High School in South Texas was not kind to Paul J. Williams. As a “creative” teenager, he was in band, choir AND drama. Wimp. Nerd. Fag. To counter the endless teasing and name-calling, Paul learned early on to always have the last word. Eventually, this defense mechanism developed into a very quick wit, which came in handy as he endured four repressive years of college at the largest Southern Baptist University in the world. In Waco, Texas. How exciting. Now, years later, he has honed a sense of humor that has served him well as one of the smartest and funniest comics working today.
Originally planning to make his way through the management ranks of a major department store after college, he soon realized that his passion was to be a performer, whether as a singer or actor, and he left his retail career to pursue his dreams. Comedy came into the picture during a Dallas community theater production when the director persuaded Paul and two other cast members to form a
comedy / improv group. Calling themselves LESS MISERABLE, the trio became a huge success and performed in Los Angeles, New York and Provincetown, as well as garnering a huge hometown following in Dallas for six years. During a summer run in Provincetown, LESS MISERABLE shared a house with another comic who convinced Paul that he needed to go out on his own as a stand-up. The rest, as they say, is history.
Now out on his own for nine years, he left Texas for New York in 1997 where he performed his one-man show, LEFT, OUT,…..AND NOT RIGHT! on three separate occasions, and was nominated for a Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) Award as Outstanding Male Comic, in 2000, 2001 and 2002. In 2003, Paul decided it was time to return to his Texas roots and he left the bright lights of New York for bright sunshine of Dallas. A new show, DISHING IT OUT, is a one-man tour de force in which Paul portrays six different characters all interacting in one afternoon in a Southern cafeteria. DISHING IT OUT has been performed to rave reviews in New York; Charlotte, NC; Austin, San Antonio and Dallas, TX. In addition to his numerous club gigs around the country, he has performed at a variety of events around the country including the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s Tickled Pink Comedy Shows, Aspen Ski Week, Provincetown, Key West Arts Festival, RSVP Cruises and Club Med. Paul’s humor draws on his family, his experiences as a single male, and his political and social observations of the world around him. In keeping with his wide appeal, Paul’s humor is funny without being crass, and his act often includes one of his original characters from DISHING IT OUT such as the beehived, chain smoking, white trash real estate agent named Nelda Pickens. Audiences all over the country have identified with Nelda either as the personification of a beloved aunt, or as an exact imitation of the “woman who sold me my house”.
BACKSTAGE Magazine has called Paul “…..very funny….genuine, intelligent, sensible, and appealing.” AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN proclaims Paul to be “one singularly outrageous” comic. And the Dallas Observer praises Paul’s “strong satiric sense, locating the absurdity in every convention”.
Witty, cerebral, and always just a little warped, Paul J. Williams is out to make you laugh! |
