Cedar Rapids comedian, former radio host takes stage again in fundraiser for NAMI Linn County

CEDAR RAPIDS — Tragedy plus time equals comedy, the old adage goes. For many, grief and joy are two sides of the same coin.

But for Tim Boyle, comedy isn’t about flipping the coin and leaving it to chance. It’s about control.

“If you can make a joke about a situation, you control that. Comedy is so much about control,” he said. “If I can grasp it and understand it, I can make fun of it.”

This month, the longtime WMT-AM morning radio host is having a homecoming, of sorts, as he takes stage for one of Mirrorbox Theatre’s final shows before it vacates its location on Ellis Boulevard NW in Cedar Rapids.

His show this Wednesday, “Still Not Dead Yet,” is a full circle moment for the semiprofessional comedian after years of struggling with depression and drinking. In a benefit for the Linn County Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, he returns to the stage after surviving two serious episodes of alcohol poisoning.

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The last one, in 2023, coincided with another result of his addiction — his third Operating While Intoxicated conviction, for which he spent three months in jail.

“I called it passive suicide. I quit shaving, quit brushing my teeth. I did not socialize,” Boyle said. “I didn’t have the nerve to kill myself, so I killed my liver.”

Now in recovery after a successful stint in rehab, he uses comedy to reconcile with multiple deaths and progressively compounded grief as he finds gratitude for those who helped him get through it.

His show, a confluence of Mirrorbox’s closure of its permanent space, a needed place to perform and National Mental Health Month, will converge on themes of mental health and the need for resources to support those going through challenges.

“I think I can take a message to people that you’re not alone, you’re not crazy. There’s a lot of us,” he said. “The opposite of depression is connection.”

If you go:

Cedar Rapids comedian Tim Boyle’s upcoming show “Still Not Dead Yet — One Night Only is Just Too Many!” benefits NAMI Linn County as one of the last performances in Mirrorbox Theatre’s Ellis Boulevard NW location.

Where: Mirrorbox Theatre, 1200 Ellis Blvd. NW, Cedar Rapids

When: 7 p.m. May 28

Details: Tickets can be purchased for $10 at mirrorboxtheatre.com. For more information, call (319) 200-1269.

Tim’s journey

Boyle, who has opened for comedy legends like Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres in his semiprofessional comedy career, realized his gift for making others laugh at a young age.

The youngest of five siblings, he assumed the role of providing comic relief as a young child, while his mother battled cancer. She died when he was 11.

Starting in 1976, Boyle’s outlet for comedy took hold through his radio career on WMT. Over 30 years, he acted as an on-air radio personality and morning host, where comedy punctuated the news of the day.

His time spent in sporadic comedy circuits, most of them in Iowa, became an offshoot of his recognition from radio. Over time, he has developed a penchant for impersonations of Bill Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Matthew McConaughey, Hayden Fry, George W. Bush and Bruce Springsteen.

In 1978, he started acting with the Short Circuit Theater, a troupe at the Cedar Rapids Community Theatre, which was a precursor to Theatre Cedar Rapids.

“We did a lot of work in schools and Congregate Meals, so we were getting both ends of the life span. We had an audience walk out on us once because the bus pulled up,” he said. “That was the one thing about that job — everything that could possibly go wrong on stage happened at one time or another. So I was kind of inoculated once I had gone through that.”

In elementary schools, children often mistook him for Robin Williams. And, like Robin Williams, many comedians struggle with their mental health.

“Comedians are funny people, but they are not necessarily very happy people,” said Boyle, who calls himself an “asymptomatic superspreader” of happiness.

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“I don’t experience any of the symptoms, but I can spread it to other people,” he said. “I’m OK with that — that’s not bad.”

But it’s been a long road to finding fulfillment in his calling. Boyle, 70, credits his Irish heritage for fostering his comedic upbringing.

“I like to say for the Irish, grief is recreation,” he said. “We love a good death.”

He is the only one alive from his immediate family. In addition to his parents and siblings, he has lost four close friends from college and three from high school over the last 15 years.

“I think the thing that overwhelmed me was grief and loss. More than alcohol abuse, and depression, it was unresolved loss,” he explained.

He didn’t stay in touch with the ones who cared about him most. And when he went through rough times with treatment for alcoholism, they reciprocated.

In 2018, he was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning and liver malfunction. Now with three inpatient treatments for alcohol use under his belt, he reclaims the narrative with another quip: “I’m not a quick study.”

As he spent time behind bars with no access to treatment in 2023, his ex-wife, Amy Johnson, searched for treatment placement for him as his only remaining advocate “on the outside.”

She knew her advocacy would be crucial to his success — even if no one else believed in him. The couple’s 21-year marriage ended in 2013 as Boyle’s drinking escalated.

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“Tim had a 100 percent chance of failing without me, and he had a chance of success with me. That’s why I stuck with him,” Johnson said.

Boyle says comedy’s healing power lies in its ability to make connections while looking at life’s demons in a less scary light.

“It’s the shared experience. It’s a connection,” he said. “It’s (knowing) that I’m not alone.”

Mental health needs rise as resources challenged

The fundraiser hopes to better position the Linn County Chapter of NAMI ahead of a new executive director hire and ongoing challenges to the state of mental health care in Iowa.

Acting executive director, board member and program coordinator Kurt Rogahn said NAMI helps fill in the gaps in Iowa’s patchwork of mental health care, which is concentrated in a relatively small number of counties. The group’s peer support resources use methodology shown to help patients and their families.

“We don’t replace mental health providers, we help support what they do through support groups,” Rogahn said. “We’re there to help support people with mental health issues and support families.”

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As the stigma of mental health concerns is slowly lessened through programs like the “Make it OK” initiative, he said more families are understanding mental illness is not a character defect or a choice, but rather an illness in one of the body’s organs.

NAMI statistics used to indicate that 1 in 5 adults had a mental illness. Since the pandemic, that estimate is moving closer to 1 in 4, Rogahn said. One in 20 will experience a more serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

When Rogahn started attending NAMI support groups with his wife 10 years ago, attendance was usually about six to eight people. These days, the support groups draw upward of 20 people.

Rogahn’s family knows schizophrenia well. His son, Dan, died in December at age 42, after struggling with it for 25 years.

Like many private nonprofits, NAMI’s need for fundraising is constant. Its Family-to-Family classes teach about mental illness and treatments while building a sense of empathy for the person experiencing the illness.

It does not charge for any of its support groups or classes.

“It robs people of their potential. It does not respect class, race or income level,” Rogahn said. “It can hit any family.”

NAMI hopes Boyle’s performance will provoke thought as it offers messages of hope and support.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.

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