Bill Engvall
Bill Engvall (2010)
Birth name	William Ray Engvall, Jr.
Born	(1957-07-27) July 27, 1957 (age 54) Galveston, Texas, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1990–present
Genres	Country comedy, observational comedy, satire
Subject(s)	Culture of the Southern United States, everyday life, marriage, parenting, self-deprecation
Spouse	Mary Gail Watson (1982–present) 2 children
Notable works and roles	Blue Collar Comedy Tour Bill Pelton on The Jeff Foxworthy Show Host of Country Fried Home Videos Bill Little in Delta Farce Bill Pearson on The Bill Engvall Show Host of Lingo (2011 Run)
Website	www.billengvall.com

William Ray "Bill" Engvall, Jr. (born July 27, 1957)^[1] is an American comedian and actor best known for his work as a stand-up comic and as a member of the Blue Collar Comedy group.

Early life[link]

Bill Engvall was born in Galveston, Texas. Following graduation from Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas, Engvall attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, intending to earn a Bachelors degree and become a teacher.^[2] While at Southwestern he was a member of Xi Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order. Engvall left college prior to earning his degree and worked a series of jobs, including tour guide at Inner Space Caverns, and disc jockey in a Dallas, Texas nightclub.^[3] It was while working as club DJ he first ventured into standup comedy at amateur and open mic nights around Dallas.

Career[link]

In 1990 Bill Engvall moved to southern California to dedicate full time to his comedy. Early notoriety came from hosting the cable show A Pair of Jokers with Rosie O'Donnell and an appearance on the The Golden Palace where he played Blanche's son Matthew, a stockbroker turned aspiring comic. Other early appearances included hosting A&E Networks An Evening at The Improv as well as stand-up routines on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman.^[4]
A career breakthrough happened in 1992 when Engvall was named Best Male Standup at the American Comedy Awards. His first role as a series regular came soon after when he was cast in the ABC series Delta, starring Delta Burke. The show only lasted one season however, and Engvall returned to making the rounds of comedy clubs and the occasional television appearance until 1996 when he was cast with fellow comic and best friend Jeff Foxworthy in the NBC version of The Jeff Foxworthy Show. Signed by Warner Bros. Records in 1996, Engvall release the first of a series of highly successful comedy albums, Here's Your Sign, based on his signature stage bit. The album was certified Platinum and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Country album chart, thanks in part to the single and video of the same title on which he collaborated with Country star Travis Tritt.^[5] Eight more comedy albums followed including Dorkfish in 1998, and the most recent, 2009's Aged and Confused.

Blue Collar Comedy Tour[link]

Jeff Foxworthy and Engvall launched the first of six Blue Collar Comedy Tours in 2000.^[6] The tours also featured comedians Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy and were largely responsible for their breakout success. Each of the six years of the tour were very successful and spawned three movies, a satellite radio show, and a television show, Blue Collar TV on The WB Network.

Game show host[link]

On June 6, 2011, Bill Engvall began a new chapter in his career as he took over as host of the re-launched Lingo on GSN.^[7] According to an interview in American Profile magazine, Engvall said he jumped at the chance to host the show, citing the fun his friend Foxworthy had hosting Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?. Engvall had been a fan of Lingo when it aired a few years previously before ending in 2007, admitting that his wife always beat him to the answers. When asked if there were any plans to have buddies Foxworthy or Larry The Cable Guy appear on Lingo, he replied "You never know! I would love to have them on the show because it would be a blast. I would really dig that."^[8]

Personal life[link]

Bill and Gail Engvall (born August 1960) have been married since December 18, 1982. They have a daughter named Emily (born 1986), a 2008 graduate from the University of Puget Sound, as well as a son, Travis (born 1991), a rising senior at Northern Arizona University; both of whom are often mentioned during his routines. Engvall resides in southern California when not on tour and maintains a blog for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, of which he holds season tickets.^[9]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Other charted songs[link]

Music videos[link]

List of works[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Just a Guy: Notes from a Blue Collar Life St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-36267-6 (2007)

Filmography[link]

• Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003)
• Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again (2004)
• Blue Collar TV (2004)
• Mobile Home Disaster (2005)
• Country Fried Home Videos (Host) (2006–present)
• Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One For the Road (2006)
• The Bill Engvall Show (2007–2009)
• Delta Farce (2007)
• Bait Shop (2008)
• Country Fried Planet (2008)
• Celebrity Family Feud (2008)
• Strawberry Wine (2009)
• Leverage (2010) (guest star) as Duke Penzer
• Lingo (2011)
• Hawthorne (2011) (guest star) as Detective Jimmy Dupree (3 Episodes)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bill Engvall

