Why comedian Bill Engvall will end the year and his touring career in Utah

Bill Engvall is about to take the stage for the last time in Utah, the place he calls home, after 42 years of traveling home.

Truly. A Texas native who still has a distinctive sound in his voice as he says, “Here’s your sign,” Engvall has made Park City his home for more than 20 years.

“We started coming here to go skiing — great snow, we love to ski,” Engvall said. “Then we spent the summer there one year and it was great. We’ve been here ever since.

In the year When he decided to retire from touring at the end of 2022, he knew immediately that he wanted the last shows to be in his adopted country.

“This is great for me to be able to wrap up in Salt Lake City,” Engvall said. “For whatever reason, the people of Utah took him under their wing. They were very nice to me and true to the scenes. And when my husband and I decided that this was the time, I said, ‘I want the last show to be in Utah and I want it to be at the Eccles Theater,’ because I love that. Such a beautiful place. “

He will perform two shows on New Year’s Eve, drawing the curtain on his career that has taken him to every state in the union over the past four decades.

“It’s been a great run – 42 years. This is 41 years longer than I thought it would stop,” Engvall said. “People say, ‘Oh, why are you retiring?’ And my real answer is – because I have a brass ring. I’ve done everything I wanted to do in this business. No one else wants to see ‘Bill Engvall on Ice’.

Making a decision

Ingval still likes to play, but the walker that goes with him has been wearing on him. Although he long ago performed in small clubs in out-of-the-way venues and now headlines in larger venues.

“I don’t care how beautiful you can travel – it takes a lot out of you when you’re alone on the road,” he said. “People see you on stage for 75 to 90 minutes and think, ‘Oh, what a great life.’ But they don’t see the 22 and a half hours you’ve been sitting in a hotel room.

Ingvall fondly remembers his Blue Collar Comedy tours, touring with Jeff Foxworth, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy. “He was a God of God,” said Blue Collar. That really made me a household name. Without that, I doubt we would be having this conversation right now.”

That 2000-2006 tour was very successful. Even a movie and TV series. But for Envall, the best part of the “blue-collar” days was “you had someone to talk to and visit or eat with. And when you’re alone, it’s lonely.”

But he is not complaining. “I’ve never regretted anything in this career,” he said.

“It’s funny. During Covid, when I couldn’t work, I suddenly realized I wasn’t going to miss it. I was like, ‘You know what? That’s the time,'” he said. “It’s not fair to the fans,” he said.

Practice with Utah

Ingvall first started coming to Utah around 2000, when his family and Foxworth and his family “were hanging out in Park City and skiing and hanging out. It was a lot of fun.”

That’s when he “entered Utah. They were headed to dinner at Grappa on Main Street in Park City, decided to stop along the way and get a glass of wine, and he didn’t think much of it. “Now, I’m from Texas, where they sell liquor when a baby is born,” Engvall said. He told the school that they wanted to have a glass of wine in the bar, and asked, “‘Would you like to eat here?’ He was surprised when asked.

Amidst the confusion, “the guy behind me said, ‘Just say yes.’ I said ‘yes’. And the maitre d’ says, ‘There’s a bar.’

That’s when I learned about Utah’s liquor laws.

Although he mostly praises the state, he jokes about Utah. “We love coming down to Moab,” Enval said. “One of the things my husband and I both love about Utah is the red rocks and just the variety of landscapes. [Grand] Stairs-Escalante [National Monument] Or in the mountains – there are beautiful hiking trails. There is no shortage of things to do in Utah. And I think Utah is very much a family thing. And I think that’s why you’re seeing more people come in, because they’re starting to realize, ‘Oh, it’s not what I thought.'”

And Engvall’s action suits family-friendly Utah.

“I don’t want to get on my soapbox here, but I strongly believe that one of the reasons I’ve stayed as long as I have is because I work clean,” he said. “Listen, I love a good, dirty joke as much as the next person, but I don’t really want to go through 90 minutes; Because after a while, you’re like, ‘Is there anything else you can do? Instead of sauce?’…

“There’s a place that likes dirty comedy, and I don’t begrudge them that. I’m glad, but I’ve gotten a lot of emails and comments thanking me for keeping clean on social media. It’s amazing how many of those I got. And just because I didn’t want to write anything new, I didn’t want to get to my show where I was relying on garbage like a crutch.

