In an Era of Truth Telling Comics, Ms. Pat’s Y’all Wanna Hear Something Crazy Is Still Something Wholly Original
Drawing for the marrow, that’s to say, being brutally honest and unfiltered, in stand-up comedy has become commonplace the way that Jerry Seinfeld’s style of observational comedy used to be copied, both knowingly and unknowingly, by comedians by the dozens. Being thoroughly original and also standing out as a truth-teller in the 2020s of something of a feat as there have been countless stories podcasts, albums, specials, solo shows from many a comedian that espouse their wild former or current life. Thusly, the style in which comedians proudly wear their damage or trauma has its own formula that has seen plenty of success, but does feel oversaturated at times.
The idea of a former drug dealer getting on the straight and narrow by way of sharing their life in a humorously distilled sense isn’t even entirely new. Yet, Ms. Pat, former drug-lord-turned-truth-telling-comic, and her hour special Y’all Wanna Hear Something Crazy still feels like a hilariously sobering breath of fresh air.
At 49 years old, Ms. Pat has not only lived more life than most, but she earnestly engages with the current moment in a way that many comedians her age opt out of as a way to feel superior to the younger generations. So many times throughout her stories in Y’all Wanna Hear Something Crazy she boldly shows the many wild colors that her life is painted with, whether it’s talking about getting pregnant as a very young teenager or raising “crack babies”, but also tries her best to not espouse an agenda a la the “back in MY DAY…” angle of a joke. When touching upon class, race, sexual identity, family structure, Ms. Pat always comes back to her very personal experience as specific (and often, so damn blue) it can be, making something that we’ve never really heard or seen before in all of years of consuming comedy.
Even when it feels like she’s getting into dicey territory (your ears might perk up about when she talks about her lesbian daughter), Pat really doesn’t shy away from her own flaws and misgivings, which makes her version of truth-telling beautifully human on top of being just flat out funny.
Ms. Pat: Y’all Wanna Hear Something Crazy is now streaming on Netflix.