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BILL ENGVALL

CELEBRITY COMEDIAN, COMIC ACTOR, BLUE COLLAR COMEDY

Back in the day fame was never at the top of Bill Engvall’s to do list. Nope. This Galveston, Texas native had every intention of becoming a teacher. Then one night while in a nightclub, Bill got the insane urge to get up in front of a crowd of strangers and try and make them laugh. Laugh they did, and, since that night, Engvall has been on a roll.

In addition to starring in Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie with Jeff Foxworthy and special guests Larry The Cable Guy and Ron White, he has been racking up all kinds of gigs, from appearances on The Late Show With David Letterman, to guest spots on sitcoms such as Designing Women. Together with Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy, Engvall is starring Blue Collar TV on The WB. The show is a hometown buffet of TV parodies, sketches, and stand-up, celebrating everything from spouses to spoilers, Winnebagos to Waffle Houses, cheap beer to even cheaper lingerie. His humor has also extended into the world of books (You Don’t Have To Be Dumb To Be Stupid) and albums.

Signed to Warner Bros. in 1996, Engvall released his countrified debut album, Here’s Your Sign (also the title of his most famed bit) in 1996. Collaborating with musician Travis Tritt on the Here’s Your Sign video made Engvall a fixture on the play lists of CMT and TNN. The single of the same name became the most requested single on country radio and was ranked #1 on Billboard’s Country Singles Sales Chart for ten weeks. Since then, Engvall has gone on to release a total of six albums and was awarded the Best Selling Comedy Album award at the annual NARM convention, outselling albums by Chris Rock and Adam Sandler.

Though he enjoys television, Engvall says he would never give up performing live. “When you’re doing stand-up live you achieve an intimacy with the audience you can’t get on TV,“ he says. “There’s not a better feeling in the world when you look out and see the audience is identifying with you. It’s wonderful. It’s nice when people come up to you and say ‘I was having a bad day and you made it worthwhile.’ There are enough problems in everyday life. If you can come to my show for an hour and just enjoy life again, then I’ve done my job.”