America's Funniest People to Debut on VH1 with Ms. Pat
VH1 greenlights the competition series while BET renews the courtroom show under Ms. Pat's expanded overall deal with BET Studios.
Paramount is expanding its relationship with comedian Patricia 'Ms. Pat' Williams-Lee through an expanded exclusive overall deal with BET Studios, with two new television projects across its platforms. The deal includes the new comedy competition series 'America's Funniest People,' a creator-led spin on video clips produced by V10 Entertainment, the producers of America's Funniest Videos.
The announcement also includes a fourth-season renewal of BET's courtroom show 'Ms. Pat Settles It.'
'America's Funniest People' is a comedy competition series greenlit at VH1, while a fourth season of 'Ms. Pat Settles It' returns at BET under Williams-Lee's expanded exclusive overall deal with BET Studios, spanning producing, writing, and performing across BET and Paramount platforms.
From V10 Entertainment, the producers of America's Funniest Videos, comes America's Funniest People, starring Ms. Pat. Each episode features creator led content — jokes, stunts, pranks, bad decisions — and social content posted online. Ms. Pat brings her point of view to every episode as three content creators go head-to-head for a cash money prize.
The greenlight arrives alongside a fourth-season renewal for 'Ms. Pat Settles It,' from 495 Productions, the courtroom series that puts Ms. Pat on the bench to preside over real-life cases with a jury of her friends, celebrity guests, and fellow comedians.
The dual announcements come in the lead-up to the September 29 release of Williams-Lee's second book, Ms. American Dream, from Simon & Schuster. The follow-up memoir to Pat's NAACP Image Award-nominated Rabbit picks up where the first book left off and tells the story of her fight from open mics to primetime TV.
'Ms. Pat has one of the most distinctive, authentic voices in comedy, and an instinct for exactly what makes people laugh,' said Laurel Weir, Head of Programming and Acquisitions for Paramount Media Networks and Chief Research and Insights Officer for TV Media. 'She built her career on unfiltered, real-life comedy, and 'America's Funniest People' lets her loose on the funniest things the internet has to offer.'
'Ms. Pat has a rare gift for finding the humor and the humanity in real-life conflict,' said Aisha Summers-Burke, Executive Vice President, Head of BET Studios and BET Creative Programming. 'Bringing back 'Ms. Pat Settles It' for a fourth season is a testament to her connection with our viewers and the kind of authentic, unfiltered storytelling that defines this network.'
Says Ms. Pat, 'I've never had three LEGAL jobs at the same time, so this is new for me. I love being a judge, and four seasons of any show is more than I could ask for. I also believe that real life is the only thing funnier than my favorite TV shows. 'America's Funniest People' is merging both of my favorite worlds together. I'm grateful to be trusted to bring both shows to life.'
'Ms. Pat combines an authentic point of view and ability to connect with audiences while embracing humor at the heart of the story,' said John Stevens, CEO of V10 Entertainment. 'We're thrilled to bring viewers even more of what she does best.'
'Ms. Pat is magnetic on screen — hilarious, unfiltered, and unpredictable— and with the world's largest clip library and a network built to find exactly this kind of shareable, real-life content, we couldn't ask for a better partner to bring 'America's Funniest People' to life,' added Josh Vodnoy, Co-Head of Global Licensing and Distribution, V10 Entertainment.
'America's Funniest People' is produced by V10 Entertainment. Patricia 'Ms. Pat' Williams-Lee, John Stevens, Carter Skeath, and Rick De Oliveira serve as executive producers, with Saterah Moore serving as co-executive producer. 'Ms. Pat Settles It' is executive produced by Patricia 'Ms. Pat' Williams-Lee, SallyAnn Salsano, and Ebony McClain for 495 Productions.
Patricia 'Ms. Pat' Williams-Lee is represented by IAG, Tigerman Management, and Reed Smith.
About Ms. Pat
Declared by The Huffington Post as 'the real hero of sitcom TV,' Patricia Williams-Lee (aka Ms. Pat) is a comedian, author, radio host, podcaster, and actress. Her BET+ sitcom The Ms. Pat Show, produced by Lee Daniels and Brian Grazer, earned BET its first-ever Emmy recognition with four nominations. Based on Pat's real-life story of an inner-city drug dealer turned suburban mom, the show has also drawn attention from The Hollywood Reporter, which called it 'Think Roseanne of the 1980s and 1990s, but even rawer,' and Essence Magazine, which said 'Ms. Pat is headed for the comedy stratosphere.' Pat also hosts the weekly court show Ms. Pat Settles It, where she takes hold of the gavel to settle people's everyday disputes using her signature sensibility. The series debuted on BET in 2023. Her hour standup special Y'All Wanna Hear Something Crazy?, directed by Robert Townsend, is also currently streaming on Netflix. The New York Times described the hour as 'superb material' while Indiewire offered 'There are a lot of comedy specials on Netflix these days, but Ms. Pat breaks through the noise.' She hosts her own comedy podcast The Patdown and her own cooking show Whiskin' It All with Ms. Pat.
About V10 Entertainment
V10 Entertainment is a Clarion Capital-backed media group focused on investment in companies with owned IP and economic rights. In 2022, V10 acquired Venture 10 Studio Group, Fishbowl Media, Vin Di Bona Productions (America's Funniest Home Videos for ABC) and the Clip Tiger companies. With a library of 3.3 million+ digital assets, V10 Networks creates 250+ hours of original content annually to program 44 owned FAST and digital channels. V10 has 105M+ followers across social media and in 2025 V10 acquired the digital rights management and distribution company, Towerhouse.
