Club Shay Shay - Best of Katt Williams
Episode Date: February 4, 2024Katt Williams proved why he’s considered one of the comedy greats when he and Shannon sat down for an iconic conversation just one month ago. This special episode of Club Shay Shay brings together s...ome of the best moments from Katt’s talk with Shannon. In this episode, Katt talks about: Steve Harvey Kevin Hart Cedric the Entertainer Harvey Weinstein Kanye West & Kim Kardashian P. Diddy Rickey Smiley Michael Jackson His Net Worth Loaning the Migos money Investing in Himself Melba Moore’s Hollywood Star Wanda Smith and the notorious radio incident His wild childhood & start in comedy Strippers And more! #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
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We've got recaps, retweets, and reactions to all the wild moments you might have missed both on and off the field make sure to listen to the good morning football podcast monday through friday on the iheart radio
app or wherever you get your podcasts and i needed you to know why i came by yeah i need you to tell
us why people know i don't go everywhere i'm not interested in talking to people unless it's like
a larry king or somebody of an amazing ilk that i would actually want to go talk to in real life.
Okay. I don't do it so I can sell product and I got things to sell. So let me come talk.
You have a great product here. And as a fan base, we love the attention that you spend on the guests we we love how much work you've done how
well you know them how prepared you are the same things that we liked about you in football
you brought that on over to here and that's uh why it resonates and the reason i had to come
is because you've made a safe place for the truth to be told. You know what I mean? Thank you. I appreciate that.
And I have watched all of these lowbrow comedians come here
and disrespect you in your face and tell you straight-up lies.
I'm talking about things that have never been heard in all of black Hollywood.
They feel comfortable sitting here lying to you about it.
You gonna set the record straight?
Are you kidding me?
You let Ricky Smiley sit here
and you said out that mouth,
you stole Friday after next.
The one I was in,
I wish all,
all of America fumbled a bit
when that happened.
And then he said some stuff
that we haven't heard in 100 years
in Hollywood. You ain't say nothing.
This man told you he
had Cat Williams' role.
He was going to be Money Mike.
And Cat Williams was going to be
the Santa Claus.
Now, let's... Three quick points.
You mean in Hollywood,
they cast a 5'5 black Santa Claus
that weighed 145 pounds? That's your story. Your story You mean in Hollywood they cast a five foot five black Santa Claus that weigh one hundred and forty five pounds.
That's your story. Your story is the Ricky Smiley that couldn't even do curse words because he had a Christian fan base.
He was going to play the pimp. Why you didn't ask him why has he played a woman in more movies than he's played a man?
Well, I didn't know he shouldn't be able. You wouldn't let an athlete that's been on steroids
talk about one of the greats.
Ricky Smiley can't act because Ricky Smiley can't act.
He told you the story about when the movie came out.
Where did he say he watched it?
At home.
He wasn't even at the premiere.
You telling this man, you stole that.
Oh, so he could get his
name in the same sentence with a great one it is sad he was just that bitter when we were shooting
it he told everybody it should have been my role everybody on the scene why do you think no cast
member has ever said anything he couldn't play that role like you i thought he was sir no one why no he was with kd
he beat up terry cruz why nobody know this story you talking about in hollywood they switched off
you take this and he what so ricky ricky smiley knows this and i don't know why he would lose a
child and come on the air and start lying. That's why people believe in rituals right there. It's because, well, why would he lie? I don't know why
liars lie, but I can tell you this. We auditioned in Los Angeles. Yes. I was audition number 201.
200 black comedians auditioned for the role of Money Mike with me. You're saying all 201 of us was auditioning and you had already had the role and had already shot the role in four days?
The truth of the matter is the Money Mike in the original script got raped in the bathroom.
And that's what Ricky Smiley was OK with.
Smiley was okay with.
Cat Williams had to take the risk in front of the studios and the cast and our powers that be in his very first movie and say respectfully, humbly, guys, if we talk about anything else, I have no credibility and I have no pull.
But we're talking about comedy.
Right.
Where I have all the credibility and all the pool the problem with friday after next is we're trying to make a classic comedy and this comedy involves
a rape and rape is never funny no matter who it happens to or what the circumstances are
if you would allow me to allow us to do this movie
without a black man getting raped in it,
I promise you that it will be twice as funny
as it would be with him getting raped.
So considering that's the real story,
why would you bring up that story?
35 members of the cast and crew have never brought up that Ricky Smiley was going to play Money Mike.
No one ever saw me put on a Santa Claus suit. We got a wardrobe department.
They made a Santa Claus suit for me. Why? That wasn't in the bloopers.
And here's the other thing. Everything that Money Mike said, Cat Williams wrote.
So what Ricky Smiley say on his. You can't say my lines, I wrote them.
That's how I already know that I'm going to be funnier than you.
What he told everybody was Cat Williams. Don't nobody know who he is.
I'm on the radio. I'm with Steve and said everybody know me.
That's what he told everybody that would listen to on the set. That's the truth of the matter.
He was so egregious. Not now. Then he was so egregious that and Hollywood has never heard this in 100 years.
He was so egregious. I put in my contract that I won't work with Ricky Smiley again unless he's in a dress.
that I won't work with Ricky Smiley again unless he's in a dress.
Now, what was Ricky Smiley's next movie?
Was it First Sunday?
Did he wear a dress in it?
You bet he did.
It's in my contract.
Why would you put that in your contract, Cat?
That's where he's a believable actor.
Him and Tyler Perry can't play a man to save their life.
They play good women.
And I believe that the best actor should be in the best role.
So that's why, because when we released that clip and he said that, you responded because he said he was supposed to play Money Mike and you were supposed to play Santa Claus.
An outright lie.
That he knows is a lie.
So why would he say it? Because he's a
liar. Nobody knows why liars
lie. And that's why I had to come on
the program. Cedric did the same thing.
Cedric told you when you asked
him, did you steal Cat Williams' joke?
He said, it don't line up.
How it don't line up that I did it on
TV in 2018? You came
to see me at the comedy store do it
in 2019 and then did it on the Kings of
comedy. Like what doesn't line up? I, this is a televised joke that Mark Curry helped me punch
up and get to the level that it was the same Steve that went to go watch Mark Curry do his whole
sitcom and then stole everything Mark Curry had. Now Steve got a sitcom where he the principal
and he wear a suit and he and then he gets this high top fade making all black men think he got
the best lineup in the business and it's a man unit. Then you ask why you not a movie star? I
didn't want to be a movie star. Just the same Negro that hated on Bernie with this same thing.
I didn't want to be a movie star.
No, you couldn't be a movie star.
There are 30,000 new scripts in Hollywood every year.
Not one of them asked for a country bumpkin black dude that can't talk good.
Oh, but came in and look like Mr. Potato Head.
There ain't none.
You would have to have a range.
I played a lot of characters, 60 movie roles. I'm not playing Cat Williams in there. You look like Mr. Potato Head. There ain't none. You would have to have range.
I played a lot of characters, 60 movie roles.
I'm not playing Cat Williams in there.
I don't know, Cat.
We might not let you drink anymore.
The way you, you, I mean, we ain't even got...
I'm not fueled by alcohol.
I've had a sip less than you.
The truth don't need motivation.
I'm just saying I can't let these dudes lie.
Cedric's sitting here telling you why he ain't a movie star.
He over here look like a walrus.
You didn't say nothing.
He can't even get his arms off his stomach sitting over here.
Why I'm not a movie star.
What?
He never wrote anything.
Remember, when Cedric the Entertainer starts, he's supposed to be singing, dancing, and telling jokes.
That's why he'sric the Entertainer starts, he's supposed to be singing, dancing, and telling jokes. That's why he's called the Entertainer.
We found out he can't sing, can't dance, and doesn't write jokes.
He did four comedy specials.
They're so bad, Shannon, they're not available on Netflix or Tubi.
Can I say that again for the audience?
They're so bad that they're not available on Netflix or Tubi.
You don't think C Sam's a good comedian?
The world doesn't think that, sir.
I have 12 comedy specials.
He has four specials that are not available on Netflix or Tubi.
It seems to me, Cat, that you had a lot to get off your chest.
No, no.
You wanted to save the record screen. Winners are not allowed
to allow losers to rewrite history.
I don't say any of these things
if my name is not breached
by these people on your platform.
If you give a liar a platform to lie,
then I'm not being messy
by saying, hold on,
that never happened. It's untrue. And there are
hundreds of witnesses for each thing I'm saying. So let me ask you this. What is your relationship
with Steve Harvey, Ricky Smiley and Cedric the Entertainer as you sit here currently?
They for 30 years, they're a group group these aren't three random guys the way that
ricky smiley kept appearing at all of my auditions is because of steven said he would tell anybody
that listen they got a gang on that side they know what it is they know who the gang is why
earthquake not in movies because he's illiterate.
He can't read. And they found that out when they gave him a show and put the cards in front of him.
Like all of these dudes are co-entwined and they share secrets.
And this is the age of truth. And and and the truth doesn't need to be scared of the fact that people tell lies.
Cats on drugs. Where are the stories?
Why is there no story of anybody
who ever sold a drug to me,
did a drug with me,
was around me when I was inebriated?
I got five daughters.
I got five sons.
Why would we tell these ridiculous stories?
Because it's competition.
You feel like, well, why comedy guys
can't just get along?
Yes.
Why didn't you get along with the other teams you were competing against?
If you were at Denver Bronco, why you don't get along with the Cowboys?
Something wrong with you?
But I don't disagree.
I don't dislike all the Cowboys.
Cat damn, you like Denver.
No, that's not.
Okay, what comedians do you like?
Did you play against the team?
Yes.
I've taken 46 comedians with me on the road.
46.
Okay.
I'm not the comedian you can give that to.
I only put on comedians that are funnier than me.
Anybody that ever told you differently was a fat Faison liar.
There's nobody like me in the business.
Faison just called a stray. liar. There's nobody like me in the business because...
Faison said that
getting a Netflix special
is easy. I have 12 specials.
Guess how many Faison got?
Zero.
Why is he allowed to have conversations
about real stand-up
people? We do not
let people who are on the juice
discuss real athletes.
That's all. As a journalist, that's all. That's all I'm saying.
I don't harbor any resentment to any of these entities because I can't be jealous.
I've never seen them have anything that I ever wanted.
that I ever wanted.
If you sign up for their program,
you get a light-skinned,
weird-faced wife that never do an interview.
Listen, in 20 years,
won't do an interview.
Nobody's ever talked to her.
And she's never been interviewed anywhere.
And now, understand,
I'm not talking about one person.
What I just told you applies to seven people.
How they all end up with that. That's part of what you get.
I came in this business saying I was going to expose when I talked about Michael Jackson, when I talked about R.
Kelly, they canceled me for these things, because why would you talk about another black dude?
Race is not where the line is drawn
it's God's side and the other side and we don't care nothing about the other side period period
all of these uh big deviants is all catching hell in 2024 it's up for all of them it don't matter
if you diddy or whoever you is TGJ itakes, any of them, every all lies will be exposed.
That's all. And anyone who takes that the wrong way know why they take it the wrong way.
The truth is the light. And you have another one of these. Amen. amen. Cheers. I kind of get on here.
Right.
After that, I don't really kind of know where to go.
Let me, one more time.
Right.
We good now?
Because the people want to know, why would he get blackballed?
Yeah, I was done nothing but collect
information,
knowledge,
and your secrets.
So if you and a man was in
a corner doing something you wasn't supposed to be
doing. You would tell it. No.
Somebody come to tell me.
Okay. I gather that.
I value that. I'll pay for that.
Come. Tell me. I know so many things. I should know. And they all know it.
They all know it. Why? Because you don't make me the villain, not the guy that raises black children.
And they never done a hard drug in his life and don't have no stories of doing nobody dirty.
And they'll just go out and they'll lie. The industry doesn't mess with Cat
because he didn't show up for the studio.
No studios have ever said that.
Look at my IMDb.
It will show you that no studio has ever lost money
with me on the script.
How?
That's why I'm saying,
that's why I can't let Ricky Smiley say
he was supposed to play Money Mike
because I wrote the words for Money Mike.
I designed the hair for Money Mike. I collaborated with the wardrobe department and made outfits to make
sure that no one in America would be wearing what Money Mike was wearing. I told him to go get the
prowler. I then told him to paint it purple. I told him don't have an actor playing a pimp. We
could get an actual pimp Archbishop Magic Don Juan to play.
Like, I did far too much
work for somebody to
come years later
and try to tag along
just for their own self-aggrandizement.
Why didn't Cube set the record
straight? Terry Crews could have set the record
straight. Mike Epps could have set the record straight.
Why none of them set the record straight? That's what you were
supposed to ask him when he told you those lies that no one's ever heard right but he's
telling you something no one's ever heard of nobody has ever heard oh matt ben affleck and
matt damon was in a movie and somebody said y'all should switch roles and like this is a business
but that's the thing cap normally when people will give you information, I'm thinking I'm hearing it for the first time.
And they're giving information no one else knows or has ever heard.
So I'm taking them at face value.
This is like Steve Harvey telling people he used to be homeless.
That's my story.
That's not his story.
Steve Harvey wasn't never homeless.
When Mark Curry was touring with him 25 years ago, he was making $ three thousand dollars a show in cash and doing five shows a week.
They just tell the stories. This is my thanks to my wife. I'm where I am.
You said that about the first wife. You forget that you told us it was her.
Then you went and married somebody else that think like a man. Like, what are you talking about? They just they think they can rewrite history.
Guy Torrey did a beautiful special about the Comedy Store and Fat Tuesday where he said that Steve and Cedric and Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish came through there and made all lies.
Steve and Cedric never performed at the Comedy Store at all.
Tiffany was only seen at the Laugh Factory.
In 15 years in Hollywood, no one in Hollywood has a memory of going to a sold-out Kevin Hart show.
There being a line for him ever getting a standing ovation at any comedy club.
He already had his deals when he got here.
Have we heard of a comedian that came to L.A. and in his first year in L.A.
Have we heard of a comedian that came to L.A. and in his first year in L.A., he had his own sitcom on network television and had his own movie called Soul Plane that he was leading?
No, we've never heard of that before that person or since that person.
What do you think a plant is?
Maybe people don't understand the definitions of these words. He just did his documentary with Chris Rock
where he shows you that his whole upbringing in comedy
was on the East Coast.
Yeah, it was.
So how simultaneously was he here in Los Angeles
doing the same thing?
It didn't happen.
It didn't happen.
And I hate to seem like a petty individual for picking apart lies.
But Jussie Smollett gonna keep lying until you say we don't believe you.
Like it's important in the checks and balances of the universe that liars not get to make complete narratives for themselves.
Are you not afraid about being blackballed again? These are some power people. What do you mean again?
These people are not
powerful. Satan can't create
anything. That includes
blessings for his people.
That's why, you know
what the number one job of somebody that
sold their soul in Hollywood is? What?
Is to act like it didn't happen.
They all do the same
job.
Why do you think Gary Owen can't cross over and he already white and been in comedy for 25 years?
If what I say ain't the case, it's a cabal. It's a it's a consortium. They they rock with who they rock with and they don't with who they don't.
They rock with who they rock with and they don't with who they don't.
But I'm not scared of being the competition any more than you were when you lined up across from a superior team.
Yeah. On paper, they're a better team. Right.
They have all the assets and resources and we don't.
But let us get on the line, boy, boy, and see if that factors in. I guarantee you it won't. Wow. Because Shannon Sharp got to be a different person
than that other person.
Absolutely.
And he always was.
That doesn't change when I change teams.
That remains the same.
That's how a legacy is built.
So all of these shortcut takers,
they canceled me for talking about Harvey Weinstein
before the thing came out,
but he offered to suck my penis in front of all my people at my agency.
What am I supposed to do? He did all of that. I'm thinking I'm the only black person on the script.
I get there. It's three other black guys on there. Woo. Huh.
So you wonder what they did. I told him, no. What y'all do?
And this is why when I walk in a room, heads go down.
Behind my back, I'm nothing. I'm just a regular old comedian that's bitter and jealous.
But in my face, no, no, no. The king has walked in and they have to respect it only because I'm not taking the shortcuts.
I've not been funded.
They pay you to not talk about things they don't want you to talk about.
They tell you that themselves. I can't do that because Steve told you that he stopped doing stand up because he has seven TV shows. The only problem is when he stopped stand up, he didn't have those seven TV shows.
When he stopped stand up, he didn't have those seven TV shows. He stopped stand up because he got in a comedy battle called the Championship of Stand Up Comedy with one Cat Williams in Detroit in front of 10,000 people and lost because Cat Williams said he was actually bald.
And that was a wig. And I went in and that's why he couldn't do stand up anymore.
went in and that's why he couldn't do stand-up anymore. Imagine him coming
to tell you another story where he
got so big and it was Bernie
and them's fault because they wanted to be movie
stars.
What?
You called
Ocean Eleven to get that nigga's part.
What do you
mean you didn't want to be a movie star?
So on the behalf of
Bernie, I will have to say what I have to say.
Have you ever been on tour with any of these guys?
Every guy I mentioned to you is not funny out there in real life.
So no.
Faison's never done his own tour in 30 years.
Steve Harvey don't do stand up no more
Cedric doesn't write
I'm sorry he doesn't write
Ricky Smiley
has been playing the same old
black woman forever
like you can't get a young fan base with that
like you gotta be doing karaoke around
the country to make that work
and he is but I'm a stand up comedian.
This is my 19th 100 city tour.
I'm not going to have a conversation with these lazy bums that will take a shortcut at any point.
Yes, it's easier for you to juice than to get in the gym.
But you don't get to bring that body in here
talking crazy talk about how good you look what no no there's too many comics out there that are
putting their life on the line to tell these jokes man okay let's get to your upbringing we're gonna
circle back and we'll get i want to protect it protect him real quick. As you had said, for the Kings of Comedy, it was in 2018, 2019.
But did you mean 1999?
Because it came out in 2000.
So I just want to make sure.
No, no, no.
So what I meant to say was,
remember, he said,
I couldn't do stand-up anymore.
I had seven TV shows.
I say he didn't have
any of those TV shows at the time.
I know.
You're talking about Cedric.
Joke Stealer from Cedric.
Yeah, Cedric.
Oh, okay.
So you have said that 2018, 2019, but it came out in 2000, so I just want to make sure.
Okay, no, no, no, no.
No.
What comes out in 2000?
The original Kings of Comedy.
Right.
I'm on BET's Comic View, and they're using this as the commercial in 1998.
Okay.
That's why I'm saying, yeah. So if I. Yeah. So if I said the dates wrong.
Yeah. So let's go and clear that up. OK. You said. Yeah.
I had Cedric on here and I asked him about the joke stealing.
And he said the timeline doesn't add up. Correct. To you. To that point, you say.
up correct to your to to that point you say right so he thought that i was just a no-name comedian and that he could take this joke and nobody would know right the issue was that i had already done
this particular joke on bet's comic view twice right it had done so well on bet's comic view
that they had made it part of the commercial so part of the commercial of make sure you tune in to BET was you seeing me doing this
joke.
Right.
And this joke is one of those jokes in comedy where you set it up and it takes a little
longer to set it up.
Takes about three minutes.
But then you're just hitting them with jokes after that because you don't have to set it
up.
Right.
Mark Curry had already helped me work on this joke
because I thought it was good
because I was getting a standing ovation on it.
He had me go back in the lab
and helped me craft it to be an even more powerful joke.
So this is not just a random joke.
This is my very best joke,
and it's my last joke,
and it's my closing joke.
Okay.
1998, I'm doing this joke. It's on Comic View. Cedric comes to the comedy
store. He watches me in the audience. He comes backstage. He tells me what a great job I did
and how much he loves the joke. Two years later, he's doing that as his last joke on the Kings of Comedy. And he's doing it verbatim.
He's just changed my car into a spaceship.
Him and Steve had already apologized for me.
So I gave him a pass for a decade.
Why would you sit here and be like,
I talked to, I saw Cat 30 times.
Cat didn't do, as I stand before you, Shannon,
I would have bust Cedric's stomach.
There was nothing that would have kept me from one of these in that patch right there. Like,
are you kidding me? Why would you downplay me like that? Why did I give you a
pass if you were just going to lie? And so that's what I'm saying. Like, they're all a group. Cedric,
Steve, Ricky, they've been a group. Everybody knows that they've been aligned. And there are
these alliances in comedy. And if you stand against them, then they sometimes have a problem.
But we don't let that change the content
because that's all you know me for is that i'm quite likely to tell the whole truth and nothing
but the truth so help me god like all my enemies all look the same in the eyes whether it's faze
on wanda aries spares they all look like what you gotta give wanda sykes you think i don't
remember that sir wanda Sykes and Wanda Smith
are two separate people. I mean, Wanda Smith.
And I had only said one name,
sir. Wanda Sykes
is amazing.
I love Wanda. And I agree.
I love Wanda. That's my girl.
But I remember
on the radio, you went on a radio
interview. If I'm not mistaken, that's in Atlanta.
Right. And you came on there with seemingly good intentions and she
attacked you it wasn't just that part it was the fact that before I go in there
she has a conversation about okay now I just want to talk to you because you
just wanted Emmy for the city of Atlanta and this is in Atlanta and they just
want to hear about the Emmy and hear from you
and to thank you for what you did
putting the city on. And we
won't talk about your kids.
We won't talk about jail. No cases.
We ain't going to talk about none of that.
And immediately gets in there and goes
the opposite way. You can't flip up on
me because you're an inferior comedian.
I'm going to destroy you and I'm
never going to call you out of your name. I'm going to destroy you and I'm never going to call
you out of your name. I'm never going to say anything disrespectful to people that look like
you. It's a very thin line. I got a call, but this lady is trying to embarrass me in front of a
largely homosexual fan base. That's why she got canceled. Gay people don't take it kindly that you were
as a derogatory
call me gay.
Gay people don't feel like it's derogatory.
So why are you trying
to shame me with something
in a community I don't even belong in?
There's no gay people
saying I belong over there or been over there.
But I have no hatred
of over there and how dare you?
You did a number on it, though.
Hey.
You did a number on it.
That's legendary.
No, you either believe in karma or you don't.
Because I didn't even know any of the stuff
that she had done to my fellow comedians until afterwards.
I just know that it was a setup.
Right.
And remember, they tried to kill me this same weekend.
Not in jokes. What a real gun in my real face on real camera.
Understand I'm losing my life for participating in something that goes along with my job.
Like there's two comedians. What do you mean?
And the world was okay with it because it was me.
Had that happened to anyone else, the world went crazy when Will smacked Chris.
This is a person pulling a whole gun on a comedian in the confines of their job.
It's really a weird situation
when they hate you that bad.
Yeah.
You felt she hated you at that moment because
you mentioned that she said it was going to be
very professional. Oh, you won an Emmy.
Congratulations. You put the city on.
You own for the city. Yada, yada, yada.
Did she mention anything
about the Emmy on camera?
I believe you saw the video and you know that none of that took place.
See, the issue is that all the comedians have to come do these radio stations because you have to sell your tickets.
And so that means you have to go to the radio. Yes.
I don't go to the radio station and I don't make posts to sell tickets.
I just don't. So you've not seen me. I'm I haven't I'm not here in some subservient position where somebody sent me over.
I'm you here out of the kindness of your heart. You are. No, no, I'm saying.
the kindness of your heart you are no no i'm saying no but in the interview yeah yes situation yeah that's right sure yeah and this person knew i wasn't there for that or yeah it's but how hard
because you have to understand she is a female and so you have to be careful you have to hammer
her with kid gloves sir sir you want to go ahead and take that out you don't want to be against
equality do you no no what you just said was very unequal sir but i think maybe you've had enough of
this because i think i just heard you say that women are not equal and should be treated unequally
and i they want to be treated.
You mean as a comedian?
No, no.
They want.
Listen, you understand and I understand.
Yeah.
In certain situations, they want to be treated equal.
Not all situations.
And and what part of what you saw her get?
Oh, she deserved everything you gave her.
Hold on, hold on.
What part would have been different if she was a man?
It would have just been more vicious.
Yeah, that's my point.
That's my point.
I took all the vicious and venom away because I didn't have any.
Plus, I understood I'm not trying to offend black women with short hair.
I'm not trying to offend heavyset women. I'm not trying to offend black women with short hair. I'm not trying to offend heavyset women.
I'm not trying to upset fellow comedians. I'm not trying to do any of that.
And I can't. I am qualified to be able to do none of that and still eviscerate you because I'm smart enough to know that I need to say that you have gnarled fingers because I know your limited education means you don't know what the word means. So you can't possibly respond to it. You're not sure of the meaning.
And I'm going to continue hitting you because this is what comedians do. You've been masquerading
that you're a comedian too. And that's the fallacy. So nobody in boxing fights out of their weight class.
If you're 130 pounder, you don't just show up with the 160 pounders.
You stay in your weight class. Is that what you wanted to do?
No, that she was out of her league when it came to because I didn't want to do any of it.
I know you didn't want to do it. But what she took it there.
You did you feel that you had to go there?
Oh, you know where you could say Wanda I didn't come
here for that I just want to do the interview I just want to talk about what happened oh you
misunderstand my job my job is to be funny my job is to be funny first my first job is to be funny
my second job is to be respectful my third job is to be immaculate and Gaza strip it.
That's nonpolitical.
I'm saying if you do it, you let a terrorist accidentally touch over here and I won't stop burning you down until there ain't nothing left.
It'll literally be rubble on top of rubble and I'll still be bombing.
Why? Because that's why you should mind your business this is what f around and find out is about right now i'm reading
kat williams won cedric the entertainers's and Heiser Bush Best Los Angeles
Comic Award.
Did you win that award, one Cat Williams?
It's a simple yes or no. It's not a
rhetorical question. It's a question
that probably should have been asked to Cedric the Entertainer.
I'm asking you. I got you here, though.
I know. I couldn't believe Cedric didn't
get asked that question.
You still a dude's joker to give an award and then 10 years later you don't know nothing about it.
Hey, but I promise you this.
What?
If he sees me again before he sees you, he'll be talking different when you see him.
That's for certain.
That's the difference.
That's what these comics understand,
is that I'm not doing nothing for clout.
I don't even recognize clout.
But eventually the Lord is gonna let me
and you be in one hallway.
A lot of these dudes go...
Kevin Hart done went 25 years without ever
being in the same building with me
at the same time if I go in the
building he walk out you've never seen us in
the same building ever in 25
years like
it's like that why
why because I'm really
the product it's not
what you think I am
never under the influence of anything.
I'm always in my right mind.
I'm always a physical specimen.
And when you see me, I'm much, much bigger than you had thought.
I have far less play in me than you would like.
And I'm relentless.
I'm out there.
I'm still to this day.
I play 11 games of basketball
with a 20-year-old.
The record is 92-6.
This is just in the yard,
just to the rack,
just because...
You work out, Kat?
I mean, do you work out, Kat?
Not to the gym.
You don't work out in the gym?
You push-ups, sit-ups?
My whole life, it was just push-ups and sit-ups only i would do like um
100 push-ups a day just i thought you were gonna say a thousand no no no because this is literally
every day right this is not for the yeah for the gram you know i mean like literally 100 a day
and i would do push-ups and then I tore both my rotator cuffs.
And so it was only thanks to golf that I was even able to get my stuff back.
You a golfer now?
I've been a golfer for quite some time.
My short game is impeccable.
I can't get you but two and some change off of the tee.
But I'm still coming in for par, guaranteed.
Are you playing for the tips?
No.
I've found that you don't get anything for that.
It seems very egomaniacal.
They go, hey, Kat, for free, you can go further back.
Hey, wait a minute, does it still count the same?
Hey, I'm up at the ladies' team. Don't tell me my
pronouns.
On the golf course,
I'm she, her, him,
them, and they.
Whoever at the
front team.
I know we're joking. We're having a great conversation.
But you did win the award.
How did the award help your career?
It had to help something, Kat.
Nope.
God, come on, Kat.
I didn't remember it.
It happened to you.
Just said it.
How can Cedric give you an award that was worth something?
Everything Cedric and Ricky Smiley ever been in got canceled for not being funny.
Ricky sat here and told you that they cut him out of every movie
he did. They always
had a reason.
That's why I'm funny, because I'm
a happy person. I laugh all day long.
I can't even imagine
the misery of these
bums.
Doesn't not be good
at what you do, not work hard at what you do,
but have to act like you're the best at what you do.
It is crazy.
It's crazy. But they be touring, they
be doing like 100 shows a year.
That's me.
I don't run into none of them.
That's what I'm saying.
If you a Faze I Love fan,
you mean you've been a fan of him for 32 years,
you still waiting on him to do his first special?
You mean to tell me if Steve Harvey,
your favorite comedian,
you mean you've been waiting for him
to do stand-up for 15 years now?
I mean, Steve got a lot of other...
DL's still out there.
None of those irons matter to stand up who cares that
they wrote a placard for you to do family feud on like you're you're successful because we're
surprised you can talk for a living and it's entertaining that you're gonna say some funny
country things but not a writer right not a writer, I've had to turn down $50 million four times.
Four times.
Just to protect my integrity and that virgin hole I was telling you about.
Right.
Because P. Diddy be wanting to party.
And you got to tell him no.
You got to tell him no.
I did.
I did.
See, I got the receipts for everything I'm telling you.
That's why I can say them so freely.
Ken, I need to know.
Here, get you a number, too, Ken.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Come on.
Because early on, you was accusing me of being...
Ken, man.
It's crazy.
When you got into stand-up, was crossing over, was doing TV, was doing movie, was that a part of it?
You're like, okay, I'm doing stand-up was crossing over was doing tv was doing movie was that was that a part of it you're like okay i'm gonna i'm doing stand-up okay next next the the next progression is tv movies throughout throughout the history of stand-up sir that's that's the goal for all of us that's how it
goes that's why when you hear these dudes talking about oh i didn't want to be a movie star you
just know it's disingenuous like what, what are you talking about, dude?
Yeah, oh, no, no.
I just wanted to do a game show.
Right.
What?
Are you sure?
Are you sure?
Because I thought you did Mark Curry's show over after he had just done hanging with Mr. Cooper.
Why would you do all of that man's stuff that he did on his show on yours
and then do the dude's
stand-up when you
go on the road? And then
you never put Mark Curry on your
show or nothing. Like,
if you don't say anything, these
dudes will run over you. I don't know
if you know how bullies operate. I do.
But if you don't stand up for yourself,
there really is nothing
they won't do right you're a very generous man cat uh you you're the sole sponsor of melba moore
getting a star in the hollywood walk of fame you spot you did all that on your own why
what do you have a personal relationship with melba no no i um i i understood that she was a black woman in a time where
it mattered what you look like and they had a certain thing that they needed you to look like
and act like in order to be successful right and she just never did that. She wasn't tall enough. She wasn't fine.
They didn't like her looks.
They didn't like that her hair was natural.
They talked crazy about her.
And yet she still made all of these achievements.
And I'm like, understand, I'm already in the Comedy Hall of Fame.
I'm already going to heaven no matter what happens.
If it ends in a second,
I'm up there.
So it gives me the leeway
to do some things
that are simply because
it's the right thing to do.
So the truth of the matter is
they wanted to give me a star,
but please don't consider me and this person been sitting on this list this whole time
and just because they ain't got enough money they can't get they just do that's crazy when do you
start that that's hurtful what if somebody can't afford their flowers you mean they don't get them
no god don't operate like that he was saying a dummy like me to come and take care of that.
Just so that the right thing happens.
That's how the universe works.
Because remember, what am I spending my money on?
I'm not spending my money on strippers.
I ain't spending them on drugs.
Why not?
Stripper parts.
Because if I go in a strip club, I'm only trying to get her out of there.
Yeah. I have no intention of her or any other people being in this position.
