As she visits Lexington, Ms. Pat on why her raw, no-holds-barred show has broad appeal

Ms. Pat never saw pictured herself making a living on stage as a stand-up comedian. But once she did make that her focus, she did picture herself somewhere else.

“From the day I started doing comedy, I thought I was a sitcom mom,” Ms. Pat said. “Every time I wrote a joke, I wanted to make sure they could visualize every joke I could tell so they could see it on TV.”

Since the last time we spoke to Ms. Pat (a.k.a. Patricia Williams) back in 2015 prior to her appearance at Lexington’s Comedy Off Broadway, quite a bit has changed and her plate has gotten a lot fuller.

During that seven-year period, Ms. Pat’s style of raw, no-holds-barred story-telling landed her some high-profile work including specials on Netflix and guest appearances on on some of the biggest podcasts and radio shows, including “The Breakfast Club,” “The Bob and Tom Show” and “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Today she is a radio host on V-103’s “The Big Tigger Morning Show” in her hometown of Atlanta and has her own show, the Emmy-nominated “The Ms. Pat Show”, streaming on BET+, which will return for its third season Feb 23.

What makes ‘The Ms. Pat Show’ good?

Anyone who has heard Ms. Pat extract humor on stage from a dark past comprised of child molestation, drug trafficking (her street name was “Rabbit”) or her current atypical family life raising her and her sisters children will have a good sense of what “The Ms. Pat Show” is like. She said she is happy BET+ took a chance on her show that tackles issues with a style as unfiltered as her stand-up.

“With ‘The Ms. Pat Show,’ you get original,” she said. “It’s really easy to come up with stuff for this show because I have so many stories and we just make sure they are really funny and heartfelt and people loves it.”

While “The Ms. Pat Show” manages to tackle several serious issues specific to the Black community, she said the reason her show has so much broad appeal is that so many mothers either are a Ms. Pat, grew up with one or secretly want to be one.

“It highlights a mother that people have never seen before (on TV),” Ms. Pat said. “On my show, people get to hear mom’s talk like real moms. I get to say things moms think, but they don’t say.”

Ms. Pat new comedy tour

As Ms. Pat takes her new material out on the road and brings back to Lexington’s Comedy Off Broadway on Jan. 20 and 21, she said she is continuing to tackle new parts of her life, whether it is being a grandparent or adjusting to her increased fame.

“I’m a convicted felon. I’m not used to people running up on me, except if it’s the police,” she said, laughing.

Ms. Pat said the response to the TV shows and talking to people at her stand-up stops shows that she is giving a voice to “thousands of little ‘Rabbits’ running around out there, all races, neighborhoods, all different cultures.” With her current stand-up, podcast, TV show and more projects on the horizon, Ms. Pat hopes her continued rise after starting from the bottom provides some unexpected inspiration.

“It’s nice for people to see the come-up, for real,” Ms. Pat said. “It’s not about how you start. IT’s about how you finish.”

Comedy show: Ms. Pat

When: 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m. Jan. 20; 6:30 p.m., 9 p.m. Jan. 21

Where: Comedy Off Broadway, 161 Lexington Green Circle

Tickets: 859-271-5653, comedyoffbroadway.com