Tim Murray (Photos by Heather Gershonowitz)
Comedian Tim Murray celebrates pop culture witches in hit show
JENNY BLOCK | Contributing Writer
He can be seen on The Other Two on HBOMax, in the film Swan Song starring Jennifer Coolidge and all over TikTok. He’s a regular on Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ Las Culturistas live podcast shows. He’s performed at SF Sketchfest, The Brooklyn Comedy Festival and DragCon. He has a podcast called Slumber Party on iHeart radio.
His new sketch comedy TV show — produced by Trixie Mattel & D’Marie Productions — called Wish You Were Queer is set to debut in 2025. And that’s saving the best for last — because his award-winning show that sold out at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival is headed for Dallas.
His name is Tim Murray. His show is Tim Murray is WITCHES! And he is leaving audiences in, well, stitches.
The show is the perfect blend of stand-up and original comedy songs about the pop culture witches Murray adores from The Craft to Wicked to the Sanderson Sisters to Sabrina the Teenage Witch to Angelica Houston’s Grand High Witch: “Murray celebrates famous sorceresses throughout herstory and uses their stories as a parallel to the queer witch hunt. The show is a tribute to LGBTQIA people and how we discover our magic once we find our coven.”
The Dallas Voice caught up with Murray as he closed his wildly successful stint at the Edinburgh Fringe and was getting ready to take to the road across the U.S., including, of course, right here in Dallas.
Dallas Voice: Where did you get the idea for Tim Murray is WITCHES!?? Tim Murray: I had a video go viral on TikTok about Wicked, and I was like, “Ok. People are gravitating toward this. Is there a version of my gay obsession that could be a full I had a video go viral on TikTok about Wicked, and I was like, “Ok. People are gravitating toward this. Is there a version of my gay obsession that could be a full comedy show?” Then I saw so many of my friends — like Cole Escola, Catherine Cohen and Matt Rogers — doing comedy shows with songs that I was like, “Wait I should come up with something like this.” And as soon as I started writing it just poured out of me very easily.
It turns out I love writing comedy about witches! The songs were maybe the fastest things I’ve ever written.
How long has Tim Murray is WITCHES!? been in the making? I started writing this show in 2022 while teaching at my day job. I teach improv in mental health facilities and rehab centers, and on days that were particularly rough, I’d try to find something to make myself laugh. It turns out talking about how amazingly slutty witches were in the ’90s really tickled me.
What has the trajectory of the show been from idea to Edinburgh? I toured the show to five cities in the U.S. in 2022 and then reworked it for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 where it made its first big splash. I was touring my regular hour of stand-up, and I would sneak in some witches jokes as well as the occasional Witches’ song at certain gigs that allowed me to try something experimental.
It was a very scary and exciting process to get the show ready for an international audience and lots of critics. I had a preview show in Los Angeles before leaving for the UK and had some trusted friends fill out forms with questions about what worked and what didn’t and what they thought I should cut.
What have people’s reactions been? People have been gagging for it, to be honest! It’s been an overwhelming and amazing experience to see. I’ve had some incredible reviews from my run at Edinburgh Fringe, and gay people and women lose their minds for it because it is about something so seemingly niche, but so many people apparently feel seen by it.
And the way people respond to the ending has been very glorious. Many people come up to me after saying that I made them cry and that they felt like an outsider, too, growing up. People of all ages and types have told me the final song touched them deeply and that they’ll never forget it.
That’s the greatest feeling.
Tim Murray performs Tim Murray Is Witches at Edinburgh Festival Fringe Heather Gershonowitz
What’s it like performing Tim Murray is WITCHES!?? At first it was deeply scary. With comedy songs, if it isn’t going well, you can’t change course. In stand-up, you can feel out the jokes and what the room wants. There are opportunities to pivot to less crass humor or less gay humor or whatever the room seems to want.
This is all out “take it or leave it,” and I love that. It has pushed me to step out in my heels with such confidence that I feel like nothing could throw me. And the love these crowds have given me has felt amazing. It’s like a rock concert of a singer dressed like a very busted witch.
What are your dreams for the future of Tim Murray is WITCHES!? My dream is to have this debut as my comedy special on a streaming service. I’m really proud of the show and how unique and weird it is. I’d love for people to discover me through this because it really showcases my crowd work, stand up, original songs and improv songs.
It’s all parts of me, and I’d love to see it on Netflix. I’d also love to have a run in NYC at a theater. The month of October seems pretty right.
Cue the witch cackle ….
See Tim Murray is Witches! at the Dallas Comedy Club on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. Get tickets online at EventBrite.com/e/Witches-by-Tim-Murray-Tickets-863113464607. Find Tim Murray @TMurray06 on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube.