Then Dave Chappelle was assaulted on stage at the Hollywood Bowl. Of course, there was the infamous Will Smith and Chris Rock incident. Recently, there have been some physical confrontations between audience members and comedians. But they've never invited me once, you see what I'm saying? But they've hired four people from my staff to be on Saturday Night Live. So on Saturday Night Live, they’ve had people parodying Katt Williams so we know, everybody knows who Katt Williams is. They keep saying that I’m not known to the mainstream but I am and they know better. That's why I keep that underground king thing going. If you don't do it, then you can't truly make it you know what I mean? They say all comedians have to cross over but not Gary Owens. To this day, it's still a battle that has to be fought by every comedian. Once I felt like I had those together, then I moved to LA to do the proof is in the pudding part. Once I felt like I had achieved that, I moved to Oakland for like three years to put myself into the belly of urban comedy to make sure that I had the same dominance there that I felt like I had in the green rooms. I wanted to work white rooms and I wanted to work Black rooms as well. So after traveling the country with those guys, I went to Sacramento because I wanted the ability to have both sets of audiences. It was the same conversation but it couldn't be the same conversation. I understood that there was a way that you talked to mainstream America when you were dealing with the urban community. I was really able to put things into perspective when I got to the Chitlin Circuit. There was a difference in the product that was being delivered and the product that was being received in both ways. It took me maybe five years to understand that comedy rooms weren't set up the same way. So my job was just to learn and I thought all guys were as professional and worked as hard as these guys did. These guys were headlining all over the country and I was the opener. This was when Larry the Cable Guy was still down with me. I was probably one of the last comedians to actually get real comedy training from real comedy masters.Īfter launching your career on that circuit, how was it to transition from performing in white rooms to doing comedy in Black clubs? I understood early on that this could really be something. So when I understood that this was a part of my destiny, the first people that I was performing with were Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, and Richard Ginny so I was immediately thrust into greatness. I loved comedy as a craft but I didn't understand that you got paid for these jokes. I was familiar with Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby. The connection was instantaneous but the work still had to be done.Įarly on, who were some of your comedic influences? I was a new father and I needed something that I could do well where I could flourish for my family. At that time, the trajectory of my life was getting ready to be different. Katt Williams: Honestly, it connected with me as soon as I asked God specifically to present me with something that would keep me out of the street. When did you first make the connection that you wanted to be a comedian? We spoke with Williams about his career, cancel culture, why comedians should be protected, and his new standup, World War III. It was tumultuous time - with Omicron cases rising - and his subject matter matches some of that dread and uncertainty, with the comedian tackling everything from vaccines to the end of the world. The standup was filmed in Dolby Live in Las Vegas earlier this year. That changed last week when Williams released his 12th stand-up special and his second with Netflix, World War III. Williams hasn't released a special since 2018, when he dropped Great America. He, undeniably, is one of the most unique voices working in comedy.ĭespite the fact that he's had memorable appearances in popular properties - like Friday After Next, The Boondocks, Scary MoVie, and Atlanta - Williams is known more as a cult standup figure (and for numerous run-ins with the law), building up the moniker "the underground king of comedy."īut he's been quiet recently. Since his debut in the mid 1990s, Katt Williams has built a cult following for his hilarious blend of physical comedy and truth-telling. We spoke with Katt Williams about his career, cancel culture, why comedians should be protected, and his new standup, World War III.
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