Ms. Pat won’t hold back on telling jokes that hit hard and come from experience
The words raw and uncut fail to encapsulate the audacity of comedian Ms. Pat’s brand of humor.
Her Emmy-nominated series “The Ms. Pat Show” — a multigenerational family comedy not unlike “Roseanne” but with much sharper language — deals with issues like abortion, addiction and abuse. The third season of the multi-cam sitcom premiered on BET this week.
In her 2022 Netflix comedy special, “Ya’ll Wanna Hear Something Crazy,” the comedian, born Patricia Williams, touches on various episodes of personal trauma — from being groomed by a married man at 12 and bearing his child at 14 to having to “prepare” her disabled Uncle Cecil for appointments with a sex worker. Both are true stories.
She closed the special by saying: “If you don’t take s— away from this show, I hope you take one thing: Learn how to take the darkest s— in your life and turn that s— into laughter. Cause when you can laugh at it, that means you got control of it.”
The Times caught up with Ms. Pat to discuss her favorite joke, cancel and “macaroni” cultures, and her long- and short-term career goals.
On “The Ms. Pat Show.”
You’ve had a tumultuous upbringing. Would you say your ascent in Hollywood has been easier by comparison?
I’ve heard [horror stories where] people have pitched maybe 10 pilots and none of them got picked up. And I thank God every day that the first one I pitched got picked up and actually made, and now we’re going into our third season. Hollywood can be a devil. It breaks your heart. But I think for me, being from my background, if you tell me no, I’m already prepared. I’m used to no. With the show, it took five years for it to land a home. Nothing is easy, [but] anything good is worth working for.
How do your children react to your jokes about them?
What are you talking about? They all work on set with me. What are they going to say? I’ll knock them upside the head. [Laughs] They laugh at it. I’ll come to them a lot of times and ask them, “Hey what do you think? Is this funny?” And a lot of material that I write about my family are just things that we sit around the house and talk about or that they did or I’ve seen. And I just turn it into a bit.
How long would you like to continue doing “The Ms. Pat Show”?
Oh, “Ms. Pat’s” going to need eight seasons. [Laughs] I’m putting it in the universe. I want it to go on as long as people appreciate it. As long as it feels fun and we don’t have to make up stuff. As long as we can pull from my life, I would like to keep going. When it becomes dumb and we’ve got to make up stuff, chile, shut the doors and move on to something else.
On stand-up
What’s your preshow ritual, if you have one?
If the show is at 7, roll out of bed at 5 o’clock. Then I put my makeup on. [Laughs] I don’t dance around, I don’t light no candles, I don’t do none of that. I don’t pray. I just walk out there and say “Thank ya’ll for coming. I’m already asleep.”
Do you have a favorite joke that you’ve told?
It’d probably be my Uncle Cecil joke. You’ll have to watch the special to know what I’m talking about. It was a true story.
You know what’s crazy? When you go through trauma ... I blocked out a lot of things. So as I’ve gotten older, stuff starts to come back and I’m like, “This can’t be real.” So I always call a relative, like, “Do you remember this?” And I allow them to go into details to let me know that I’m not crazy. When I started to remember the Uncle Cecil story, I was like, “This can’t be true. People don’t treat their kids like this.” [Laughs] All it did was open up the floodgates to growing up in a bootleg house.
I think my favorite joke of yours is the one about chicken a— and backs.
[Laughs] I was gonna say that one too. This generation don’t even know that chickens got an a— or a back. [Laughs] When I was a kid, they used to sell a— and backs by the pound.
Comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff and comics Donnell Rawlings and Tiffany Haddish explain the origins of modern-day cancel culture and its historical equivalents.
On cancel culture
Your show is known as a “grown folks’ sitcom.” Do you feel like your brand of comedy is received differently in this era of cancel culture?
Yeah, but for some reason I’m skating by. [Laughs] I think it’s because mine comes with honesty and experience. I’m not doing no radical mess off the top of my head. If I’m talking about something, it’s because I’ve experienced it. If I’m talking about gay culture, it’s because I have a gay daughter. I think people look at me as being honest and so they’re not so easily offended when they come to see me. And if you are, you can always find somebody else to go see.
