Engvall ‘nervous’ about hosting awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bill Engvall is a comedian, a sitcom star and a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. So hosting this week’s CMT awards should be a piece of cake.

Or not.

“I haven’t been really nervous about a gig in a long time,” Engvall said in a recent interview. “You don’t want to be the guy who made people say, ‘Oh, remember the year when Engvall did it? Ugh.’”

Engvall, 51, also has his own CMT-show agenda. He said he’s looking forward to meeting Def Leppard, nominated for its collaboration with Taylor Swift, because he admired the band in his youth. He’s also eager to reconnect with old friends such as Trace Adkins and Brad Paisley.

The CMT awards will air live at 8 tonight on CMT from the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Country-music fans were among Texan Engvall’s earliest supporters, and they’ve stuck with him. Since 1996, eight of his comedy albums have hit the Billboard country charts, the last being 2007’s “15 Degrees Off Cool.” Engvall said his continuing popularity with country-music lovers has to do with the “family attitude that I put out there, because that’s a lot of what country is. Of all the music genres, I would say it’s probably the most family.”

Engvall’s TBS comedy series, “The Bill Engvall Show,” begins its third season July 18. He’s taping a special for Comedy Central and is on a stand-up comedy tour.

“It’s fun being Bill Engvall,” he said. “I think people, if they could crawl in my skin, would see that I’m just having the time of my life right now.”