SANTA CRUZ >> Like a lot of comedians, Brad Williams isn’t shy about saying the things audiences are thinking. That includes what a lot of audience members are likely thinking when they first see him on stage.

Williams has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, which he is always quick to point out and joke about in his shows; his current tour is even called “the Growth Spurt Tour.” However, it is far from the only subject he brings up in his standup, as he also jokes about relationships, parenting, sex, the weather and anything else on his mind.

“I talk about dwarfism, I kind of have to,” he said. “If I go onstage and I don’t talk about it, the whole audience kind of stares at me like ‘Does he know?’ So I do talk about it, but I also dive into a bunch of other topics as well.”

What audiences will typically get from Williams is a rapid-fire set of jokes on a wide variety of subjects, which they can see when he performs at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium May 18.

Williams’ standup comedy career came about when he attended another standup comedy show in Southern California at the age of 19. The comedian on stage made jokes about little people, which only caused light chuckles from the audience sitting around Williams. This prompted the comedian to ask “What, is one of them here?”

“I just raised my hand in the air and said ‘Yeah,’” said Williams.

The comedian then brought Williams on stage and asked him questions.

“My answers got laughs,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to be funny, I was trying to be honest, but my answers got laughs. That was it. That feeling felt so good.”

One big laugh came as Williams said he worked at Disneyland, like so many his age living in Orange County. As the audience chuckled, he turned and said, “Shut up, I’m not one of the Seven (Dwarves),” garnering an even bigger laugh.

“I thought, ‘Well, that worked and that felt good,’” he said. “Let’s keep trying to do that.”

The next week, Williams began doing open mic nights. He also took a lot of inspiration from comedians like Jonathan Winters, Christopher Titus and Robin Williams, especially his “Night at the Met” album, which Brad Williams said he wore out.

“I listened to that so many times,” he said.

Unlike other forms of entertainment, Williams likes the instant gratification of live comedy.

“When you shoot a movie, there’s directors, producers, editors, other actors,” he said. “There’s a million different people that can make it go well or ruin it, and there’s critics and everything like that, but when it’s just me telling a joke and you laughing or not, the transaction’s really simple and I get immediate feedback if I did my job or not.”

Having dwarfism, Williams said, actually provided an advantage for him early on in getting booked for shows.

“When you’re starting out in comedy, you’re looking for anything that makes you different, that makes you stand out,” he said. “People don’t want eight straight, white guys on the show. You want a little different, so you get a little person on the show, that’s something different.”

However, Williams said this did pigeonhole him a bit after a while.

“Now people think that’s all you are and all you do,” he said. “The only thing that makes you be funny is you go up there and tell dwarf jokes, but you really have to prove it to them that you’re more than that, and I really try to do that in my show.”Luckily, Williams said more people have become familiar with his brand of comedy, so he does not have to prove himself as much as he did when he was starting out.

Williams has shared bills with many of his favorite comedians, including Bill Burr, Dana Carvey, Bob Saget and Robin Williams, who affectionately referred to him as “Prozac with a head.”

“These are all comics I look up to,” he said. “I mean, as a dwarf, I look up to everybody.”

Williams has also performed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and has had roles in series like “Legit” and “Sam & Cat” as well as the Christopher Guest movie “Mascots.” He will be taking his resume up to 11 with his next role in “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.” The sequel to “This is Spinal Tap,” Rob Reiner’s 1984 cult classic mockumentary about a pretentious fictional British metal band, is set to be released in September and will feature the original cast plus cameos by music heavyweights such as Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brooks and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.

Williams will also have a cameo, and while he cannot reveal the nature of it, he assured that those familiar with the first film should be able to guess.

“If you know my stature, it’s not hard to figure out what I’m doing,” he said.

Williams added that he would be appearing in the film alongside Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, a stunt performer best known for his work with MTV’s “Jackass” crew who also has dwarfism and has been often confused for Williams.

“Now people will finally figure out that he and I are not the same person,” he said.

Another recent highlight for Williams was being the first standup comic to perform with Cirque du Soleil. For a three-month stay at the New York-New York Hotel in Las Vegas, he did sets between the high-flying, mind-blowing stunts Cirque du Soleil is known for.

“I like doing things that scare me,” he said. “Normally, I do standup comedy. I go up in front of an audience that’s anticipating standup comedy. When you do Cirque du Soleil, I had to go on after two guys that juggled each other with their feet. … It was a challenge, but it was a lot of fun.”

Williams said he also understood how much people feared public speaking. During one performance, the power grid went out and took 15 minutes to be reset. During that intervening time, he returned to the stage for an additional set.

“The microphone still worked thankfully,” he said. “I just did 10-15 minutes of additional standup.”

When leaving the stage, Williams said a Russian hand balancer told him, “I have no idea how you do what you do.”

“He’s a Russian hand balancer,” he said. “If I tell a joke and it doesn’t work, no big deal. I tell another joke. If he messes up at his job, he’s dead, and he still had so much reverence for me speaking in public off the cuff. That was an eye-opening experience and a really fun one.”

At the Civic, Williams said audiences can expect a high-energy show with a lot of jokes, and he means a lot of jokes.

“If you don’t like a joke, wait 30 seconds,” he said. “There’s gonna be another one.”

One thing Williams said audiences should not expect: political jokes.

“I’m trying to avoid a lot of politics for my mental health,” he said. “I’m trying to give people a break, so if you want a break, come on out and I’m just gonna make you laugh.”

The show is 7 to 9 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Civic, 307 Church St. For tickets, go to SantaCruzTickets.com.