Performing Arts Fort Worth Welcomes Bill Engvall, 9/23

Performing Arts Fort Worth welcomes the return of Texas-bred comedian Bill Engvall to Bass Performance Hall on Sunday, September 23, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. Tickets start at $38.50 and are on sale NOW.

Texas native and onetime North Texan Bill Engvall has made a name for himself as a blue-collar comedian who can find outrageous humor in everyday occurrences. That down-to-Earth approach to comedy has not only made him one of the most popular and recognizable comedians in the country, it has made him one of the busiest.

Engvall hosted game show Lingo for GSN, which premiered in 2011 and was the highest-rated show in GSN network history. He had a three-episode arc on the TNT show Hawthorne, narrated a documentary for the Speed Channel on Darrel Waltrip and starred in the Hallmark Channel movie, Kiss at Pine Lake. Engvall will also voice an animated character in a new show for CMT, currently titled Bounty Hunters, which will begin airing in the spring of 2013.

Engvall has starred in and executive produced his own self-titled sitcom for TBS, which ran for three seasons. He was the host of one of the top-rated shows on CMT, Country Fried Home Videos, and one of the stars of the sketch comedy show, Blue Collar TV, on the WB network. He shot a special for the WB network called Mobile Home Disasters, which helped propel the network to one of its best Thursday nights of the season. He has also appeared in the films Bait Shop, Strawberry Wine and Delta Farce.

It’s a long way from what Engvall originally intended to be: a teacher. A native of Galveston, Engvall moved to Dallas and began working as a disc jockey, with every intention of someday becoming a teacher. While in a nightclub one evening, he decided to try his hand at stand-up – and he was hooked. Soon after, he moved to California to pursue a career in comedy.

From that point on, Engvall has steadily moved up the superstar ladder. He spent the early ‘90s making appearances on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and Showtime and A&E specials. In 1992, he won the American Comedy Award for “best male standup comedian,” leading to roles on TV shows such as Designing Women, Delta and The Jeff Foxworthy Show, the latter of which changed his life and career.

His friendship with Foxworthy helped lead into the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour,” a highly-successful national tour that featured Engvall, Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White. The four would subsequently hit the stage again for the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again” and “Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road.” The concerts – and accompanying Comedy Central specials and top-selling DVDs – led to a sketch comedy TV show called, appropriately enough, Blue Collar TV, which featured Engvall, Larry and Foxworthy.

To charge tickets by phone, call (817) 212-4280 in Fort Worth; 1-877-212-4280 (toll free) outside Fort Worth; or order online at www.basshall.com. Tickets are also available at the Bass Performance Hall ticket office at 525 Commerce Street. Ticket office hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. For group sales, call 817-212-4318.

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