By Peter Lindblad
Brad Wiliams doesn’t mind getting out of his comfort zone every now and then.
So, when the uniquely imaginative and playful Cirque du Soleil came calling, asking the tornadic comic to headline the show in 2022, Williams was intrigued. His instinct to jump right in without a net was justified.
“I like doing things that scare me and that was certainly something that scared me and that it was new, it was different,” said Williams. “I liked being a part of a collective because being a comedian is oftentimes a very isolating job, so it was nice to have an ensemble around me. All I did was do comedy.”
It helped that he didn’t have to do anything crazy.
“I do what I do. I wasn’t getting fired out of a cannon wearing a leotard yelling out, ‘Qui, qui!’” said Williams, who will be unloading a funny fusillade of jokes April 11 at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater and Madison’s Orpheum Theater April 12 on his “Tall Tales” tour. “Like, that’s not what I was doing. So, it was a blast.”
A bundle of manic energy, known for coming in hot, Williams doesn’t hold anything back in his rip-roaring stand-up routines. What comes streaming out of his mouth are razor-sharp, witty observations of everyday life, as he tackles all sorts of subjects, ranging from interpersonal relationships to pop culture and current events. A bit of it is dirty.
What his Cirque du Soleil experience made him realize, more than anything, is that he’s wired differently.
“I think comedy is very normal,” said Williams. “I am more comfortable on stage than I am off stage, and that is very real. And I forget that the vast majority of people hate talking in public because there was a night where the light board went down … and while that happened, I ran out on stage. I grabbed a microphone. I started talking to the audience doing some bits, doing some jokes and at the end of the 10 minutes, we were all right. [It was] time [to say], ‘Here we go back again, and now we’re going to bring up the acrobats,’ and when I got backstage, there were two acrobats just looking at me, two Russian acrobats that just went, ‘I have no idea how you do what you do.’”
Hearing that threw Williams for a loop. It gave him a new perspective on what he does for a. living.
“That was really weird. Because if I mess up on a joke, fine, I got another joke ready to go,” explained Williams.” If they mess up as an acrobat, they’re dead. So, the fact that they were looking at a guy talking, going, ‘Wow, that’s impressive.’ It’s very strange to me.”
Born in Orange, California, Williams attended the University of Southern California before withdrawing, with his big break in comedy occurring when Carlos Mencia asked him to join him on stage at a live show. Williams, who has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, was just 19, and Mencia was cracking jokes about little people. Taking it all in stride, Williams went up and did a little of his own material, getting laughs and impressing Mencia. Williams would go on to open for Mencia on various tours, including the “Mind of Mencia” and “Punisher” tours.
More good stuff would come his way, including appearances on late-night talk shows in different skits, and multiple hilarious one-hour specials for TV, including “Brad Williams: Fun Size” in 2015 and “Brad Williams: Daddy Issues” in 2016 – both for Showtime.
His last one was “Starfish,” where Williams confronted head on the folly of the division in the country. He doesn’t necessarily think it’s getting worse. It’s just different.
“Here’s what I tell people: I don’t think the world is more absurd than it was,” said Williams. “It’s just that the absurd is getting amplified. So, it used to be, ‘Hey, that crazy guy down the street that will yell his political opinions at you and who’s just wacky, he just yells them to you when you walk your dog in front of your house.’ Like, that’s what it used to be. Now that guy has a podcast.”
That’s who has a platform these days, and the noise is getting louder.
“That guy has a streaming show. That guy can fix graphics on his Instagram to make it seem like it’s coming from a viable news source. That guy could do these things that make you go, ‘Oh, he clearly knows what’s happening,’” said Williams. “No, he does not know what’s happening. Go to his basement. He doesn’t know how to clean it. You think he knows what’s going on in the ins and outs of our country and the government? No. So it’s not that people are crazier. It’s just that the crazy is getting amplified and the crazy is getting louder.”
To Williams, it seems like the smart people are being silenced.
“But they’re still out there. There are still good people out there,” said Williams. “And that’s one of the reasons why I love touring so much is, like … I know the young kids say, ‘Hey, go touch grass.’ Like, that’s their phrase for going outside, but it’s real, man. Go outside, go meet people. You can get locked into your device and think that once you go outside, the world is going to be this absolute hellscape. But then you actually go outside and you go to a restaurant, you go to a coffee shop, and you talk to some people, you go to a bar and you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, people are cool. People are nice, you know, people are good,’ and those are the kinds of people that I want to make laugh.”
