Bill Engvall's AGED AND CONFUSED airs this Sunday on Comedy Central
Bill Engvall is just like you and me and that’s the obvious appeal whether you’re watching him on television or during one of his sold-out stand-up acts across the country. Even talking to Engvall on the phone (to find out more about his Comedy Central special Aged and Confused which airs this weekend), you can’t help but think you’re talking to a good buddy about how his day is going. During our chat, Engvall talked about why he doesn’t think cussing is funny, what he’s talking about now that his kids are grown and how he feels about TBS not renewing his sitcom “The Bill Engvall Show.???
Jim Halterman: One of the things about your TV show as well as your stand-up is there is never any bad language or anything too racy. Is that by design?
Bill Engvall: No, I learned a long time ago from watching the greats like Cosby and Newhart and these guys…you know, people don’t ask a lot. I think they only ask that you be fairly clever and you don’t have to cuss. Look, nobody loves a dirty joke more than me but I’ve had parents come up to me after shows and they’ll tell me their kids turned them on to me and that’s great. If you get the kids’ audience – and I’m not a Nickelodeon or Nick at Night kind of guy – but they’re going to be fans the rest of their lives. And I’ve done it this long this way I wouldn’t know how to do it any other way.
JH: And your Comedy Central special, you say ‘rear end’ instead of ‘ass’ and it’s something everyone can watch.
BE: Thank you, I’m proud of that. Listen, I think comics have to realize that the audience isn’t stupid at all and they realize if you’re funny and you’re clean then you’ve worked a little bit harder. I could get up there and swear just to swear and people would laugh and stuff but I want to see someone who’ll make me laugh with something that is funny, not just swearing to be swearing.
Nancy Travis and Bill Engvall in THE BILL ENGVALL SHOW
JH: Your stand-up looks effortless. Do you put a ton of work into it or is it just a gift that you have?
BE: I think there is a natural gift but when I’m putting together a show, I look at it two different ways. One, when you come to my show I don’t want it to be like you’re at a stand-up show but I’d rather it be like we’re sitting around a living room and I just am a funny guest doing the talking. The other one is that I kind of write stuff so…I don’t get political or religious because people get bombarded with that all day long. I want to do a show where people can come and sit back and relax and laugh. The Aged and Confused special was really fun to put together because I’ve made my career talking about raising my kids and being a family guy and now we’re empty nesters so this has opened up a whole new well of material of us spending time together, being older and it’s really been fun to do.
JH: So most of your stories on stage are really from your life or do you also listen to other people’s stories?
BE: It’s pretty much my life and I think that’s what people like. If you take away the show biz
stuff, my life is no different from your life or somebody else’s life. I get up, take out the trash, have to go to the doctor…and I think people like that I talk about things they go through. One of the things I’m talking about now is that my wife and I were so excited about empty nesting. ‘It’s going to be great…just you and the wife??? but there’s the other side of the coin which is that there is just me and my wife. There’s nobody to deflect the attention away from me so now I do a joke that my name is the only one that gets called out loud in the house now and I’ve developed a hearing problem. [laughs]
JH: Because you are so relatable to your audience, when fans approach you do they act like they know you personally?
BE: Oh yeah. And I hope that never goes away. The other night, we’re here at Texas at the ranch and the other night my wife and I went into this town and we went country dancing in this little dance hall and it was so funny because we walked through the door there was that immediate “Is that Bill Engvall???? and then they see me drinking beer about a bottle and dancing with my wife and a guy came up to me and said “That’s what I like about you. You’re just like us.??? I like to be able to go walk around, go to dinner, and do fun stuff whether it’s an amusement park or whether we’re two-stepping. I think that the success in the media you have to be true to yourself. Leno told me a long time ago that you shouldn’t do jokes that you don’t know about. Like for me to do jokes about drugs when I don’t do drugs or me doing fat jokes because I’m not fat. What I know about is being an everyday guy in everyday life.
JH: Is it true, as you say in your show, that as you get older you know less?
BE: Oh yes! Totally! I used to think anyone who was young was young and dumb and you didn’t know anything but I think the real meaning of it is you’re young and you think you know everything so you’re dumb but as you get older you realize you don’t know that much stuff anyway.
JH: You mentioned Bill Cosby and Bob Newhart. Are they your inspirations for even wanting to get into comedy?
BE: Bob Newhart was probably the key. Cosby I learned a lot from just by watching but Steve Martin was a huge influence on me, too. I’m not as bizarre and out there was Steve Martin is but I remember when I was a freshman in college I bought the “Let’s Get Small??? album and I listened to that and I thought ‘Oh that would be a great job, being a comedian.’ But I didn’t think you could make any money doing that. I kept doing it and fell in love with it. TV and movies are all wonderful but I can tell you there’s nothing like being the response from being a stand-up.
JH: You perform all over the country. Is there a favorite place or somewhere that you love going?
BE: That’s a hard question because I have so much fun wherever I go. The Northwest is really fun, Vegas is a blast…if we’re talking about little stuff to do when you’re not performing…one of the things I love and the great thing about this job is that I’ve gotten to see places I’d never be able to see before. I’d have no reason to go to Utica, New York, ya know? My wife said to me one day, ‘you can go anywhere in the country and you’ve got people there you know whether we know them from hanging out or not. It’s just a weird thing for me…and it still blows my mind that people will pay money to hear what I have to talk about. Just because of television I can go to just about any town in America pretty much and somebody will go ‘You’re Bill Engvall.’ It’s a weird thing to wrap your head around that you’re known by that many people.
JH: I was very sad to hear that TBS wasn’t renewing The Bill Engvall Show.
BE: Me, too. We got three years out of it and TBS has decided to go in a more urban direction, which I get, but the good news is that the show did what it was supposed to do and now other networks are interested. It was great that they let me carry a show but I’m going to miss the kids and Nancy [Travis} but it’s not my dime so…
JH: Do you think someone will pick up the show for new episodes?
BE: Oh, Jim, I doubt it because if they did that then someone’s ego would have to take a hit. [laughs] When they moved us to Saturday night I said “Look, you’re killing us. There hasn’t been a successful comedy on a Saturday night since the 70s.’ It’s their money so they can do what they want with it. It was a blast to do and to work with Tim [Meadows], Nancy and the kids was a real treat and they’ll all move on to other things and so will I.
“Bill Engvall: Aged and Confused??? airs this Sunday at 9/8c on Comedy Central.
