Engvall the Everyman Actor, comedian, 'Blue Collar' star comes to WAC for standup performance

By Kevin Kinder

Posted: July 31, 2009 at 7:49 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Bill Engvall is just a guy. And that's all he really wants to be.

It's the name he gave to his book "Just a Guy: Notes From a Blue Collar Life," and it's the way he approaches his television shows and his comedy routine, too.

He wants to be the crazy uncle type, the one everyone enjoys chatting with and the one who always has something funny to share, he said by phone earlier this week, a day after his 52nd birthday, from hishome in Los Angeles.

"I want to be the funny guy in the living room, telling a story," he said.

Engvall has had plenty of opportunities to perform his act in the past few years as a nationally respected standup comedian, an actor associated with the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" series and as a television star of CMT's "Country Fried Home Videos" and a sitcom based on his own life, "The Bill Engvall Show."

Though he is always looking for new opportunities and hinted that afew new movies are in the works, Engvall still enjoys standup as much as he did when he first started more than a decade ago.

In between filming for his two major television projects, Engvall is on a standup tour that will bring him to the Walton Arts Center on Aug. 8 for two performances.

It all started with an open mic night, the performer said. He knew immediately comedy was what he wanted to do for a living, but he "didn't know I could make a living doing it."

He first appeared on several television shows, including "TheTonight Show" with Johnny Carson and the short-lived "Designing Women" spinoff "Delta," starring Delta Burke.

It wasn't until 1996 and the release of what has become his signature bit that his popularity spiked. That year saw the release of his comedy album "Here's Your Sign," which involves Engvall repeating the album title - which became a catchphrase - to those who have done or said something stupid.

Engvall parlayed the platinumselling success of that release into Comedy Central specials, movie roles, including those with the Blue Collar Comedy troupe that included friends Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White, and the television shows.

"The Bill Engvall Show," the third season premiere of which debuted earlier this month, may not be replete with "Here's Your Sign" jokes, but it's very much his kind of Everyman humor, he said.

"I really want my show to be relatable," he said. "I want people to say, 'Wow, that happened in my house.'"

Despite having multiple fronts on which to spread his comedy, Engvall has not lost his knack for coming up with new material. He'll release his ninth comedy album, "Aged and Confused," later this year, he said.

His two Aug. 8 performances will feature material from the new album, he said.

But he also knows he'll have to dig back into his catalog for a few greatest hits-type bits.

Because he knows what his fans want. And to not do at least a few of his trademark "Here's Your Sign" lines? Well, that just might earn him one.

Entertainment, Pages 11 on 07/31/2009

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