The Long and Short of It: Brad Williams Is Very Funny

Comedian Brad Williams has fond memories of his first appearance at the Lobero Theatre almost a decade ago, when he recorded Fun Size, his first one-hour special, at the venue. Things were a bit different then: Williams wasn’t yet all that well-known and the show wasn’t even close to sold out.

“When you see the special, it looks like it’s a packed theater, but it wasn’t,” he recalled. “We creatively moved some people around so the camera could make it look like it was full.”

The subterfuge didn’t stymie the show’s success: it became the highest rated comedy special on Showtime. But Williams wasn’t sure of that at the time. 

“There’s so many things going on in your head, it’s not just whether the audience is laughing,” he said. “I remember that one of my eyes was watering profusely because I got some makeup in it. And I was thinking, ‘Should I stop the show? Do I wipe my eye and just keep going?’ I powered through, but I was blinking a lot. It was crazy.”

Of course, making adjustments is nothing new for Williams, as he was born with achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism. His condition has played a large part in both his life and his stand-up shows, which began when Carlos Mencia, who had made a joke about dwarfs and noticed that the folks near Williams in the audience weren’t laughing. 

“He says, ‘What, is one of them here?’ I raised my creepy little hand in the air and he called me up on stage and he started asking me questions. The first one was ‘What do you do for a living?’ And I said I work at Disneyland, which was true. But the audience snickered, and I turned to them and said ‘Shut up. I’m not one of the seven.’ That felt pretty good.” 

Williams is still wrangling laughs with a note of wry wit out of the Snow White angle. 

“The weekend that I’m in Santa Barbara, the Lobero will be employing more dwarfs than the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” he said. “Just so we’re clear about that.”

While we’re on the record, Mencia actually used the word midget, not dwarf. But apparently that’s not politically correct anymore, even if you pronounce it with a French accent. Not that Williams will object. 

“I’m offended by tone and intent, not terms. I wasn’t at the meeting when dwarf and little person were voted in,” he said, recalling a time in Texas when a heckler who was ejected drove up to him after the show and shouted, “Kill the dwarf!” at him. “I didn’t stop to say ‘Thanks for using the correct terminology. I really appreciate that.’” 

A decade since his last show in Santa Barbara, Williams can look back at a number of streaming specials, acting gigs, and even serving as the first stand-up comedian to headline a Cirque du Soleil show in their 30-year history in a three-month run of Mad Apple in Las Vegas. 

Living life as a little person is a thread through all of Williams’ stand-up appearances – any time he’s tried out a routine that doesn’t address it right away results in the audience just staring at him, he said. 

“It’s like, does he know? Yes, I’m aware.” 

But nowadays it comes up as part of drawing on his life for material, as do nearly all comedians. 

“I don’t worry about the balance,” he said. “I’m just always looking for something that’s funny and that will make strangers laugh. I’ve got ADHD anyway, so I’d get bored if I only talked about one thing.” 

Fortunately, having already sold out the first show at the Lobero, he won’t have to focus on moving folks around again. 

Brad Williams will be coming to the Lobero this Saturday, January 6. Visit www.lobero.org for more information and tickets.