The sitcom son

When writers and producers of The Bill Engvall Show asked Thibodaux native Graham Patrick Martin if there was anything he wanted to add to his character on the TBS comedy series, he responded succinctly: “Sports and girls.” No surprise there, since Martin is 16 years old and separated from his football team and high school friends for months at a time playing the titular blue collar stand-up’s son on TV.

Second-season episodes of The Bill Engvall Show begin June 12.

After appearing in several New Orleans-area theater productions, Martin earned critical acclaim and a 2004 Big Easy Award nomination for playing a young Ebenezer Scrooge in Christopher Durang’s Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge. His father’s work moved the family to New York, where Martin got an agent. On his agent’s advice, Martin and his mother moved to Los Angeles for pilot season. A whirlwind of auditions and casting sessions followed, but they proved fruitful. On his first visit to L.A. he read for The Bill Engvall Show and was called back the same day.

In the sitcom Engvall plays family counselor Bill Pearson, and Martin plays his son, Trent.

During production, Martin starts each day at 8 a.m. with two hours of schoolwork, then squeezes in the rest of his curriculum between rehearsals and shooting until 4:30 p.m. “It’s been surprising to see how quickly everything is done,” Martin says. “And it’s been great that I’ve gotten to work with very cool people. If you’ve seen Bill’s stand-up, I can tell you he uses a lot of what happens in his real life for his comedy. He’s the same goofy guy you see on TV.”