After the birth of his daughter in January, stand-up comedian Brad Williams already has funny stories to tell.

"When you’re getting pooed on by an Asian dwarf baby and you can’t write a joke about that, you should just quit this business," Williams said during a recent interview with The Desert Sun.

But the comedian also found himself steeped in controversy last month after a video surfaced of his 2014 appearance on Doug Benson's "Getting Doug With High" podcast. During the show, Williams made up a story about a woman wanting to sleep with comedian Carlos Mencia — and after inviting her onto his tour bus, he shut off all the lights and sent in Williams instead.

Williams, a 36-year old Fullerton, Calif., native with dwarfism, issued an apology on Twitter on the same day that the video surfaced last month.

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"It was an unfunny, horrible fabrication and the actions described in the story never happened," Williams wrote on Twitter. "Regardless, the topics that I made light of are extremely serious and I want everyone to know that I fully support the #MeToo movement. My joke contributed to rape culture. For that I am embarrassed and ashamed."

Blogger, writer and cultural critic Kia Smith, who goes by KiaSpeaks, reposted the video of Williams' interview "as an example of how men are casually comfortable with conversations like that and how they never directly challenge the person."

"It's always just laughing and giggles," Smith said.

The situation exemplifies a need, Smith added, for a dialogue about the definition of consent — as well as sexual assault and "the damage it causes" — in public education.

"We teach boys to chase sex at all cost(s)and to ... manipulate, while we teach girls to say ‘no.’ While we have these two very polar opposite teachings, you end up with a lot of people have different understandings of what is right and wrong when it comes to sex," Smith said.

Williams told The Desert Sun that he received both death threats from people who were angry at him as well as messages from fans telling him not to apologize.

"I didn’t want to blame the people who got mad at me, because even though the story was fake, the feelings that it sparked in people were very real," Williams said. "I don’t want to deny someone those feelings and say ‘Your feelings don’t matter,’ because they do."

Smith said that while "apologies are good" and "people need to own their mistakes," "what apologies don’t do is right the harm that’s been caused."

Smith added that Williams words, actions and behavior matter in regaining trust.

"There may be people who don't forgive him and that's all part of messing up," Smith said. "When you mess up, some people forgive you and some don't. What I will say is that for men who have been accused of this, there's always doors open for them. I hope that Brad really is committed to doing the work and being better, but I would not hold my breath on him being shut out of opportunities."

Williams, who started his comedy career at 19, returns to the road on a national tour that starts at Spotlight 29 Casino on Feb. 22. Ahead of the show, the comedian spoke to The Desert Sun about the current environment of stand-up comedy and being confused for "Jackass" star Wee Man. The following interview was edited for length and clarity.

THE DESERT SUN: After your experience with Doug Benson's podcast, do you feel comedians are at the point where they need to examine their material with caution?

BRAD WILLIAMS: It depends on the comedian, because there’s people who are going to steer into the swerve, and one thing I know about comedians is they hate being told they can’t or shouldn’t joke about something. We’re in a time now where you have to realize your words, whether they be stories, jokes or whatever, can give real emotion to people. The same way a great joke can make someone laugh and forget their problems, a bad joke can certainly steer people in the opposite direction where it reignites some pain or trauma they’ve had in their lives.

I think it’s crazy that we’re holding comedians to a higher standard than our politicians. That’s nuts! It seems like we’ve done a complete reversal where comedians used to be the only people that could make fun of the king, now it seems like the king can do and say whatever he wants. I think we’re getting to the point in society where we're hopefully acknowledging that people do change, people do learn, people do become better people and I don’t think we should be holding people accountable for thoughts they had in their early teens or 20s for their entire life. People will make mistakes and as long as they acknowledge that and they’re willing to move on from it, then I think the rest of the people should move on from it as well.

How do you make amends with your fans after something like this?

You make amends by what I did in my statement where I apologized and said, "I was wrong." My job is to make you laugh and that is all. I can make amends by going out, making people laugh, doing what I do and entertain people. There are some people who will never allow me to do that, and that’s their decision and thankfully there’s a ton of comedians out there to enjoy. But for the people who want to come see my show, it is my job to be as entertaining as possible.

You became a new parent last month. What has it been like for you?

