Ahead of Funny Bone weekend, Emmy-winning comic Ms. Pat dishes on crashing the BET app
Courtesy Fif Wilson
Ms. Pat will be in Kansas City for four shows Sept. 25-26 at Funny Bone Comedy Club.
Ms. Pat has become a jack-of-all-trades: from stand-up comedian to multi-platform streamer to memoirist, there is nothing this Atlanta-born woman can’t do. Outside of cooking and roller skating, Ms. Pat has accomplished anything she’s set her mind to, including launching her own solo comedy tour later this month.
And according to her, she didn’t even realize at first that she was a funny person.
“I learned that I was saying things people were too scared to say,” Ms. Pat says. “People thought I was being funny, but actually I was being serious. I just kept talkin’ crap until my caseworker told me I should get on stage.”
After experiencing an unsavory childhood, dark humor fit into her routine perfectly. At the end of her 2022 Netflix comedy special, Y’all Wanna Hear Something Crazy?, she says that if you can laugh at something, that means you have power over it.
Whether it be taking down pet owners or talking about selling drugs at 14-years-old, no topic has been off-limits for Ms. Pat, but it was more difficult to get away with early in her career.
“I talked about, you know, domestic abuse and the relationship I was in,” she says. “I remember making a joke about being in a domestic abusive relationship that people wouldn’t find funny. I just made a little twist to it, and then everybody started to laugh about it.”
For her upcoming tour, Ms. Pat found comedic inspiration everywhere, especially after adopting seven children. Marriage, menopause, and life in general are evergreen material for her and will always be relatable to audience members.
And the audience does love Ms. Pat.
Courtesy Fif Wilson
“I’ve heard people say, ‘Hey, I was listening to you during my cancer treatment.’ ‘Oh, my mama loved you until she passed away.’ People tell me all the time, ‘Listening to you made me realize how important life is,’” Ms. Pat says. “You just never know how you touch people. And that’s what I’ve learned over the years doing comedy.”
Her influence doesn’t stop on stage. On Sept. 29, her second memoir, Ms. American Dream, written under her real name, Patricia Williams-Lee, hits bookstores and book retailers nationwide and is available for pre-order now. A continuation of her first hit memoir, Rabbit, Ms. American Dream chronicles more of her life journey.
“This is a pick-up from Rabbit, but also in this book, you realize what I was chasing,” Ms. Pat says. “And what I was chasing was called the American dream. I learned over the years that it’s not really an “American dream”.
“To me, I got my dream,” she continues. “My American dream to me is happening. It’s my family. It’s when I walk in the house and hear my family’s voice. I’m loved now, and in the beginning, I wasn’t. To me, everyone’s American dream is different. I know what society is trying to tell us is wrong. It told us it was a house with a white picket fence and you made it. No, that’s dead. For real.”
Ms. Pat’s fictional family on her sitcom, The Ms. Pat Show, is also rife with humor and heart. There’s no official release date yet, but the sixth season of her show will be dropping soon.
“This might be one of the best seasons we’ve made,” Ms. Pat says with pride. “I hope everyone will get on that Paramount+ app and rock out when it does come out.”
The turn-out for the season six premiere will undoubtedly be huge, as the season five drop on Jan. 7 this year drew in so many fans that BET+, the previous streaming service the sitcom was on, crashed, and the season earned the show its fourth overall Emmy nomination.
“It’s heartfelt. It’s funny. One thing about The Ms. Pat Show is it’s gonna make you feel, think, love, and hate,” Ms. Pat says. “And you’re gonna enjoy it.”
Despite going through many, many hardships in her life, Ms. Pat is filled with love, light, and laughter.
“I tell people all the time, believe in yourself. Nobody’s gonna believe in you as you believe in yourself,” Ms. Pat says. “Whatever your dream is, just keep working towards it and learn to love yourself. Because when you love yourself, ain’t no stoppin’ you.”
Ms. Pat will be in Kansas City for four shows Sept. 25-26 at Funny Bone Comedy Club.