With the “Tall Tales” tour, Williams isn’t reinventing the wheel. He knows what works for him as a comedian. There is a subject he’s staying away from.
“I mean, if you’ve seen my previous specials, you kind of know my vibe,” said Williams. “My material is very autobiographical. So, it’s just like what’s going on, and there’s a lot of stuff about my wife, less about my kid, being a dad and all of that. One thing that you should not expect is any jokes about politics. I’m not a political comedian. I’m not smart enough to be a political comedian. Some people are cool [at that], good for them, but for me, I just want everyone … I don’t care whoever you voted for, whoever you pray to, whatever race you are. I want all of those people to be in the same room, the same place – all having the exact same thought, which is, ‘Wow! That dwarf is funny!”
So funny, in fact, that Williams has also made it as an actor, most recently appearing in 2025’s comedy “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.” That was a dream come true.
“I mean, it was wonderful,” said Williams. “It was great to be in a legendary property like ‘Spinal Tap.’ I was a huge fan of the first one. It was amazing to get directed by, of course, the legendary late Rob Reiner. It was great to be in a movie with Wee Man from ‘Jackass’ because we were in the same movie. So, people will finally figure out we’re not the same freaking person.”
Almost everybody knows who Williams is now, but there was a certain music legend who needed an introduction. The movie connected the two.
“And then it was great to be in a scene with Elton John where there was a live audience,” said Williams. “I got to be with Sir Elton John, and the audience was cheering and in between takes they were yelling at Sir Elton and then at one point some guy yelled out, ‘Brad Williams, we love you!’ And I just kind of stopped and looked at him and then more people started yelling, ‘Brad Williams, we love you,’ and ‘Hey, good to see you Brad,’ and Elton John, who I hadn’t said a word to, just turns looks at me and goes, ‘Who the f**k are you?’ And that was fun. You know, that’s something I can tell people.”
A regular who’s made the rounds on late-night TV talk shows, including “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “The Tonight Show,” as well as popular podcasts like “TigerBelly,” “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “Your Mom’s House,” Williams isn’t shy about getting his name out there. He’s also got a podcast called “Heightened Babble” with fellow comic JB Ball.
“Me and JB, we have known each other … a long time now,” said Williams. “We’ve known each other at least, like, 15 years. He’s one of my best friends. He’s my opening act, so you’ll see him in Madison and Milwaukee. And we’re very much alike, as you can tell. We’re practically the same person. I’m a 4’4″, white dwarf from Orange County. He’s a 6’3″, black guy from Florida. So, practically twins.”
Again, Williams stays away from politics with Ball.
“We love doing this podcast because we don’t do politics,” said Williams. “We don’t do stuff like that. We just do weird stories that we find on the internet that we bring to light, and they may have missed your algorithm … basically, to listen to the podcast, ‘Heightened Babble,’ is to know what it’s like to hang out with me and JB at 2 a.m. at a Waffle House where we’re just trying to make each other laugh.”
One thing that also makes Williams laugh is his wife, taekwondo instructor Jasmine Gong. She’s from Fond du Lac, and she has a Wisconsin accent.
“That kind of throws me for a loop,” laughs Williams. “Like, we’ve been married for eight years, but having a Chinese woman saying, ‘Oh, yeah, right there, you betcha,’ that is still weird to me. That’s still funny.”
And when he laughs, at least while he’s in the state, all of Wisconsin – or at least those in the same room with Williams – laughs with him.
“One thing I could appreciate about Wisconsin is just in general, everyone’s nice and everyone likes to drink,” said Williams. “And I like nice drunk people. It’s a good time. So, you know, you guys know how to have fun. And there are these towns like Bat Lake. Madison is such a town where if you looked at it as a normal person from Los Angeles, New York, Miami, whatever, you would look at Madison at first glance and go, ‘Ah, look at this. There’s nothing here.’ But then you go around that wonderful college town, and there’s just so much.”
When he gets there, Williams intends on taking advantage of them all.
“Bars, restaurants, bookstores, like little cool items – there’s a legendary pizza spot that I got last time that was awesome,” said Williams. “So, it’s like there are these wonderful little things there that you could be like, ‘Wow, I would have totally overlooked this city. And now that I’m here, I’m so glad I didn’t.’ So yeah, I feel like that’s Wisconsin in general. I feel like people have a lot of misconceptions about the state, but everyone’s nice, at least they have been to me, and they’ll give you a beer, a brat and some cheese curds, the good ones, the ones that squeak, and you’ll have a good time.”