By Peter Lindblad
At first, the gigs were just trickling in.
The county was still mostly in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so comedian Brad Williams took what he could get. With things getting back to normal somewhat, the lively Williams is enjoying having a full stand-up schedule, and eager crowds have been lapping up the laughs.
“Me and – I could be wrong – but I believe Jeff Dye were the first ones back in May of 2020,” said Williams. “Now, I wasn’t going full … like back in May, I’d do one gig a month. And okay, that was my money to keep me afloat and help me break even, but yeah, January 2021, late January, was when I was kind of back full-time, and it’s been amazing, because you know everyone’s been cooped up for a year in some form, and people really want to laugh. Like, you’re hardly getting people that are just lazily coming to comedy clubs where it’s like, ‘Well, we have nothing else to do. Let’s check out a comedy show. Let’s see how this guy is.’ People want to be there, and they’re excited to be there, they want that experience.”
That, in turn, is fueling Williams’ motivation, as he looks forward to performing at the Skyline Comedy Club in Appleton July 22-24. Check out our June cover story on Williams here for more.
To Williams, comedy, in these trying times, is like manna from heaven.
“Eddie Murphy had a joke on ‘Eddie Murphy Raw’ where he says, ‘If you’re starving, a cracker is going to be the best tasting thing you’ve ever had in your life,’” said Williams, ‘And I feel like everyone’s not been out, so when they go back, it’s like, oh my god, they’re so happy and they’re ready to just laugh. We’ve been cooped up for a year and if you watch the news or go on Twitter, there are very few happy stories in the last year or so … very few like, ‘Oh, that was fantastic. I feel better about myself. I feel better about my life. Sh*t, hopelessness … it’s not my thing!’ People need some sugar to help the medicine go down. They need the carrot at the end of the stick. They need something to look forward to, and that’s what they’re getting with stand-up comedy.”
Williams loves studying the history of comedy. To him, it’s a science and an art. There’s never really been a period like this for comics, who are dealing with “cancel culture” and an industry just waking up after a long COVID-19 induced slumber. Williams is using the research to get better at his craft.
“So, it’s really interesting,” said Williams. “I love stand-up comedy. I’m a fan. Some comedians don’t like to watch other comics or other comedians because they’re worried about being influenced and possibly stepping on the same jokes and stuff like that. I love studying stand-up comedy. I love knowing where the art form has been. I love seeing what other comedians are doing. There are some just insanely smart, talented people that I look at what they’re doing and go, ‘Oh man, I’ve got to get better.’ Because I’ve got to compete with your Whitney Cummings, your Ali Wongs, your Tom Seguras… I’ve got to compete with that. So, yeah, I’m really enjoying what the art form is right now.”
Still, Williams isn’t limiting himself to just doing stand-up. He’s acted in a variety of movies and TV shows. He said his favorite role was in the Christopher Guest film “Mascots,” which gave him the opportunity to go one-on-one and do improv with the dearly departed master Fred Willard.
“That was awesome,” said Williams. “As an actor, he was a genius. Like, you talk about how high energy I am, and for those who aren’t familiar, Christopher Guest movies are improvised. There’s not really a script. There’s a guide, there’s a ‘hey, this is what we’re trying to do with this scene. Go.’ So, in my mind, I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m going to be the high-energy guy, and then I’m going to control the scene, and Fred’s going to react to me.’”
That scenario didn’t go as Williams had planned.
“The guy was in his late-70s, and I was in my early 30s, and he had more energy than I did,” said Williams. “He was over the top of me … and I had that happen, and I was like, ‘Oh,’ and I pulled back. Fred, man, is a crazy guy … wow, 70-something years old and he’s doing that. So, that’s my favorite role of all-time, is because of the people I got to work with and things like that.”
Nevertheless, his heart will always be with stand-up comedy.
“How does that compare? Nothing compares to stand-up, no,” said Williams. “It’s the live, instant feedback, you think of a line, you say it, you immediately know did that work or did that not work? With acting, you do five different takes a different way every time, and you just kind of go, ‘I think that was good. I think that worked. Maybe it’ll work,’ and you have to wait until it comes out to see if it worked. When it comes out, you’ve forgotten what you did or how you did it … you forget so much. So, nothing compares to stand-up comedy. Acting is fun, but when I do any acting project, it’s just so I can keep doing stand-up.”