By Peter Lindblad
Writing her memoir “Rabbit” was cathartic for the indomitable comedian Patricia Williams, also known as Ms. Pat.
Unflinchingly honest, it came out in 2017 and co-writer Jeannine Amber helped her get it all out on paper, as Ms. Pat was completely open about everything. That included the sexual molestation she experienced as a young girl at the hand of her mama’s boyfriend, as well as her harrowing experiences as a single 15-year-old mother of two dealing crack on the streets of Atlanta.
“I don’t think I’ve cried that much in my life,” said Ms. Pat. “Me and this lady (Amber) cried so much … That memoir opened a lot of closed doors, and we really got to the nitty gritty.”
Amazingly, Ms. Pat has somehow managed to turn all that pain and anger into raw, outrageously funny comedy. In fact, she has a new multi-cam sitcom coming out on BET+ called “The Ms. Pat Show” that’s getting a lot of buzz. She’s had to be patient, as the show was passed from network to network.
“Oh, god … I tell people it’s a long wait in Hollywood,” said Ms. Pat.
Not for the faint of heart, with its strong language, it’s about her life and family, centering around the trials and tribulations of a convicted felon transitioning into a suburban mom, who suddenly finds herself living in middle America. The love they share couldn’t be any tougher.
The show premiered in 2021 and is being shepherded by a high-profile production team, which includes celebrated director Lee Daniels, famed for his involvement in movies such as “Monster’s Ball,” “Precious” and “The Butler.” Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment are also producing, as the show gained one notable fan – legendary TV producer Norman Lear, of “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son” and “The Jeffersons” fame.
Is she enjoying acting? That’s hard to say.
“Um (long pause) … (laughs) It’s pretending,” said Ms. Pat. “I didn’t know I could do it, you know, but I can do it. It’s work. Let me say this, I’ve got a better chance of winning an Oscar Meyer hot dog than an Oscar (laughs).”
Ms. Pat will be back in her natural environment Aug. 25-26 performing stand-up onstage at the Milwaukee Improv in Milwaukee. Ms. Pat said she likes Wisconsin, a state her husband really loves, too. He helped Ms. Pat get her life together.
The daughter of a single mother of five, the family on welfare and living in a rough neighborhood in west Atlanta, Ms. Pat was in survival mode from the time she was born. At a “bootleg” house run by her grandfather, young Ms. Pat was schooled in the art of rolling drunks, taking them for money to get food.
Violence was just a part of her life. After having her first child at age 14 and another when she was 15, Ms. Pat turned to selling drugs to make a living. The only other option: prostitution. Arrests were common, and she was shot twice as a teen – once in a shootout with a robber, with the bullet blowing right through one of her breasts.
She doesn’t tell that story onstage anymore, but it has been part of her stand-up routine in the past. She found the crowd reactions funny.
“It was like, ‘Oh,’ and then I just tell people, ‘I’m not here for you to feel sorry for me,’ and it’s all to make people realize it’s real, but I’m over it,” said Ms. Pat. “So, I always tell people, ‘Two nipples are overrated. Nobody’s ever going to do both of them at the same time.’ (laughs) If you think about it, your husband’s got that one he always go to, and there’s always one that’s always going to stay dry.”
She laughed after that comment, giggling to herself. It’s such an infectious laugh that it’s impossible not to laugh along with her. Still, there wasn’t anything funny about the hard times she had growing up that could have destroyed her … or was there?
“I always try to tell people that if they can take the darkest thing in their life and find a way to laugh at it, and if you can laugh at it, you have control of it,” said Ms. Pat.
At age 19, she met her husband, a 21-year-old military vet at the time, while also taking in four more young children from her sister, who was addicted to drugs. With the help and encouragement of her spouse, Ms. Pat was then determined to make a change for the better.
A case worker saw her potential as a comedian and urged her to go to an open mic. Ms. Pat said that with her criminal background, comedy seemed like a wise career move.
“I went to an open mic one night, and I was like, ‘Wait a minute …’ and I remember the first $50 I made, I was like, ‘$50 to talk crap? Oh, this is for me right here,’” said the loquacious Ms. Pat.
A funny interaction with an audience member and telling a story about a fat cat burglar had the audience in stitches.
“And I got some laughs, and I was like, ‘Ooo … I’m a comedian,’” said Ms. Pat. “So, I run home and told my husband, ‘I’m a comedian.’ And he said, ‘As long as you go and clock in at Walmart tomorrow, we all right (laughs).’”
A better, more lucrative job would come along, and eventually, Ms. Pat had a decision to make.
“Well, I ended up working for General Motors along with my husband at the time, and we got on permanent,” said Ms. Pat. “And I was there for like two or three years, and I said, ‘You know what? I really like this comedy thing. I’m out of here and I’m tired of pushing on the back of these cars.’ And I just left and I said, “’I think I should do this comedy thing,’ and boy, did it rock our family. My husband was like, ‘You’re going to leave $28 an hour to go …’ ‘[I said] “Shi*t, I’m going to follow my dream.’ He’s like, ‘You’ve been dreaming since I married you.’ (laughs) That’s what dreams are, they keep coming.”
The two almost split up.
“I truly believe, you can’t let other people to determine your path and I was not letting anybody determine my path,” said Ms. Pat.
On the verge of going their separate ways, each taking their own kids, they decided to stick together.
“When he saw that he was going to have to feed them by himself he was okay with it,” joked Ms. Pat.
Like most comedians, it took time for Ms. Pat to hone her chops. It started to click when she stopped worrying about her image.
“It took me about 10 years. I moved from Atlanta to Indianapolis, and I started to find my voice with all these crazy stories, all these crazy stories that I have … that are funny,” said Ms. Pat. “It took me some time. It took me about 10 years to do what I wanted to do, because I try to be funny, but I was like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t want them to see me as a big, black ghetto girl,’ but then I was like, ‘I don’t give a damn what you think of me. You don’t pay my bills. You don’t help me take my wig off. My kids are helping me with my bra, so I can go to bed, so why am I worried about these people out here?’”
Eventually, people got Ms. Pat’s unfiltered perspective on life, and now she’s a successful podcaster, as well as a comedian, author, and actress, with her show “The Patdown.” Critics have been taking notice, with The Washington Post describing her comedy as “unforgiving and darkly hilarious.”
Variety named her as a “Top 10 Comic to Watch” in 2019, as Ms. Pat has made memorable appearances on Comedy Central’s “This is Not Happening,” NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” and Nickelodeon’s “Mom’s Night Out,” as well as Netflix’s “The Degenerates” and “Larry Charles’ Dangerous World of Comedy.”
Making the rounds on other podcasts has made her a wildly popular guest on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” “WTF with Marc Maron” and “The Bertcast with Bert Kreischer.” However, it’s that book “Rabbit” that’s really turned heads, its inspiring, dramatic, and gut-busting, self-deprecating narrative making her someone worth rooting for.
Nominated for an NAACP Award for Outstanding Literary Work, it was also touted as one of Rotten Tomatoes’ “Books Becoming TV Series We Cannot Wait to See.”
Looking ahead, Ms. Pat has designs on doing more. She hopes to write another TV show or even pen movie scripts. Perhaps unexpectedly, Ms. Pat said she would love to host a game show or go on HGTV “… because I am DIY crazy. (Yelling) Hey, get over there and get that brick! Throw that grass!’ Remember that show ‘The Nanny?’ I always wanted her job. I was like, ‘Girl, you are just too nice.’ (laughs) Hey, yeah, I wanted to say so bad, ‘You’ve got one more time before your mama’s going to hit you upside the head with a bat.’” So, be sure to stay on her good side.