On The Bill Engvall Show, the famous comic plays Bill Pearson, a family counselor who has trouble figuring out his own family. Nancy Travis plays his wife, Susan, and together they provide a humorous look at raising a modern family. TheCelebrityCafe's Dominick Miserandino spoke with Bill and Nancy about playing in a sitcom and how their own friendly relationship helps play America's most loved TV family.
DM: You guys play a happy family on TV. I'm thinking TV families like The Cosby Show. They used to get criticized for being too perfect.
BE: I don't think that's ever been a criticism of our show. I would never ever compare us to a classic like Cosby. To me they were one of a kind. While we are a family sitcom I think we're different a little bit. I would love to acheive that level . That would be my dream if The Bill Engvall Show could be looked at on the same level as The Cosby Show. But I think we have a dynamic that is different from Claire and Heathcliff Huxtable.
NT: I think what's perfect about the show is that here are two people who are so married and all the kids are living at home, none of them are on drugs or any of that, and that is something perfect.
DM: Is it realistic?
BE: I think so. For example this year we dealt with teenage drinking. A lot of the writers have kids, I've got grown kids now and Nancy has younger kids. So we have this whole gamut of what people are going through with their kids. Next year we're going to deal with Lauren applying to colleges. We've dealth with the privacy issue, we've dealt with the trust issue between Bill and Susan. We don't get into politics because of the timeliness but we do try to do issues that people have to deal with.
DM: Is this for a Blue Collar Comedy audience or is it for America?
BE: I think it's completely un-Blue Collar. Blue Collar was the name of a tour; it was very much a Southern issue tour. Everybody who was on it was from the South. This show is more for America. This is middle America whereas we live in Denver, I play a family therapist. Blue Collar is such a wide open term.
NT: It's a very generic term.
BE: This show is very much what I'd call ... it's not even a red state blue state type of show.
NT: It's a very traditional family structure. They work, they try to raise their kids, and are dealing with things we feel most families deal with.
DM: It sounds like this show does approach basic Americans.
BE: Yeah. Even on the Blue Collar Tour--listen, I was maybe the least blue collar of the four of them. I mean look at Larry. Larry was this caricature, Jeff had the redneck thing and Ron, well Ron and I were the least Blue Collar. As a matter of fact, one of the things I wanted for this show was, the visual of the show was--people asked me if I wanted the guys on it and I said I'd rather not.
NT: Also it's the kind of show the family can watch. It's not a late night after 10 o'clock show.
DM: So this sounds like the show is you, Bill, not the Blue Collar Bill.
BE: Oh yeah. The only difference between Bill Engvall and Bill Pearson is the name.
DM: How true is that for you, Nancy?
NT: I think it's right to say I play myself. I get the script and look at the scenes, and I wonder how Nancy Travis would respond to this situation. At the same time there might be different views that I have on certain things and different ways of doing things. I think her temperament is different from mine. I think a part of it is finding a rhythym with your partners, the people you're working with, and it's like doing a dance. If you don't have that rhythym the comedy falls flat and the scenes don't fit. That's where the challenge is.
DM: And how long did it take you guys to get the rhythym?
BE: By the second day of rehearsals on the pilot we were out throwing a ball around with the kids like a real family would. It was amazing how quick this family came together.
NT: It was like right away. The moment we walked through the door we started talking about the show, talking about our lives.
BE: I totally agree. I think what makes this couple work is that though Nancy and I come from completely separate lifestyles--I grew up in very rural part of Arizona--but the way we work with our kids and the relationships we have with our spouses there's really a lot in common. I think that comes through on the show.
DM: Since you have that type of dance going on, Bill do you get in trouble with Nancy?
BE: Oh yeah. I'll say stuff and she'll say 'You're an idiot.' And nine times out of ten she's right.
NT: In a nice way.
BE: In a nice way.
NT: We work as actors. When we're working on something he'll turn to me and say the joke might work better this way and I can say to him it doesn't seem right for him to turn away like that when he says a line. We work it. And on a personal relationship it's a good thing that we like each other and we get along so that we can do that with each other.
BE: We have nice, sweet scenes on the camera and I think we do that better because we actually enjoy each other's company as opposed to two people who couldn't stand it.
NT: Probably the biggest danger in having that kind of relationship is that we do find each other funny. When you're filming in front of a live audience you have to try to find each other as not so funny.
DM: Getting along, does that mean going out Friday's after work?
NT: Bill would like to and I have resisted.
(Laughter)
BE: I would say that if I was not married to a wonderful woman--
NT: Bill, don't even go there.
BE: I told her 'You should drop to your knees every day and thank God I'm married.' I think she's a very sexy woman--
NT: All right!
BE: Yeah, I would totally hang out with her.
DM: Bill, what does your wife say about this?
BE: This is the wonderful thing about this relationship. My wife is very cool with this. She knows that I'm in love with her. With Nancy, we spend eight hours a day together and then we go home. She doesn't see the Bill at home.
