“I don’t care how nice you can travel - when you’re on the road by yourself, it takes a lot out of you,” he said. Even though he long ago left behind performing in small clubs in out-of-the-way places, and now headlines at big venues.

Other than ‘Bill Engvall on Ice,’ and nobody wants to see that.” Making the decisionĮngvall still loves performing, but the traveling that goes with it has been wearing on him. I’ve done everything I wanted to do in this business. “People are, like, ‘Oh, why are you retiring?’ And my honest answer is - because I caught the brass ring.

That’s 41 years longer than I thought it would last,” Engvall said. He’ll perform two shows at the Eccles on New Year’s Eve, drawing down the curtain on a career that has taken him to every state in the union over the past four decades.