Tim Wilson
Where: Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub, 101 Pine St., Dayton
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16; 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17; and 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18.
Cost: $10 Thursday, $20 Friday, $20 Saturday
More info: (937) 224-JOKE (5653) or www.wileyscomedyclub.com
Artist info: www.timwilsonamerica.com or www.bundybook.com
For the past 28 years, Tim Wilson’s creative focus has been on making people laugh. However, three-and-a-half years ago, he began working on an unlikely side project, researching and writing about a lost chapter in the life of serial killer Ted Bundy.
“It’s kind of a different muscle, but in a lot of ways it’s really not,” Wilson said. “In some ways, it’s similar. It helps my comedy because I used to just sit here and work on jokes and work on jokes, and after a while you get tired of them.
“I don’t sit and beat my head against it so much, so when I go do comedy, I enjoy doing it. So it’s been a good thing,” he added. “I enjoy doing comedy now more than I ever have.”
“Happy New Year — Ted,” co-written with comedian Roger Keiss, concerns a string of murders in the late 1970s that Wilson believes is connected to Bundy’s extended killing spree.
“When I was a teenager, about 16 years old, there was a strangler that came through my hometown of Columbus, Ga.,” Wilson said. “It was sort of the murder mystery of my lifetime, and somehow I accidently went into the detective-book business.
“I do comedy for a living, and then I have my baby I work on,” he continued. “I’m the only comedian in the world that sells serial-killer books after a concert, but it actually sells better than comedy records.”
Wilson performs at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub through Saturday, Sept 19.
“This is my first time at Wiley’s,” he said. “I always worked over at Jokers and when Lisa Grigsby sold her club, I started working at the Funny Bone. There’s a time when you decide you want to move on and try something different. That’s what I’m doing at Wiley’s. Hopefully we’ll hit on something people enjoy and will want to come back twice a year to see.”
Contact contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.
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