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BILL ENGVALL
NOW THAT' S AWESOME!

While much of the world merely endures everyday life, Bill Engvall thrives on it. With a healthy balance of humor and humanity, he responds to life in a way we all might ... if only we'd stopped long enough to consider the absurdity of those things we've come to take for granted.

That's Engvall's job, and he's working overtime with his first BNA Records project, Now That's Awesome!

"My wife says I'm a '50s guy stuck in the year 2000," Engvall explains. "And she's so right. When my son walked out of the house the other day, he had on a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and wrist guards. I said,'Are you going to play hockey.' He said,'No, I'm gonna ride my bike.' And I was thinking about how we used to stand on the seat of a car going 75 miles per hour... with a metal dashboard. No seat belt."

With Now That's Awesome!, Engvall delves into subjects ranging from upscale coffee shops, the California bar scene and a trend toward body piercing to designated smoking areas, family vacations, The Crocodile Hunter and the sheer terror of thinking that there just might be a snake in the toilet. It features country veterans Tracy Byrd, Neal McCoy and T. Graham Brown providing vocals on the music track, "Now That's Awesome," but most of the album was recorded during Engvall's stand-up comedy appearances at theaters in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Kalamazoo, Michigan. He says, "We just picked those two cities. As it turned out, they were two of the best shows we've ever had, which made the album sound even better. Comedically, the album is so much stronger and so much funnier than anything I've ever done. And, believe me, I'm my worst critic."

Now That's Awesome! displays the artistic strides Engvall has made since the release of his 1996 debut album, Here's Your Sign, which topped the Billboard Comedy Chart for 15 straight weeks and reached the Top 50 of Billboard's Top 200 chart. Here's Your Sign also peaked at #5 on Billboard's Country Album Chart, where it enjoyed a 17-week stint in the Top 10. Collaborating with country artist Travis Tritt on the "Here's Your Sign" music track, the single hit #1 on Billboard's Country Singles Sales Chart for 10 weeks and also reached the Top 30 in all genres of music on Billboard's Singles Sales Chart. With the track's music video making Engvall a fixture at CMT and TNN, both the single and the album were certified gold by the RIAA. Dorkfish, Engvall's 1998 follow-up album, also hit the top spot on Billboard's Comedy Chart, outdistancing several well-known comics, including Jerry Seinfeld. He also released a holiday project, Here's Your Christmas Album, that featured the hit single "Here's Your Christmas Sign."

Recording a live album of stand-up comedy is almost as simple as plugging a microphone into a tape machine. The trick, however, involves delivering new material. That's where Engvall excels, although it's never easy to write a new show. "it's not just writing 30 or 40 minutes of new material," Engvall says, "but I have to write 30 or 40 minutes of clean, funny material. I think people respect a clean joke because they know there's more thought that goes into it."

"My stuff is all from real life stuff. That's great, on one hand, because everybody can relate to it. On the other hand, sometimes life just isn't that funny. You have some dry periods when you're really looking. It's kind of like falling in love: the harder you try, the worse luck you have. To come up with 45 minutes of material worthy of putting on an album, you start to sweat a little bit."

The Galveston, Texas native was working as a disc jockey at a Dallas nightclub when he first tried his hand at stand-up comedy. After traveling the comedy club circuit, Engvall later moved to Los Angeles to pursue film and television opportunities. Those doors began opening when he shared the bill with Rosie O'Donnell on the Showtime special, A Pair of Jokers. Hosting A&E's Evening at the Improv and making several appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman, Engvall was named "Best Male Stand-up Comedian" at the 1992 American Comedy Awards. Following guest appearances on Designing Women, Engvall later portrayed Buck Overton on Delta Burke's ABC-TV sitcom, Delta, before accepting a co- starring role on NBC's The Jeff Foxworthy Show. He has traveled throughout the U.S. as host of TNN Sofa Cinema. Aside from his albums and TV work, Engvall is author of the book, You Don't Have To Be Dumb To Be Stupid.

If Engvall is especially adept at connecting with his audience, maybe that's because he shares those same values with them. "I always try to stay in touch with what's going on around me," Engvall says. "If you saw my wife and kids, you'd say,7hat looks like a normal family.' I think that helps me keep a pulse on what the rest of the country's doing. The secret, if there is one, is to just keep it real."

Just as Travis Tritt joined him for the musical version of "Here's Your Sign," Engvall's new music track - "Now That's Awesome" - features Tracy Byrd, Neal McCoy and T. Graham Brown. "They're three of my favorite performers on the planet," Engvall says. "They take their work seriously, but they don't take themselves seriously. When we put these guys together, 1 pitied the guy whose studio we used."

When asked to describe the overall tone of Now That's Awesome!, Engvall says, "It's an album that anybody in the family can listen to. Somebody gave me the greatest compliment when they said, "I've just listened to the cleanest dirty show I've ever heard in my life.' I didn't understand what they meant at first, but my wife said,'lt's because you talk about adult situations, but you do it in a way that kids can listen to it."

STREET DATE: AUGUST 22, 2000

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