CHICAGO — In August 2016, fearing that he was on the verge of ending his own life, Collin Williams checked himself into a psychiatric ward. Once inside, he started writing his next standup comedy special.
"I was spending hours scribbling this long suicide note, but as a stand-up comic, you tend to think in jokes," Williams said. "So I was thinking, 'If I don't kill myself, I could do something more constructive with this.'"
After airing out pieces of his new routine on an international tour, Williams took the full 1½-hour standup set "My Suicide Note" on the road, planning two shows at The WIP Theater, 6670 N. Northwest Highway, in Edison Park this weekend.
Williams took his inspiration from mainstay comedians like Richard Pryor and Christopher Titus, who were able to "look at horrible life experiences and go back through them as a kind of therapy," he said.
"Watching how they took dark things and made it positive ... to me, that's empowering," Williams said. "So hopefully there's a small group out there that can really laugh and feel and have a fantastic time through dark humor."
"My Suicide Note" is showing at The WIP Theater at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are available online for $15, or at the door for $20.
