Bill Engvall performs at Van Wezel in Sarasota

If you're a fan of the "Blue Collar Comedy" gang, it's been a good couple of months to live in the Bradenton area.

Ron "Tater Salad" White performed in November at the Straz Center in Tampa, and now Bill Engvall is coming to Sarasota.

He's scheduled to perform Friday at the to the Van Wezel.

Engvall has pretty much done it all in comedy. He maintains a heavy touring schedule, he's made Emmy-nominated TV comedy specials, and his first album, "Here's Your Sign," was certified platinum. His other albums have also topped the comedy charts. He starred his own sitcom for a couple of years, he's published a memoir and even recorded a duet with Travis Tritt that made the country charts.

He's also hosted a game show ("Lingo," on the Game Show Network, a job he inherited from Chuck Woolery).

He was even a finalist on season 17 of "Dancing With the Stars." The judges didn't think too much about his terpsichorean skills, and ranked him near the bottom of that season's roster of contestants, but Engvall's popularity with the voting public kept him on the show and he finished in fourth place.

So people like watching Engvall do just about anything. But what he does best is stand-up, and that's what he'll be doing Friday in Sarasota.

Details: 8 p.m. Jan. 9, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets: $65-$95. Information: 941-953-3368, vanwezel.org.

-- Marty Clear

This story was originally published January 8, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bill Engvall performs at Van Wezel in Sarasota."