Everyone tells you that you don’t sleep, but until you don’t sleep, you don’t take that into consideration. So far it’s been great, but I tell people you have every emotion you can possibly have at the same time: intense happiness, intense sadness, intense desperation, intense anger because you got pooed on or thrown up on, but also intense joy and satisfaction. That’s only three weeks in. I can’t imagine what I’ll start feeling when she starts talking.

Did you have to overcome any adversity as a comedian with dwarfism?

(laughs) Yes. It’s very strange because having dwarfism and being a comedian is good and bad. It’s good because it gets you in the door, gives you a hook and gives you something that people want to hear about. When I go on stage, I have to talk about it. If I walk on stage and ignore my dwarfism, I get looks from the audience like, "Does he know?" and people are very confused. They want to hear about it.

People who see a comedian with dwarfism (think)"Oh, he’s just going to talk about dwarfism and that’s it." That’s not the case. I do a lot of different jokes on a lot of different topics. The thing is, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to ignore my dwarfism from the perspective that it’s part of my life. I’ve never lived my life as a six-foot tall man and suddenly, I got dwarfism. Now, my daughter is also a little person, and now I’m a dwarf father of a dwarf daughter. It’s never going to leave my act but it’s never going to be the absolute vocal point where every joke is, "Hey, I can take a bath in a thimble?" That’s weird.

You’ve told a lot of jokes about you and your wife being swingers. Does she ever ask you to tone those down? Do you worry about your daughter hearing those jokes when she’s older?

We aren’t particularly swingers, but we met on a lifestyle app called Feeld. I don’t wear bowling shirts that have flames on them and I don’t have a soul patch, so I wouldn’t say we’re swingers.

I’m always going to talk about what’s going on in our lives. That’s the template for my act. I’m not going to tone that down, but I’m going to be considerate of the jokes I tell. I think if I remain the absolute same comedian before my daughter was born, that wouldn’t mean I’d be growing as an artist. I should be adjusting, telling different jokes and different stories. There will probably be less swinger talk and more talk about getting peed on, not by my wife but by my daughter.

Stand-up comedy is now at Madison Square Garden and Staples Center. Is there more opportunity in comedy than ever?

I recently did a show with Gabriel Iglesias at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It’s rock star comedy. They always said the comedy boom was in the '80s but I think we’re in a comedy boom right now when you look at the level of comedians selling out massive venues. It’s nuts. Larry the Cable Guy shot a special at a football stadium. That’s madness!

But it doesn’t mean everyone is doing it. There’s still a lot of comics out there in the clubs. I don’t want people to get into stand-up comedy thinking, “Oh, I sign up and someone hands me my jokes and I’m Kevin Hart.” That guy had to work for a long time to get to that level. When people write to me saying they want to get into stand-up comedy, asking me what they should know, I always reply, “Just know you’re going to be poor between five years and the rest of your life.”

People confuse you for Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña from “Jackass.” Do you ever just play it off and sign fake autographs?

I’ve famously done that and told the story on the TV show “This Is Not Happening,” where I was mistaken for Wee-Man playing at a celebrity golf tournament and I faked being him all day. I wish that I was mistaken for a guy that wasn’t famous for getting kicked in the groin and tossed into shopping carts. Now if people think I’m him, (they) shove me over and ask me, "Isn’t that something you like?" No, I don’t like it at all.

But the crazy part is I’m friends with Wee-Man, because all dwarfs know each other, and we kind of share our stories where I’m mistaken for him and him very rarely being mistaken for me. Every now and then someone goes up to him and wants him to tell a joke, and that makes me very happy.

Why should people go see your show at Spotlight 29 Casino?

It’s high energy, and you get to see a midget tell jokes in a casino. If you’re looking for a good luck charm to help you at the slots and tables later, what could be better than a midget telling jokes? That’s something you’d wish for if you found a magic lamp.

(But) I’ve done shows at a casino before where there was a tour group, and they saw me walking through the aisle of the casino floor and ran up to me, rubbing my head. That’s a thing that dwarfs despise. Do not touch the top of our heads, we can’t stand it.

If you go

What: Brad Williams

When: 8 p.m., Feb. 22

Where: Spotlight 29 Casino, 46-200 Harrison Pl., Coachella

How much: $20-$30

Information: (760) 775-5566

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4617. Support local news, subscribe to The Desert Sun.