This September, gay comedian Tim Murray returns to North America with his spell-tacular comedy hour, Witches. Inspired by his love for the necromancers, including the good, the evil, and the crude, Murray has crafted a musical drag experience highlighting a variety of witches across history and pop culture.
Murray’s on-stage outfit is inspired by the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, complete with head-to-toe green body paint and her iconic black pointy hat. Murray believes witches are ultimately camp and very gay, citing the Oz Sorceress as a prime example. “She may have been wicked, but she kind of had a point. And she wants the ruby slippers real bad, and she lives in a castle. She’s just so extra,” Murray says in an interview with Provincetown Magazine.
The Wicked Witch of the West is just one example of the 13 different witches he uses in his show, including the Sanderson Sisters and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
While Murray doesn’t belt out Idina Menzel’s famous “Defying Gravity” from Wicked the Musical, he infuses his show with a variety of campy laugh-out-loud musical numbers. One of his songs, titled “I Wanna Be Witches,” recalls his experience playing superheroes with friends but secretly turning all his characters into witches.
Underneath the grandeur and comedy of Witches is Murray’s belief that LGBTQ+ people have a unique connection to the magic users.
“I think gay people have a lot in common with witches,” Murray says. He compares witch hunts to the queer experience—how queer people are often ostracized and outed, especially when younger. Murray says, “Gay people find each other like witches form a coven.” Through support and connection, queer people often form a found family, which Murray calls a “secret bond.” Just like witches are often told to hide themselves and their magic, queer people are encouraged or forced to mask their identity.
As a child, Murray gravitated towards the realm of magic and horror, growing up on horror movies like Scream. He describes how witches helped him through his own coming-out experience and the homophobia he experienced back in his hometown, Sandusky, Ohio. “I think there’s something that little gay boys like about powerful women. Cool, bad-ass chicks.”
Aside from the show, Murray can be found on Prime Video’s The Other Two and on TikTok, where he posts sketch comedy videos. He is also a frequent guest on the Las Culturistas podcast and on the upcoming LGBTQ+ comedy series Wish You Were Queer, produced by Trixie Mattel.
In just a spell, Witches will come to Denver, Colorado, on September 28 at Rise Comedy. For a bewitching time, find tickets here.
Photo courtesy of social media