Engvall said he and his wife have become regular Utahns. They go to see the lamp in the temple square. And drive through Hogle Zoo’s ZooLights. “We do all the bad stuff and love every minute of it,” he said.

He said people are still surprised when they find out he lives in Utah. To be clear, he’s not here full-time – he also has a retreat in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is the coldest local winter. “I’m at that age… I don’t need those 5 under things,” he said with a laugh.

And he’s “involved in Park City on a small level — not politically, but because we enjoy doing things and being present.” And my hope is that Park City will keep its charm and not Aspen, but it looks like it’s headed there.

If Ingvall seems like a normal guy, that’s because he is. He’s a lot more of a regular guy than you’d expect from someone who’s a comedy icon and has starred in movies and TV.

“When people see me in downtown Salt Lake, the person they see walking around the mall is the person they see on stage,” he said. “I never had to adapt to a character or put on a face. Just – Hey, this is Bill – I’ll see you at IHOP or Grappa. And I think people will appreciate that the person they see at Lenscrafter is the person they see at the Eccles Theatre.

You probably didn’t see him at the Sundance Film Festival, because he’s a local and knows he’s sure to “book it out of town for that.”

Success took years.

Ingvall says one of the reasons he credits his success is that it didn’t come overnight. He performed in clubs and on TV for more than two decades before landing a big spot on his first Blue Collar tour. And he never thought big-time success was in the cards.

“Gosh, no,” he said. “I think you’re looking for it, but there’s very little of it coming. I mean, I was so stupid not to know that you could make a living at it. And then it wasn’t until the first album came out that things really took off.

Even that was a slow starter. His first comedy album, “Here’s Your Sign,” was released in 1995 and “sold 50 copies nationwide in its first week.”

It eventually became a huge hit, 15 years after it first hit the stage, and Ingvall is more than okay with it.

“People ask, ‘How do you know there is a God?’ They ask you. And I know that because he didn’t give me fame at 23. I would be in a rehab center,” he said with a laugh. “I think sometimes when you’re that young you’re not mature enough to appreciate what you’ve got. And I think there’s a good reason I wasn’t given this break until I was old enough to handle it.

He did not retire completely

Ingvall is not retiring completely. “Listen, my ultimate dream — if I could get everything I wanted — was to do the Tim Allen show,” he said. (Ingvall had a recurring role as Rev. Paul in Allen’s “Last Man Standing” seasons 5-9), appearing in nine episodes. “I’d like to have a recurring role where I’m in five or six out of 10 shows.”

From 2007 to 2009, he starred in his own sitcom, “The Bill Engvall Show” on TBS. (His teenage daughter on the show is played by Jennifer Lawrence, before she went on to star in the “Hunger Games” franchise and win an Oscar for “Silver Linings Playbook.”)

If he is offered the lead in a TV series this time, he says, “It would be something I would have to think about, because either he would be shooting Monday through Friday and then he would come home.” Weekends, or just to go back to LA and I don’t do that.

And although he has no plans to tour the country, he is not saying that he will never perform on stage again. “This is retirement as far as I’m concerned. Now, two or three years from now, if I get bored and my wife Gail says, ‘You’ve got to get back on the road,’ I can do that. “But now I want to see what life throws at me. See what’s out there. … The real Answer: I have no plans.

He wants to spend some more time helping out at the National Talent Center in Park City, “I’ve been doing a little volunteer work. I want to do that regularly,” he said. “And maybe I’d like to be involved in delivering food to kids or people who can’t go out there in Salt Lake. …

“I’ve been so lucky and so blessed to have a job that I’ve loved for so long. And it’s time to give something back.”

He and his wife plan to spend more time with their son, daughter and grandchildren, and also plan to travel to “some of the towns and cities that I’ve traveled to for most of my life.” There are many good things in this country. “

The last shows

The last two shows will be about 60% new material and about 40% Ingval “hits”. They will be taped for a future telecast (venue and date to be announced).

“I wrote something new because we were shooting something special,” Engvall said. “I would have done the best if I had lived my life. But that’s not fair to the fans either. If you and I go to see Aerosmith, we’re fine with them playing a couple of new songs, but we want to hear the hits.

Not that he couldn’t continue to perform. He can book another visit if he wants.

“But I’ve always said I want to go with people who want more,” Envall said.

Does he feel relieved when it’s over? sad? “I think there will be a combination of both,” Engvall said. “That’s all I know. That’s all I did. I never needed to have a real job.

“Yes, the end of the show will be very emotional.”

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