If I see a girl I like at the strip club, I'm telling her, you know you don't have to strip no more after this.
This could be your last day.
How about that?
What would it be like just to leave it all?
You ain't got to be all no more.
I don't even want you to go get your purse.
Just leave it.
We getting new ID.
We getting new ID and credit card and social security card.
We don't need none of that.
None of that.
None of that.
This life don't look good on you.
Yeah, shit.
You don't even look like a drug addict.
Got to be thinking.
Got to be thinking, cat.
Right.
You hear these athletes talking about,
yeah, we was out there tricking.
What?
Why?
You're part of the problem.
You're part of the problem.
Stop paying people that you don't have no respect for.
It sets it up bad for us.
We got women out here, can't a man because they're acting like him.
You are alpha.
Now the alphas all want these subservient husbands.
You can't have one.
That ain't going to happen.
It ain't going to happen.
Sorry about that.
Okay, go ahead.
Boy, you done got me canceled how many times in this program?
Where's the camera? i didn't write nothing i said tonight it's all been on these cue cards
ask your next question the me goes do you help them get out of financial situation?
I don't think we ever as a nation can remember a time that the Migos were financially unsuccessful.
So for the record, I would assume that they've never needed Cat Williams financial assistance for anything. I'm sure that between QC the label and other things,
they were taken care of.
On the other hand, if I was given the opportunity to help them,
would I? Of course I would. That's what I do.
I'm a pro-black, non-racist.
Like, I really, really love black people,
but I don't love them more than other people.
I love everybody. I just I'm a black guy and I try to stick with that.
But, yeah, I'm not one of those pillow talkers either.
Like when I do something good, I'm really not doing it for the gram.
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It's not for
any of that. I'm just doing it because it's good
to do. I appreciate that.
I read, I don't know if this is true, but
I did read that comedians
on your show say that women sometimes
would bring them money and
not say where it came from.
Say that again.
Comedians would say women would bring them money and not say where it came from.
Right. So I'm not a feminist like a feminist would be.
But I do believe that there are no,
that in my camp,
like if I had 35 people in my camp,
I believe that other than four jobs, I believe that a woman is better at any of them jobs
than any man could be.
So 10 of these jobs,
no man can work
because I'd rather a female be there.
If I got to smell anybody's breath, I want it to be there if I gotta smell anybody's breath I want it
to be hers I don't want none of you crusty like so so what I'm saying is in a staffing issue I'm
gonna have 75% women just because I prefer them I don't prefer to hear two guys talking in the
corner I prefer to hear two ladies talking in the corner. I don't care what they're talking about. I just prefer that. So a lot of times I will utilize ladies to convey a message.
If a comedian is doing a great job somewhere in the country, he just did a masterful set
and nobody's going to pay him. They just clapping. And I know he's broke as shit back there.
Wouldn't it be nice if somebody just showed up and gave him a little blessing?
And he didn't have to suck me off for it.
And thanks, Kat.
Boy, I really needed it.
Why would you do that?
If you was actually just trying to help people, you would.
People know that's how I pay my tithes.
If I got paid $100,000 to be at your city,
I'm going to take $10,000 of that and put it in your homeless area.
Not because I got to.
Because you gave me 100 racks to come to your little rinky-dink town.
Who would I be to not pay my tithes back to your town?
That's how I got in this position.
Wow.
You adopted seven kids. Why?
That's a lot of kids for a man that's as busy as you are,
travels as much as you do, on the road as much as you are spend a lot of
time because you have to spend a lot i mean it's not easy i mean maybe it comes just so come so
natural to you to put pen to paper and to write things down and be able to go out there and
perform a set but that's a lot of responsibility cat right right but if there was a god
what would he think about you if you did that
i'm saying let's just let's say for example okay that god is real yes okay and let's say he'd be
looking at what you do yes what would he say if you did that he said that cat that, that's a very kind gesture.
That's very generous of you.
My whole life, since I was telling you when I was young and they was asking me what I wanted to be and nothing I wanted to be was what I wanted to be God's friend.
That's a weird thing if you're an atheist.
If you're an atheist, I didn't even say nothing. But if you believe in God and I tell you that I wanted to be God's friend
and I wanted to even go to Hollywood and still be God's friend,
if I told you that that was my aim, you could understand where I'm at.
Like, I promise you, no jealousy, no bitterness, none of that.
I got exactly what I was trying to get.
I haven't been shorted in any way.
I mean, seven, eight kids, single. You'll get married.
You remember the conversation where I was where it was me.
Yes. And I didn't know what was going to happen to my two little brothers.
It was just going to be out there. Yes.
So when it gone full circle
and I'm one of the
richest men that ever
lived. And I don't
mean, please don't look at my net worth.
I saw my net worth.
I had that on me.
I don't know.
I swear to God.
What I'm saying is, like,
I'm saying,
my net worth is less than my last
Netflix deal.
You understand what I'm telling you?
I think it makes sense.
But I'm fine.
Jesus was poor.
Jesus didn't have nothing. So why don't we be mad? You poor. Jesus didn't have nothing.
So why don't we be mad?
You say I don't have nothing.
They had amenities they had back then, though, okay.
Say it again?
We got different amenities now.
Not more than gold.
Gold was the amenity of that time.
We still got gold.
Gold still run it.
They have no Rolls Royce.
