Watch: Ms. Pat talks the transformative essence of comedy

Ms. Pat chats with theGrio on how comedy can help you heal.

Jul 27, 2023

Creator, writer, and producer of the “Ms. Pat Show,” was declared by The Washington Post as “unforgiving and darkly hilarious,” and The New York Times as “brutally honest and outrageous.” Ms. Pat talks with theGrio about using comedy to grow, heal, and move past one’s own pain and thus to heal the world.

The following is a transcript of that conversation.

Ms. Pat: [00:00:00] Well, for me, I truly believe when you can laugh at the pain that you’ve been through in life, that’s healing. Because when you’re laughing, you’re winning. You only lose them when you’re depressed and you’re crying about things. And I live by tomorrow. Hey, if you don’t have control over it, don’t dwell on anything you don’t have control over. So I think that’s how comedy can heal the world. [00:00:19][19.3]

Touré: [00:00:20] I think that Black creators like yourself have more power in the industry and more of an ability to get their shows on the air than ever before. What do you think about that? [00:00:29][9.1]

Ms. Pat: [00:00:29] I think I came along at the right time. It took me five years. Now it took five years. I heard a bunch of no’s also. And it’s because, you know, everybody have a box. They want to stick certain people. I’m a plus-size Black woman. They wanted to stick me in a box where I’m perfect. I’m in the kitchen, I’m a convicted felon, OK? And I don’t cook. So we needed to rewrite. That’s true. And that’s what we did. And I kept going until we got somebody who understood what we was about, what we wanted to do. [00:00:29][0.0]

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