Comedy from the heart

By GARY DEMUTH

Salina Journal

Growing up, Bill Martin was not considered a funny guy.

So when the Saginaw, Texas, native called his parents to tell them he was going to pursue a career as a stand-up comedian, there was silence on the other end of the line.

"I heard the phone muffle, then my mom saying to my dad, 'He wants to be a comedian -- I don't think he's funny,' " Martin said with a laugh. "My dad got on the line and told me to go for it."

That was in 1996. During the 10 years since Martin "went for it," he has become a hard-working comic who's opened for some of the biggest names in country music, including Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, George Jones, George Strait and Loretta Lynn.

Under his professional moniker, Cowboy Bill Martin, he's also worked with some of the best comics on the Blue Collar Comedy circuit, including Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Ron White.

Martin will be in Salina for a comedy concert Tuesday at Outlaws, 1676 State.

Even though he's a white Stetson-wearing, rodeo-loving country boy, Martin said he wasn't really a "Blue Collar" comic.

"All those comics have catch-phrases, and I didn't want to be saddled down to a certain catch phrase all my life," he said, an example being Larry the Cable Guy's famous phrase, "Git-r-done."

"America loves those guys because they're funny first and 'country' second," Martin said. "But I didn't grow up in a trailer house, so I'm not going to write jokes about them."

Grew up in Texas

The future comic grew up in middle-class Saginaw, a city just north of Fort Worth. Although Martin said he was "funny around the house," he also was a shy and quiet boy who had trouble getting up in front of an audience.

"I used to throw up before giving speeches in school," he said.

What his family and friends didn't realize is that Martin had been harboring show business ambitions since he was 5 years old.

He credited his developing desire to the 1960s television sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie."

"There was an assistant producer on the show named William Martin," he said. "So I would always wait until the end of the show to see my name scrawl across the screen."

It wasn't until 1996, when Martin was nearly 30, that he decided to make his show biz dreams a reality.

It was a time when nothing was going right in his life. He recently had divorced, had been fired from his job in advertising, and his grandmother was dying of lung cancer.

It was either laugh or break down crying, Martin said.

As Martin began playing clubs and appearing on radio shows, he added "Cowboy" to his name.

"A radio station first introduced me as 'Cowboy' Bill Martin as I walked on stage, because I wore the shirt, jeans and the hat," he said. "After the fourth or fifth time being called that, it stuck."

Life is good now

By 2004, Martin was making a good living as an opening act for major country music stars, but he still didn't feel like he'd found his true "voice" as a comedian.

"I wasn't talking about the stuff I wanted to," he said. "I wanted to talk about stuff from the heart, about divorce and the plight of the single dad. That doesn't mean it's not a funny and sometimes raucous show, but I want you to think and feel as well as laugh."

Martin is remarried now with a 4-year-old daughter and two grown children from his previous marriage. Although he's on the road nearly every weekend of the year, Martin said his life is good now.

"I found what I'd searched for all my life," he said.

Best of all, he said, his mom now thinks he's funny -- even though she takes him to task for his sometimes raw language on stage.

"After one show, my mom told me that I said the 'F' word seven times," Martin said. "My dad said, 'Aw hon, he has to say that for the kids.' "

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

Join the Discussion:

Salina.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here. Read our full online terms of service policy.

Post a comment
Your best chance of getting your comment posted:

• No profanity
• Be civil
• Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

Comment:

Poster:

Enter text seen above:

Read our full use policy.