• Official website
• Bill Engvall at the Internet Movie Database
• Bill Engvall cast bio on The WB
• Bill Engvall interview on Golf & Other Fore-Letter Words (Vegas Video Network)

Jeff Foxworthy
File:Jefffoxworthy2.jpg Foxworthy at the red carpet of the 2007 American Idol season finale
Birth name	Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy
Born	(1958-09-06) September 6, 1958 (age 53) Hapeville, Georgia, United States medium = Stand-up, television, film, radio
Nationality	American
Years active	1984–present
Genres	Southern comedy, country comedy
Subject(s)	Culture of the Southern United States, everyday life, family, rednecks
Spouse	Pamela Gregg (1985–present) (2 children)
Notable works and roles	The Jeff Foxworthy Show (1995–1997), Blue Collar Comedy Tour (2003–2006), Blue Collar TV (2004–2006), Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (host, 2007–2009)
Signature
Website	http://www.jefffoxworthy.com/

Jeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy has released six major-label comedy albums. His first two albums were each certified 3×multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Foxworthy has also written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled No Shirt, No Shoes... No Problem!.

Foxworthy has also made several ventures into television, first in the mid-1990s as the star of a sitcom called, The Jeff Foxworthy Show. He has also appeared alongside Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy in several Blue Collar television specials, most notably Blue Collar TV. Since 2007, he has been the host of the quiz show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? on Fox (2007–2009) and syndication (2009–2011). Foxworthy hosted a nationally syndicated radio show called The Foxworthy Countdown from April 1999 to December 2009.

Early life[link]

Foxworthy was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the first child of Jimmy Abstance Foxworthy, an IBM executive, and Carole Linda (Camp) Foxworthy, both of English descent.^[1][2][3] His grandfather, James Marvin Camp, was a fireman in Hapeville for more than 30 years.^[1]

Foxworthy graduated from Hapeville High School. He attended Georgia Tech in Atlanta, but left just before graduating.^[4] He worked for five years in mainframe computer maintenance at IBM (where his father also worked). At the urging of IBM co-workers, he entered and won the Great Southeastern Laugh-off, at Atlanta's Punchline comedy club, in 1984.

Career[link]

Comedy albums[link]

Foxworthy received the award for "Best Stand-Up Comic" at the 1990 American Comedy Awards.^[5]

In 1993, he released You Might Be a Redneck If…, which started the "You Might Be a Redneck" fad, topped the comedy album charts and sold more than three million copies.

His July 1995 release, Games Rednecks Play, received a 1996 Grammy nomination for "Best Spoken Comedy Album".^[6]

Totally Committed was released in May 1998. In conjunction with the CD was a one-hour HBO stand-up special by the same name. The CD reached "gold" status and received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination.^[7] The video of the song, Totally Committed featured frequent references to then-Atlanta Braves pitcher, Greg Maddux as well as an appearance at the very end by Maddux himself (along with teammate, John Smoltz).

In 2001, he received a nomination for "Best Spoken Comedy Album" at the 43rd Annual Grammys.^{[citation needed]}

Foxworthy hosted Country Weekly's ""TNN Music City News Country Awards" show for 1998, 1999 and 2000.^[8]

Television[link]

In 1995, he starred in The Jeff Foxworthy Show, a sitcom created out of his stand-up comedy persona. It aired on ABC, but was canceled after one season. NBC subsequently picked up the show, but it was again canceled after one season. Foxworthy later remarked that the network did not understand how to properly market his humor; thinking his routine was "too Southern" for a national network ("Has anyone heard me talk?", he commented in one of his stand-up routines), they based the first season of his sitcom in Bloomington, Indiana. The show later aired on Nick at Nite and CMT in 2005 and 2006. He also appeared in Alan Jackson's video for I Don't Even Know Your Name in 1995.

Foxworthy hosted the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? on Fox in prime time. He hosted the syndicated version of the show from September 21, 2009 until its cancellation on March 24, 2011.^[9] In addition, he is a host on The Bucks of Tecomate which airs on Versus with Alabama native David Morris.

Jeff will also be a potential investor on about half of the next edition of the ABC reality series, Shark Tank, where moneyed entrepreneurs decide if they will invest in new products, ideas and the like from those requesting funding in exchange for a percentage of ownership.^[10]

He was the subject of a Comedy Central Roast in 2005.

