An attractive young woman recently approached Bill Engvall at a club.
He thought she wanted an autograph. His friends thought she was hitting on a celebrity.
"I'm thinking in my head, 'Let her down easy.' She walked over and I said, 'Look, I appreciate you coming over, but I'm married and I'm 50. Why don't I buy your table a round of drinks,' " he recalled. "She goes, 'Oh, we thought you were Suzy's dad. We called him because she's throwing up in the bathroom.' "
That's when it occurred to the comedian, known for his signature "Here's Your Sign" routine, that there were things he could no longer do at age 50.
Like go to nightclubs.
Or jog.
"I didn't realize your body could forget how to run," Engvall said in a lunch break phone interview last week during filming his namesake TBS sitcom. "After jogging a quarter of a mile, I thought if jogging was one of those nature shows on TV, I would be one of those gazelles that's not going to make it back to the herd."
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But being 50 — he turns 51 next month — has had its advantages. His daughter Emily is 22, a college graduate and out of the house. His son Travis is 17 and a year from graduating high school — and being out of the house.
"Everybody goes, 'How are you going to handle the empty nest?' Let me see what the downside of this is: I can sleep in. My wife and I can have dinner whenever, where ever we want. And we can walk around the house naked. Hmmm. I don't get the downside," he said, with a teen giddiness to his tone.
Of course, life with his wife would be idyllic if he wasn't so busy. The veteran comedian, who spent his formative kindergarten-through-ninth-grade years in Winslow, spends little time at home.
A recent weekend: He flew to Detroit to be the grand marshall of a NASCAR race, flew home to LA late the next night. Rehearsed the next morning, then was back on a plane that night to film a guest appearance on "The View" in New York. That afternoon, he hopped back on a plane to LA to film three episodes of Country Music Television's "Country-Fried Home Videos."
This Saturday, he plans to fly to Tucson to headline a stand-up show at Desert Diamond Casino. Then it's straight to the airport and a flight home.
"I still love stand-up, and I will always continue to do stand-up. That's why I'm looking forward to this show in Tucson. It's my chance to see the fans."
He also loves his sitcom, a purely G-rated romp with him as a dad with three kids.
"I think that's what makes the show so wonderful. It's very relatable," he said. "The average family can watch this and go, 'Oh, that's our family.' "
His sitcom daughter is not about to move out, but his teenage TV son, like his real-life son, hasn't a clue what life holds for him.
Meanwhile, Engvall's life is something he never could have imagined at that age.
"For a kid who grew up in Winslow and was watching John Wayne movies with my dad at the Tonto Drive-In, this is amazing," he said. "Every morning I get up and I literally think I'm continuing to live this dream. I come to work and there's a stage door with my name on it . . . and I'm on TV. I can go to any town in America and somebody will say, 'You're Bill Engvall.' That's a pretty bizarre thought."
Saturday
Bill Engvall in concert.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Desert Diamond Casino, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road, off Interstate 19.
Tickets: $35-$60 in advance through www.ticketmaster.com; $5 more day of show.
Et cetera: This is a 21-and-older show.
On the tube: Catch "The Bill Engvall Show" at 9 p.m. Thursdays on TBS.
For more from the Bill Engvall interview, visit aznightbuzz.com.
