Chronicle-Telegram - Elyria, OH, USA - Billed as a clean and family-friendly funnyman, comedian Bill Engvall lived up to his reputation Monday night, when roughly 3,000 wet and brave souls defied the rain to see his 80-minute-plus set at the Lorain County Fair.

Engvall, who stars in the new “The Bill Engvall Show,” which debuted last month on TBS, spent the evening talking about middle-aged, middleclass, Midwestern life. Even more so, his material was precisely targeted at empty-nester baby boomers looking to laugh.

“I think he was good,” said Henrietta Township resident Ann Buchs. “I’ve always liked him. They wanted to try something new at the fair this

Reuters - USA - On the heels of its record-setting premiere for the comedy series "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," TBS has scored again with the debut of the original sitcom "The Bill Engvall Show."

"Engvall" averaged 3.9 million viewers in its debut at 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to Nielsen Media Research. That makes it the No. 3 most-watched telecast ever of an original sitcom on basic cable, behind only the first two episodes of "Payne."

"Payne," a first-run syndicated comedy, debuted with back-to-back episodes June 6, drawing 5.2 million total viewers for the first episode at 9 p.m. episode and 5.8 million at 9:30 p.m.

Toledo Blade - Toledo, OH, USA - Stand-up comedian Bill Engvall wasn't widely known until he teamed up with Jeff Foxworthy and other fellow comics in 2000 as part of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, which proved to be quite a success, spawning a handful of movies and a spinoff TV sketch comedy series.

Engvall, along with his pal Foxworthy, has always been one of the more laid-back members of the Blue Collar crew. Their low-key humor is in stark contrast to the raunchier, over-the-top style of fellow members Ron White and Dan Whitney, better known as Larry the Cable Guy.

Now Engvall becomes the second member of the

TV Guide - USA - Blue Collar comedian Bill Engvall will join the ranks of Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby and Ray Romano, each of whom has segued from the ranks of stand-up performer to sitcom star, with the debut of TBS' The Bill Engvall Show, which premieres tonight at 9:30 pm/ET. Paired with veteran sitcom writer/executive producer Mike Leeson (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, Rhoda), Engvall's goal is to return the family-friendly sitcom to the airwaves.

Indeed, this type of program has taken a hit in recent years with the loss of such shows as Everybody Loves Raymond and My Wife and

Washington Post - United States - Every stand-up comic in the world would surely like to emulate Jerry Seinfeld, who turned his act into one of the most popular and highly praised sitcoms ever -- and himself into probably the richest comic ever. And yet few if any comedians have actually tried to imitate his show. "Seinfeld" was so idiosyncratic, so singular and so -- what is the word? Oh yes, brilliant -- that even attempting a copy is too difficult.

Bill Engvall, one of today's breed of blue-collar and blue-jean stand-ups, has sensibly tried to follow not in Seinfeld's footsteps so much as comic Ray Romano's:

Smartmoney.com - USA - COMEDIAN BILL ENGVALL can thank his cash-strapped roots for great stand-up material and financial discipline. At age 26, Engvall was making just $275 a week emceeing at a comedy club when a classified ad for a sleek, black motorboat with tailfins caught his eye. With just $1,000 to his name, Engvall didn't think twice about forking over the $800 asking price.

"I called it 'Bat Boat,'" beams Engvall, now 49. "Of course, the first day out on the lake, the boat basically exploded." After bringing the boat's remains to a nearby mechanic, he learned that the 1952 "classic" was not only

Henderson Gleaner - Henderson, KY, USA - For anyone who complains, "They just don't make sitcoms like they used to," TBS's "The Bill Engvall Show" (8 p.m. Tuesdays) is the ideal throwback to early-'90s sitcoms in the "Home Improvement" tradition.

It's by no means a great show — most of the humor is low-key, the characters are all cookie-cutter types — but there is something comforting in its ordinariness, decency and even an announcer's voice that assures viewers it was "taped before a live studio audience."

Engvall ("Blue Collar TV") stars as Bill Pearson, a suburban Denver family therapist who naturally has family issues of his own.

Wife Susan (Nancy

TV Squad - Santa Monica, CA, USA - I don't think I would be stretching the truth too much if I said that the family sitcom is pretty much dead on network television. I mean, with the exception of According to Jim and perhaps Two and a Half Men, there has been a dearth of successful family comedies on the air since the departure of Everybody Loves Raymond and Arrested Development a few years ago.

Now, notice I said the family sitcom is dead on network television. On cable the family comedy thrives. In addition to constant reruns of shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Cosby Show, Full