In March of 2012, GSN announced an upcoming game show based on the Bible, The American Bible Challenge, to which Foxworthy will be host and a producer.^[11]

Blue collar comedy[link]

In the early 2000s, Foxworthy had a career resurgence as a result of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, in which he and three other comedians (Larry the Cable Guy, Ron White, and Bill Engvall), specializing in common-man comedy, toured the country and performed for record crowds. The tour lasted three full years, constantly being extended after an initial run of 20 shows.

In 2004, he launched a new television show called Blue Collar TV on The WB Television Network, Comedy Central, and Comedy Network (2007). He served as executive producer, and starred alongside Blue Collar Comedy Tour-mates Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall. (Ron White turned the show down but made occasional guest appearances). The show was relatively successful compared to the anemic performance of the WB's other sitcoms^{[citation needed]}. On Larry the Cable Guy's website, he posted that the show was canceled on October 17, 2005 by WB. Reruns of Blue Collar TV continued until the network merged with UPN to form The CW.

Jeff resurrected the Blue Collar TV format (albeit with only himself participating along with some of the Blue Collar TV co-hosts) on Country Music Television (CMT) with Foxworthy's Big Night Out. The show began airing in summer 2006 and was cancelled after one season.

Books[link]

Foxworthy has authored several books, including You Might Be a Redneck If... (1989), as well as his autobiography, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem! (1996). Artist Layron DeJarnette provided illustrations for the Redneck Dictionary books. R. David Boyd has been the exclusive illustrator for most of Foxworthy's books and album covers.

He also has released a cookbook entitled The Redneck Grill, co-authored with Newnan, Georgia artist R. David Boyd, and "Redneck Extreme Mobile Home Makeover" (2005), a book with some of his redneck jokes.

His books are:

• Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary: Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of (2005)
• Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary II: More Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of (2006)
• Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary III: Learning to Talk More Gooder Fastly (30 Oct 7)
• Rednecks In College

In February 2008, Foxworthy released his first children's book, Dirt On My Shirt. This was followed by Silly Street in 2009 and Hide!!! in 2010, both of which were illustrated by Steve Bjorkman.

In May 2008, Foxworthy released How to Really Stink at Golf, with co-author Brian Hartt and illustrations by Layron DeJarnette. In May 2009 he released How to Really Stink at Work, A Guide to Making Yourself Fire-Proof While Having the Most Fun Possible. This book was also co-authored with Brian Hartt.

Radio work[link]

In April 1999, Foxworthy began The Foxworthy Countdown, a nationally syndicated, weekly radio show, which featured the top 30 country hits of the week, as reported by Mediabase. He received a Country Music Association nomination, in 2001, for "Broadcast Personality of the Year". The program's last broadcast, the 2009 year-end countdown, aired the weekend of December 27, 2009.^[12] Blue Collar Comedy Radio airs on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 97 and is associated with Raw Dog Comedy on Sirius 99.

Outdoor Living[link]

Foxworthy's most recent venture is the creation of Foxworthy Outdoors. Jeff combines his love of family and friends with the great outdoors. From backyard barbecues to wild life management, Foxworthy Outdoors partners with innovative outdoor companies introducing products to enjoy all aspects of outdoor living.

Personal life[link]

Foxworthy met his wife, Pamela Gregg, at the Punchline in Atlanta, GA and they married on September 18, 1985. They have two daughters, Jordan (born in 1992) and Julianne (born in 1994).^[13] A noted hunting enthusiast, beginning when he was a teen hunting on his father's farm property in middle Georgia, Foxworthy has appeared as host and featured guest on several programs on the Outdoor Channel and Versus.^[14] Foxworthy is also a devout Christian, and performed stand-up at a Young Life conference.^[15]

In 2012, Foxworthy endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, explaining, "I avoided politics for 53 years of my life. I have been doing stand-up comedy for almost 30 and never wanted to be political. Selfishly, I wanted to make everyone laugh. But it got to the point that this is too important."^[16]

Discography[link]

Foxworthy has released five comedy albums for Warner Bros. Records as well as one for DreamWorks Records. One of his albums included the novelty Christmas song "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas", which reached number 18 on the Hot Country Songs charts in late 1995-early 1996.

See also[link]

• List of stand-up comedians
• List of game show hosts

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jeff Foxworthy

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jeff Foxworthy

• Official website
• Jeff Foxworthy on Myspace
• Jeff Foxworthy at the Internet Movie Database
• Jeff Foxworthy Interview on The Big Idea w/Donny Deutsch
• The Jeff Foxworthy Show on The WB