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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
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Aged and Confused

Bill Engvall

Warner Bros. Records · 2009 · 60 min

A fifty-something comedian complains about zip-lining, vacations, and colonoscopies.

Middle age comes for everyone, and Bill Engvall decides to complain about it. Leaning into his get-off-my-lawn phase, he spends this hour irritated by the gap between feeling young and being 52. He details the indignities of couples going zip-lining on vacation, the logistical realities of trying to go clubbing at fifty (which usually just means hitting the local Elk’s Lodge), and routine medical hurdles like a colonoscopy. He mostly shelves his old catchphrases in favor of letting his inner geezer out, proving that a mildly grumpy persona suits his folksy delivery.

Filmed at The Vic Theatre in Chicago in 2009, the special caught Engvall at a transition point. The Blue Collar Comedy Tour had largely run its course, and his TBS sitcom was wrapping up. Back on stage as a solo act, he settles into a relaxed rhythm about bad airplane turbulence, game nights, and disastrous road trips with his wife.

The set list

4 bits

  1. A man stopped by airport security with a rock in his rectum

    In his opening monologue, Engvall tries to make sense of a traveler claiming a stone between his buttocks relieves the stress of flying, comparing his own mental balance to the incident.

  2. Clubbing at 50

    Depicts how completely out of place and uncomfortable a 50-year-old man feels amid electronic music and bright club lights.

  3. Vacations gone wrong (Shark Frenzy and Zip Line)

    Contrasts his preferred sedentary vacation of sitting in a chair with an adult beverage against his wife's high-activity itineraries, detailing disaster on a zip line and swimming with sharks.

  4. Empty nest walks with his wife

    Details tete-a-tetes with his wife wanting to hold hands and walk together to talk just as 'Survivorman' comes on television.

How it plays

Tone
Clean, middle-of-the-road, self-deprecating, and harmless.
On stage
Laid-back, clean, sincere, and relatable middle-American 'good guy'.
Pace
Moseying, easygoing tempo, mild-mannered with a tendency to laugh at his own impending punchlines.
About
Aging and turning 50, Marriage and empty nest syndrome, Family vacation mishaps, Medical checkups and colonoscopies, Everyday absurdities

What the critics said

Reviews described the special as safe and middle-of-the-road; Country Standard Time praised his relatable observations on entering middle age and vacation disasters, while Eat Sleep Drink Music found it unmemorable and formulaic, and Moviette characterized it as soporific clean comedy strictly aimed at older married couples.

In the room: An older, receptive Chicago crowd that enthusiastically affirmed his jokes about marriage and getting older.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: blu-ray.com, link.livebrary.com, app.productionbeast.com, tvguide.com, countrystandardtime.com, allmusic.com, esdmusic.com, moviette.blogspot.com, en.wikipedia.org, mlive.com, billengvall.com.

Backstory

Turning 50 in a youth-driven culture and adjusting to life with his wife as empty nesters after raising their kids.

Details

Released
Taped
The Vic Theatre, Chicago
Runtime
60 min
Where
Warner Bros. Records
Director
David Higby
Honors
Ranked #1 on Billboard's Comedy Chart
Topics
Before
15° Off Cool (2007)
After
Here's Your Sign It's Finally Time It's My Last Show (2023)

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