Patricia Williams, better known by her stage name Ms. Pat, is bringing her latest stand-up hour to Orlando this weekend, landing in town just as her second memoir hits shelves. The four-time Emmy-nominated comedian stars in BET's The Ms. Pat Show, a series built on her own real-life experiences long before Hollywood came calling. She'll perform Friday and Saturday, October 2-3, at Funny Bone Comedy Club, located at 9101 International Drive in Orlando, with Saturday shows already sold out.
The Orlando stop, first reported by Orlando Weekly, comes with tickets priced between $37 and $67. It lands the same week as the release of Ms. Pat's second book, Ms. American Dream, which was scheduled for release on September 29, 2026, according to Simon & Schuster. The publisher describes the memoir as the story of her fight from open mics to primetime TV, tracing a path that began long before cameras were ever pointed her way.
That path started early and hard. Williams had her first child at age 14, and by 15 she had already dropped out of eighth grade while raising two young children, according to Simon & Schuster's own description of the book: “By 15, I was an eighth-grade dropout with two young children.” The Ms. Pat Show, which she stars in on BET, is based on that same real-life story — an inner-city drug dealer turned suburban mother, per the publisher.
A Sitcom That Doesn't Flinch
The Ms. Pat Show has never shied away from heavy material. Episodes have tackled drug addiction, abortion, sexual abuse and dysfunctional family cycles, alongside subjects like ICE and divorce. Williams has said people gravitate toward the show precisely because it does not erase difficult subjects, and she credits her own path to fame to simply being honest.
That honesty extends to how she talks about her past. “I used to steal. I had money way before this,” she has said, a blunt line that captures the same unfiltered approach that runs through both her stand-up and her sitcom. Williams has also said that despite the show's success and her growing profile, there is no change in her after going to Hollywood — her fame, she's said, has not changed who she is.
Cooking Up Something Different on YouTube
Beyond scripted television, Williams hosts Whiskin' It All, a cooking web series on YouTube that grew out of an interest she developed around the COVID-19 pandemic. The show features award-winning chefs, friends and family members as guests, with conversations built around the cooking rather than polished instruction. Episodes are available on the Ms. Pat Comedy Channel on YouTube, according to rcreader.com, which also reported that Whiskin' It All invites guests into her home kitchen to teach her their favorite recipes.
Williams has said the format feels less like a cooking tutorial and more like family members in the kitchen having a conversation — an approach she says grew out of not having seen a cooking show where people couldn't cook, according to the same rcreader.com report. That same casual, conversational instinct shows up across her stand-up sets, where personal history and comedy blend without much of a filter.
Family, Identity and What She Hopes Audiences Take Away
Williams has a daughter who identifies as gay, and she has spoken about supporting her. Her stand-up shows have also attracted queer visitors, and she has said she hopes other parents will support their LGBTQ+ children the way she supports hers. It's another thread that runs through both her comedy and her memoir — the insistence on telling the truth about her own family, even the complicated parts.
Ms. American Dream picks up that thread on the page, covering the start of Williams's career and her experience navigating a largely white and male comedy world, according to the book's Simon & Schuster description. It's a companion, in some ways, to her first memoir, Rabbit, which HarperCollins published in 2017, according to her own website, Ms. Pat Comedy. That site also notes that BET and Paramount Global have signed Williams to a multi-genre overall deal covering scripted and unscripted projects.
An Emmy Count Still Being Sorted Out
Just how many Emmy nominations The Ms. Pat Show has racked up depends on who's counting. Simon & Schuster's description of the new memoir credits the show with earning BET its first-ever Emmy recognition, citing three nominations, while The Pitch reported that the show's fifth season earned it a fourth overall nomination. The Television Academy's own show page lists Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series recognition in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2026.
Whatever the final tally, the recognition has followed Williams on the road all year. She played the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center in Davenport in August, brought a new hour to Toledo's Funny Bone in mid-September, and hit Kansas City's Funny Bone Comedy Club for four shows in late September before landing in Orlando this weekend. Orlando Weekly, which has served as Orlando's free, independent voice since 1990, covered the stop as part of its paywall-free arts coverage.
