Bill Engvall is not just a comedian, he’s a genuinely friendly, nice, fun guy. Take my word for it as I just talked to him about his guest-starring role on TNT’s medical drama HawthoRNe, starring Jada Pinkett-Smith and most importantly Michael Vartan, whose name is enough for me to melt like butter on hot toast! (yes I love him, sue me!)

Pinkett-Smith plays Christina Hawthorne, the Chief Nursing Officer at James River Hospital, while Vartan plays Dr. Tom Wakefield, the Chief of Surgery at the hospital and most importantly… Christina’s newlywed husband (LUCKY HER! Ahem.) This season, Marc Anthony was also promoted to series regular. He plays Detective Nick Renata, who got involved with Christina last season as she and Tom were facing a difficult moment in their on-and-off again relationship and Tom as well had diverted his attention to another woman.

Bill Engvall, who will appear in another two episodes after last night’s debut on the show, plays an internal affairs investigator, Jimmy Dupree, who comes in to investigate the events surrounding Christina’s attack and Detective Nick Renata’s (played by Marc Anthony) actions following the attack. For all of you who still are not aware of this TV gem, get on it! It’s one of those great cable products that really deserve much more attention and credit.

Beware, SPOILERS ahead (and they are of the intriguing, juicy kind), so if you don’t want to know anything about what may be unfolding on the show, read at your own risk. I’d say it’s worth it anyway, if only because there’s talk about how awesome Jada Pinkett-Smith is and how hot and perfect Michael Vartan is, but hey, to each their own.

Alessandra: “Bill, it seems like your character walks in on a reeeally complicated situation, or should we say a hot mess?”

B. Engvall: “As we say in Texas, he walks in on a hornet’s nest!”

Alessandra: “What is the deal with Detective Renata and your character? Is there a sort of rivalry brewing between the two of them? Because it seems like something is going on there, judging by the first appearance of your character…”

B. Engvall: “Oh yes, and that little fire gets hotter in the next few episodes! I really had fun playing my character opposite Marc Anthony’s character, because Renata comes off as this standoffish tough guy, and Dupree at first looks like “I’ll take you out for a beer, we’ll talk and everything will be fine”. So it was fun, even more so because there’s a scene in upcoming episodes where we get in each other’s faces.”

Alessandra: “Dupree and Renata get in each other’s faces… literally?”

B. Engvall: “Oh yeah! It gets very heated! It’s always a lot of fun when you film and there’s guns and mystery to unfold and fights involved!”

Alessandra: “Trust me, after five seasons of Alias, I have an idea about plot twists and ass-kicking and guns making a show fun! Have you ever seen that show? The reason why I started watching Hawthorne is my undying crush on Michael Vartan”

B. Engvall: “Oh yeah, Alias, of course! Actually the first thing my wife asked me when I came back from set was: “How was Michael Vartan?” (he laughs)

(note to women and men having a crush on Vartan reading: don’t worry, we will get back to the Vartan subject. As if I’d ever let a chance like this slip! He’s my TV husband remember? Yes, he’s mine. Now shut up.)

Alessandra: “Given what you’re saying, and having read the brief summaries for the upcoming episodes starring your character, I take it your character will be pivotal in terms of impacting the show’s plot and solving the mystery? Sure sounds like it!”

B. Engvall: “The best part about this, and what I love about this type of drama, is that up until the last minute, you don’t know where it’s going. Which I think is what makes this type of show so great. With comedy, you can always say “oh here it comes” but with drama constructed like this, you really don’t know until the very end, and it can always change.
It was the same with my character, up until the last scene, you don’t know where he’s going. What IS his motive? He seems to be this nice guy but he has a dark side.”

Alessandra: “Really? This gets more intriguing by the minute. I thought Renata was most likely the one who has a dark side and possibly secrets?”