What are your thoughts on cancel culture, anyway?
I just think we’re a bunch of whiny ass b— these days. We ain’t built the same. Back in the day, we were built Ford tough. Now they’re built macaroni tough. They break at anything. “Oh, my God, you said I’m fat!” Back in the day, [they’d say] “you fat as hell” and it was OK. You can’t even say “thicker than a snicker.” “Oh, my God, you said I’m thick! I need to go jump off a building.” Girl, if you don’t get out of here ...
How would you describe the gaze through which comedians view the world in order to constantly find humor in things?
Well, everybody views the world different. I mean, some people are blinded by what is going on in the world. For me, I talk about what I know. I don’t do real deep political jokes because nobody wants to be hit across the head. I truly think we all should be respected no matter what our beliefs are or how we vote. I have a neighbor who was a Trump fanatic. But when I tell you that man could build some cabinets! And nobody understood why I hung out with him. I was like, “You might think he’s crazy, but he’s a badass with that saw.” I hung out with him all the time and I was able to gather material from it. I’ve definitely created a character in my stand-up about living next door and talking to him. He almost sounded like he was [from] another planet.
Do you feel like audience reception to more risqué jokes has changed in recent years?
Yeah, because society has told us to change. Society says what you can and can’t say. And I think that’s what people like about me, because I don’t give two craps what I say. I’m 50 years old. You remember back in the day when you’d be like, “Ooh, that old lady right there down the street is mean as hell!” I know why they’re mean as hell now. [Laughs] You live 50 years and you’ll know why all them people didn’t like kids. I’m gonna talk about what I’m going to talk about.
What do you think of the state of comedy at this point in time?
I think comedy is making a comeback. At one point it was really getting shut down and controlled all the way to the White House. But I really think it’s making a comeback and comedians are beginning to feel free again. Look at Dave Chappelle. He don’t give two craps what nobody says. I think he opened up a lot of our eyes to say, “Hey, it’s comedy. I should be able to say what I want to say; it’s freedom of speech.” Kudos to Dave for opening the doors for people who are scared to say what they want to say. Rappers say what they want to say but then they get mad at us!
That’s very true. Who are some other comics whose work makes you feel excited today?
Dave. I would say Kevin [Hart]. Probably Dave and Kevin. I like Chris Rock too. I’m glad to see he’s making a comeback. But Dave Chappelle, he’s the cream of the crop.
What do you think about the attempts to cancel him?
Never gonna happen. Cancel him for what, because he’s telling the truth? Again, this new macaroni culture we’ve got, they just don’t want to hear the truth. I mean, tell me where Dave lied at? Nowhere. He told you what his opinion is and it pretty much was accurate.
On upcoming endeavors
What would you say your long- and short-term career goals are?
I would love to host a game show; that’s kind of my short-term goal. I would like a DIY show; that’s one of my short-term goals. My long-term goal would be to go to the Oscars or the Met Gala. I would love to rack up some trophies for “The Ms. Pat Show” because I truly think they overlook us because of the network we’re on and because the show is so real. She’s not your typical mother. This mother’s got a criminal background. And you know how networks ease over things? Well we go deep into it and we don’t put a bow on it at the end of the episode, either.
You have an overall deal with BET and Paramount. What kinds of projects do you have in the works?
I have a movie that I’m working on. I can’t say who it’s with, but it’s with a very big director and I’m hoping that a network will pick it up. We’re working on a couple of other projects for BET+ and Viacom, so I’m just hoping to develop some other things. Hopefully I get a book deal again. And then working on starting a comedy tour after I wrap the next season of the show.
When do you think the tour will be?
Hopefully in the fall.
And what will this book be about?
I don’t know. I gotta get the deal first. I’m putting it out into the universe.
You also host a comedic podcast, “The Patdown.” How do you manage to maintain your comedy creatively through so many different outlets?
A lot of times I go on “The Patdown” and have a conversation and it creates material for not only my stand-up, but for my TV show also. It’s really just a place to allow me to vent. If you let me vent, sometimes gold pops out.
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