commander. “Duck Dynasty” is a hit because the clan combines family values and fun, with night-time beaver huntin’, swamp muddin’ and crawfish suckin’ thrown in. Call them the country Kardashians.
Straight-shooting Phil, 67, is the patriarch who founded the company; crazy Uncle Si, 65, is the instigator, always getting into trouble. Mom Kay, 66, is the cook and caretaker of four sons including Willie, 41, the bandana-wearing CEO; Jase, 43, the outdoorsman; and Jep, 35, the quiet one. All have hot wives, especially Jep, whose spouse, Jessica, is a svelte blond beauty beloved by the tabloid press.
After seeing his relatives’ privacy shot to shreds, joining the family flock wasn’t an easy decision for Alan and his wife, Lisa, who’ve been married nearly 29 years. They fret about the effect the show will have on their two daughters, Anna and Alex, as well as their two granddaughters. Alan’s already worried about his 12 nieces and nephews.
“My children are grown, but all of my brothers’ children are teenagers now, so how is this crazy world going to impact them?” Alan says. “We think about John Luke and Sadie, who are such a big part of the show and they’re teenagers, you know? They need to be just normal teenagers. We pray about that.”
Alan is already traveling on speaking tours with his family — and experiencing the downside of fame. Last week at an event in New Orleans, an overeager fan followed him into the restroom. The man just wanted to ask him questions, but for a second Alan felt threatened. He now warns his security team when he goes off alone — even to the bathroom. And the family has hired armed guards for his teenaged nieces and nephews when they attend church camp and mission trips.
Even so, Alan is happy to join the reality show, so he can spread the word of God.
“What I do for our church — you see, it’s a pretty good-sized church — impacts a lot of people, but because of my association with the show, I’ll get to minister to a lot more people,” he says. “Any person that’s an evangelist, that’s what you want to do, so I had to give this up for something possibly bigger.”
And something possibly more lucrative. The Robertsons have made a ton out of the show through book deals and speaking engagements.
The family has two books currently on the New York Times best-seller list, including Phil’s memoir (co-written by Mark Schlabach), which has been No. 1 for six weeks.
(Phil, however, admits he hasn’t read it. “I dictated it, why should I read about it? I’m sick of hearing those stories,” he says.)
The clan has three more books coming out this year — Si’s memoir, “Si-cology,” in September, “Dynasty Devotional” in October and a cookbook by Kay in November. They’re also singing on a Christmas album coming out in October.
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“I thought that was the last gasp of your career, when you’re making a Christmas album,” Phil laughs.
But things are just getting started. Phil says he’s been offered a lucrative deal for another book called “Phil-osophy,” and Alan and Lisa are already writing a book about marriage before they even make their TV debut. Lisa, 47, also says some of the family members have received offers for spinoff shows.
And yet she is still hesitant about stepping into the limelight.
“I’m just worried about coming in and not being able to perform on the spot,” the soft-spoken blonde says. “Everyone else has three years of experience filming.”
Si, sitting next to her, says he was camera-shy when they filmed the pilot. “In the beginning, when we went duck hunting, they would have to hide the camera because every time I’d see it, I’d just freeze up!” he says.
“I guess you’ve come out of your shell now, son!” Phil cracks back.
“When Si messes up it becomes a slogan on a T-shirt,” Alan adds, laughing. In fact, Bass Pro Shops makes a shirt with Si’s picture and his quote, “Hey, hey, all of my stories are 95 percent true, Jack.”
Alan says he thinks A&E will gradually introduce his own daughters into the show. Anna works at Duck Commander now, and Alex is starting a food truck with her husband, Vinny, which they plan to park in front of the Duck Commander store in West Monroe, where lines of fans wrap around the building, taking pictures in front of the wooden, carved sign.
“We’ll have burgers, etouffee and other Louisiana-style food,” Alex says. “It’ll be called Willie’s Duck Diner [after her Uncle Willie]. We want to make it a whole experience for fans that come from all over to the store.”
Family dinners are a big part of the show, and at the end of each episode, the Robertson family prays before the meal — a tradition they insisted on continuing when A&E began filming.
“From Day 1, Dad held up his Bible and said, ‘This is part of our lives, is this going to be in?’ ” Alan says. “And they were like, ‘That’s in, that’s part of who you are.’ ”
And he thinks viewers will see more of the family’s faith now that he’s signed on. During Sunday’s sermon, titled “The Family of Cultural Warriors,” he assures his congregation he will continue the work he started at White’s Ferry Road, the church his father has been attending since he was 28.
“All those years we preached sermons about ‘Grow where you’re planted,’ ” Alan says, as he steps behind the pulpit. “And God has planted us all over the place.”