B. Engvall: “Oh he does. Both my character and Renata have our demons that we must deal with. And that’s why it gets so interesting as it goes on. Dupree assumes everybody’s guilty. Maybe [Jada's character] Christina has something to do with it, or Renata. You’re gonna find out Dupree doesn’t care for Renata AT ALL. And you wanna like Dupree but then you think hm, what IS this guy really up to?”

Alessandra: “Can we assume that we will have at least part of the mystery solved when your character goes away?”

B. Engvall: “Oh no, my friend, you will know exactly how things went when he goes away. Or you will think you do.”

(he laughs. I laugh and get dead curious to know more. Ain’t this the mirror of men-women relationships. But I digress.)

Alessandra: “Is there a particular scene that made you think “ah, here it goes, that’s where he’s going” as you were shooting? Something that made you realize how things were unfolding. Or like you said, up until the very last scene, you wouldn’t know?”

B. Engvall: “Well, without giving too much away, or they are going to kill me, there’s also a scene between my character and Michael Vartan’s character [here is where the interviewer swoons and turns green with envy] that makes you think “was it him?”. Everyone will doubt everyone. You’re gonna be shocked! And when the character goes, things will be clear, but up until then, you really won’t know.”

Alessandra: “This show really knows how to bring drama, and great acting and I don’t think it gets the credit it deserves, probably because it’s on cable and not on network TV.”

B. Engvall: “Oh, Cable TV is kicking network TV’s ass! TNT has a lot of great dramas, Hawthorne, Rizzoli & Isles, Leverage… TNT will give a show a chance to get its legs. Network TV won’t do that.”

(Absolutely true. And I forgive TNT for cancelling another great show I loved, Dark Blue. At least I got two great seasons anyway, much more than I would ever have gotten on a network! But, back to interview…)

Alessandra: “How was it to walk in on the third season of a medical show with such big-name actors in it?”

B. Engvall: “If you had seen us between takes you would’ve thought we were shooting a comedy. Jada, Michael Vartan, Marc Anthony and I were just laughing and joking and really getting along great. Everybody on that set is so down to earth, there were no big egos at all. I actually have a great example of this. I was shooting a scene with Jada. They shoot my angle and then they shoot hers and a lot of times people just read lines to you and are not in the scene when you’re shooting your angle, but not her. She was in the scene with me every time I was shooting. They all made me feel welcome on set. The thing I love about Jada the most is that she watches every take, she’s there for you, if you want help or suggestions. You can always count on her helping out on set if you need.”

“My wife asked me if I had learnt anything. I said what I learnt real quick is, if you are shooting with Jada you gotta bring your A game, because she is really, really good. And the best part is she and everyone else really made me feel welcome from the first minute. Sometimes when you guest star on TV and like me you’re a comedian there can be a problem in that others think “oh you’re a comedian, you’re not really an actor.” She assumed that I could do my job because I was hired to do it and she just always treated me consequently. And everyone else did the same. It’s all about being humans and treating others well professionally and personally. It was really great. Every single one of those actors has such an amount of experience, they’re all big names, and yet they’re all so down-to-earth.”

And here comes in my fangirl self, seen the mention that I could not just ignore…

Alessandra: “I do have to say one of the reasons why I find Michael Vartan so great is that he comes across as not only a clearly very good-looking guy, but also a genuinely nice, down-to-earth person…”

B. Engvall: “Oh he’s got the full package. He’s a reeeeally attractive guy, really. And he’s also nice and down-to-earth. If I were a woman, I’d date him!”

Alessandra: “Can I print that?”

B. Engvall: “Sure!”

“Pretty sure that will garner consensus for you among women, being so cool toward another man that many of them like.”

And Bill laughs wholeheartedly. And so our interview ends.

Am I not right, ladies? What’s not to love here! Show Bill some love, he truly deserves it.

And if, as we think, this interview arose your curiosity for HawthoRNe episodes to come, don’t forget to tune in on July 5 and July 12 for the next two episodes starring Bill, at 10/9 C only on TNT!