MARYSVILLE – If you think comedian Bill Engvall is having a harder time writing jokes in today’s politically correct environment, well then, “Here’s your sign.”

“I don’t care,” Engvall said in advance of his May 6 appearance at the Tulalip Resort Casino.

In his travels nationwide performing stand-up he sees a generation being raised to be “uber sensitive about everything. What will they do when life sucks? It will be a meltdown. People are mixed up all over the U.S.”

As an example, he said he saw a woman at a grocery store recently wiping down her entire cart. He declined to do the same. “Lady, I came from a time when if I dropped my gum on the ground I washed it off and ate it,” he said.

Engvall worries men are becoming whimpy. That doesn’t mean being a jerk, but being a man like legendary actor John Wayne. “Ladies, is this really what you want? Everybody’s entitled. Nobody wants to work.”

Engvall said it’s sad that people don’t stand up for anything. “You can’t have an opinion unless you agree with me,” is how people think. The comic said the presidential candidates are just as bad. “I’ll vote for the one who will do the least damage,” he said.

Engvall said he stays away from jokes about tragedies, politics and religion. He considers himself a “middle of the road” comedian who keeps it clean and jokes about family. He talked about cleaning up his house and finding about 30 of his kids trophies. He said they were for things like having a “great attitude.” “What are they going to do when they find out you don’t get a trophy in life? Freak out?”

Engvall is best-known for being part of the Blue-Collar Comedy Tour with Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White. He doubts the foursome will get together again. “It was the Perfect Storm,” he said. “There’s no way we could re-create it. It was an audience that was overlooked. I want to leave them wanting more.”

Engvall has done a lot in his 35-year career. He had his own TV show where now-star Jennifer Lawrence played his daughter. He has been in some movies, is a game-show host, and has put out many albums and music videos.

He also appeared on the popular TV show “Dancing with the Stars.” Funny thing is, he doesn’t dance, other than at a “honky tonk” with his wife. He said he couldn’t believe people kept voting for him. “It must have been like a NASCAR race where people were just looking for the crash,” he said, adding it was a “brutal thing” as he ended up having a knee replaced. But, he did lose 35 pounds (“It’s all come back.”)

Engvall said he’s done some of his best work ever recently, but few have seen it.

He did an Independent movie, but it hasn’t sold. “It will shock the living hell out of people,” he said, adding he plays a brutal killer. “It’s so the opposite of what people expect from me.”

Engvall said the best thing he’s ever done may be a TV special filmed in Rockford, Ill. “I was spot on, the crowd was jacked and the place beautiful,” he said. It also hasn’t sold yet. He’s been told the demographics aren’t young enough. “Funny is funny,” he said. “TV is so screwed up. Kids that were getting the coffee are now running the networks. I still love stand-up. I’m in control of that.”

Engvall’s best-known routine is still “Here’s your sign,” which he started years ago. “I don’t begrudge that because that’s what brought people to the party,” he said, adding now it’s only about five of his 90-minute show. He knows he has to do it. “It’d be like Don McLean not doing ‘American Pie.’”

Engvall said he has had the perfect career. He has had success but can still go to dinner and not be bothered. “God no” I’m not a star, he said. “I’m just a guy. That’s what keeps me grounded.”

He doesn’t even think of himself as a special comedian. “We all do the same stuff, just with different accents,” he said, adding his next adventure will be in Podcasting his thoughts on a show called, “My 2 Cents.” Engvall said he doesn’t write anything down (“I’ve probably forgotten three albums worth of material”) but he is gifted at memorizing information. In contract, “I can’t recall how to get home,” he said, calling himself “an idiot savant.”

Engvall does have ties to the Northwest. His daughter, Emily, went to the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. He said he warned her it rains a lot. “But God kissed the day we visited here,” he said, adding it was sunny, and the students were playing Frisbee. But once she started school, “It rained two-straight weeks.”

Engvall, who originates from Texas, also said he likes the PNW because his best fans are here. “I don’t know why,” he admitted.

When he was young, Engvall wanted to be a teacher. He said he could still see himself doing that. “Teachers have to be entertaining,” he said. “They have to make learning fun.”

No doubt the stand-up would stand out at that, too.