Blue Collar comic sets out on his own
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Bill Engvall always wanted to be a singer, but knew he didn’t have the voice for it. And he wanted to be an actor, but growing up in small Texas towns limited his opportunities in that direction.
So he set his sights on becoming an educator, but before he landed a job as a teacher, he took on work as a disc jockey in a Dallas night club that was attached to a comedy club.
“I went up to the amateur night with some friends just to watch and after a couple of beers, I let them talk me into going up,” he said. “I don’t remember what I did, except that I did five minutes and ended up with the job as house emcee.”
Part of his duties was to pick up the headlining comedians at the airport and take care of them while they were in town, then take them back to the airport.
“This was in 1982, the days when Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy were all touring,” he said. “I liked it. It was a fun job and a cool hobby. I got to stay up late and sleep in.”
Part of his act was about how stupid people can be and how they say things they should be slapped for.
“My wife took exception to that,” he said. “She said I wasn’t the kind of guy who’d be slapping anybody, so I came up with the idea of giving people sign to wear that says ‘I’m stupid.’”
He even made up a batch of “I’m stupid” signs and sold them after the show for a dollar apiece, or two for five dollars.
That became his signature routine and his first album, “Here’s Your Sign,” came out in 1997. It was funny enough to land Engvall a spot alongside Jeff Foxworthy and company for the Blue Collar tour, and his career was made. Mostly.
“It was like being married to a rich girl,” he said. “It’s a blast, but after a while you want people to know that you can make it on your own. I put a lot of pressure on myself for that.”
So now he’s not only doing weekend solo gigs across the country, but his TBS series, “The Bill Engvall Show,” has just been picked up for a second season. Part of its success may be that, unlike his colleague Foxworthy, Engvall made sure that he had a hand in the development of the show.
“I saw what Jeff went through in his sitcom and he didn’t have any control,” he said, “so from the get-go I said I wanted to have my hand on it.
“Nobody knows my style of comedy better than I do.”
