Jim Wiggins is not your typical young, hip, stand-up comic. First of all, he is not young.
Wiggins is 65 years of age. And although he is not necessarily hip, he does occasionally bill himself as the "Last Hippie in America." The veteran comedian brings his one-man show, Silly Stuff Sad Stories, to the Copley Theatre on Saturday.
"I am a saloon comic," said Wiggins in his deep, raspy voice. "I am not Tom Dreesen dressed in a tuxedo and doing jokes about Frank Sinatra and I am not Richard Pryor, who was brilliant. A saloon is a place where people spit on the floor, and the toilets don't work.
I am a saloon comic." Wiggins' life started in Chicago and he spent some formative years performing a "singing and dancing cowboy act" on the bar tops in Chicago neighborhood saloons. He later married, had children, and lived in Elmhurst for a while.
"I was 28 years old and not happy," Wiggins said. "I always wanted to be a comedian, so my late wife said 'Follow your dream.'" So Wiggins left his job in the heating and air conditioning business, packed up his family and headed west to pursue his comedic goals.
"I met George Carlin in 1968 and I wrote comedy for George in Hollywood for six years," he said. He also wrote for Chuck Barris and The Gong Show, and made guest appearances on The Toni Tennille Variety Talk Show and The Mike Douglas Show. He then moved to New York and wrote for David Letterman.
Following that he lived in Nashville and then in Las Vegas. He currently calls Fairdale, Ill., his home, where he works out of a loft above an industrial building.
When not in Fairdale, Wiggins is on the road performing one-night stands, including a spot on The Tonight Show in November of 2005. "My appearance on The Tonight Show gave me the legitimacy that I did not have before," he said of his performance that garnered a standing ovation. "I felt like I was saying to all the other comics out there, 'Don't quit.
This is what you do.' It was acknowledging all my fellow comedians and the art of stand-up comedy." The Tonight Show experience was a result of another nationally-televised appearance on the reality-based Last Comic Standing.
After beating out 150 other acts during a regional competition for the show in Chicago, Wiggins went on to compete in New York City against 39 other comics from across the nation. Once the number was down to 20, the comedians moved on to perform in Las Vegas. But Wiggins did not make the cut.
So Wiggins went about his business being a saloon comic and several days later, while he and his girlfriend were in Topeka, Kan., where he was doing a one-night show, he got a telephone call. The Last Comic Standing producers wanted him in Las Vegas because one of the other comedians had a contractual obligation and could not do the show.
In a whirlwind 24 hours, Wiggins and his girlfriend drove to Kansas City, flew to Denver and then flew to Las Vegas. Once there, he had about 20 minutes to get on stage. He performed 20th out of 20 acts and got there just in time to go on.
But Wiggins did not advance to the next level of living in the house in Hollywood where the 10 remaining comics resided and competed. "Two of the early judges for Last Comic Standing were the talent coordinators for The Tonight Show," Wiggins said. "When I did not make it into the house, they said they would like to have me on The Tonight Show.
They were true to their word." His stand out performance on The Tonight Show has gotten him invited back for two more appearances, which have yet to be scheduled. In the meantime, he is performing Silly Stuff Sad Stories.
"I always dreamed of doing a theater piece," Wiggins said about the one-man show. "I love the ambience of a stage, the lighting, the curtain, the intimate setting, people paying attention. "The show is not one-liners," he continued.
"I discuss the aging process; I talk about the glory of women." Wiggins also touches on some serious subjects, including the death of his wife 20 years ago. "I do talk about my wife in the show," he said.
"And I also do poetry and music about war in general." "I am 65, but I do not know what I would retire to," he said. "Right now, when I perform, I have a cigarette in one hand and glass of tequila in the other hand -- and I am working.
What would I do if I retire? I'd be doing the same thing except I wouldn't be getting paid for it." Jim Wiggins' Silly Stuff Sad Stories will be presented at 8 p.
m. Saturday, at the Copley Theatre, 8 East Galena Blvd, Aurora. Tickets are $18.
50 and are available at the Paramount Theatre box office, by phone at (630) 896-6666, or at TicketMaster outlets.
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