You can buy an ass
That's what they call it
They were cheap
I'm saying
If you really want to say
I'm saying a Cullinan is cheap
So back in the day
I would give my girl a donkey
Today we get her a Cullinan
But I'm saying Whoever I'm saying my girl a donkey. Today, we get her a cullinan. But I'm saying whoever, I'm saying whoever and whatever it is, I'm saying we.
I'm saying because what are we going to do?
I done already told you I'm one of the richest people that ever lived.
Yes.
Only in the fact that when I wake up in the morning, no matter where I am, I don't need nothing.
Whatever I need is right around me.
And whatever I don't have, it's only just because I don't need nothing. Whatever I need is right around me and whatever I don't have
is only just because I don't have it.
It's not because
I can't get it.
All I got to do is want it and it belongs
to me. So because of that, because
I'm favored by God, like when
I see people's wives and stuff, I don't even
look at them. You know what I mean?
I don't want to look at nothing I don't
want to have because I know how blessed I am. If I look at it, know what i mean like i don't want to look at nothing i don't want to have because i i know how blessed i am if i look at it i got it that's how did he be feeling come on
so you're not supposed to look at anything that you don't want
not me personally just because god has given me literally everything i ever even pump faked
like i want and that's the whole thing that's that's the whole thing is i don't i don't have
a type of woman every woman that i ever had as a type i ended up getting her now she's not the
type anymore now i understand that every woman is a one of one.
Like, you can't really have types.
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
What?
Because, see, I tried to ask you something about marriage.
I ain't saying nothing about no marriage, Cal.
Yeah, you did.
When you rewind the tape, you let it out.
You was like, so you ever going to get married?
And then you took it back.
It's OK.
It's OK.
Are you?
I wasn't on a photographic memory.
Are you?
I'm not against it.
Like most people that are not married is because they're afraid of commitment.
It's not like that for me.
It's just the whole time I wanted to be married, I had kids.
So I had to try to fill my wife's place before she got there.
So I already got kids without a mother.
But so now I got to be doing laundry.
I'm washing dishes.
I'm reading stories.
I'm having to nurture.
I'm having to do all of this.
And I got to the point where I didn't need the wife.
I'm doing it and we're doing it.
And I'm not replacing a woman in their lives.
I'm letting them see that that's just the only thing that we don't have.
And it was easier for me to do that because you have to understand that all of the kids I'm raising at this point, they have fathers.
You see, they have a mother. You see, I'm a different person. I'm raising you.
And so that needs to be done with the other respect for the others that put work in as well.
So, yeah, I never had a problem getting married.
What's one of the one things you try to teach your kids?
I don't teach anybody anything that's over 18. I've done the work I was going to
do. But as kids, I really just tried to teach the things that can't be bought, your integrity,
trying to live your life in a way that you yourself could be proud of if you had to look back on it.
And I didn't do very good at leading by example, but behind the scenes, that's never what I was pushing.
They understood that because of my stance, there was a certain thing that would come my way.
And so accountability and responsibility is part of what you're teaching.
Is that, you know, even if you're doing the greatest thing in the world, there's this thing called no good deed goes unpunished.
Like there's a real Murphy's law like basically in raising kids you're just trying to give them
a better manual and an outline of how life works than your parents gave you you know and so um
that's how I did it what do you think about Kanye rants what's going on with Kanye
from a distance obviously I don't know how well you know Kanye.
I don't know if you've been around Kanye, but from a distance, what do you suspect is going on?
I suspect that we're pretty awful people if we say that somebody got a mental illness and then we watch what they do.
illness and then we watch what they do.
If you say somebody got special needs,
then why would you be watching them and holding them accountable like everybody else? Wouldn't you
grade them on a curve? Wouldn't you go,
whew, this guy.
Because, I mean, what are we reacting to?
What are we reacting to?
You're the one that put him in a position where he thought he was God and could call himself Jesus.
And you're the one that told the guy that writes musical lyrics that he was a genius.
You're the one that's like, so what do you expect?
The guy married a whore.
Like, what?
Oh, Lord.
I didn't mean it like that.
I mean, married her because she was one.
Not he didn't know.
He understood that he wanted that.
He courted that.
That's what he wanted to base his family on.
He had a good heart, though.
I know what you're going to say.
Don't you say it, Kat. Don't you say it.
I'm going to move the conversation. If what I'm saying is not correct, then how
does she end up with Pete Davidson?
I mean, it happens all the time.
And what if you weren't even good enough
for Pete and he leaves you?
What do that mean the product was?
No, I don't support
or villainize Kanye
because I don't understand
what it is we want from him.
I don't know
why we look at a basketball player and say
he didn't score no hockey goals
this whole season.
He don't play hockey.
Kanye this whole season. He don't play hockey. Kanye don't say nothing
I can agree with.
Okay.
He was the weird guy
in the beginning
with the pink sweaters
when we met him.
Like, what do you think
moving to a beat
of your own drop?
This dude started a church
and kept cussing.
Nobody in black church said nothing.
You would have thought all the pastors would have came.
You can't be no gospel artist.
You just said fuck that bitch.
Nobody said nothing.
Because T.D. Jakes over there would be in it.
Oh, come on, cat.
Only the guy you had here has been upfront and honest and a man of God and humble and took the L's he had to take and didn't.
I did see it was trending, though, but I know I don't.
I know why I can't. I don't.
Let me go to this question right here.
All people that love the truth got to be happy if the truth coming out and lies is getting exposed.
That's just what time it is.
Twenty twenty four.
Do you consider yourself a king of comedy?
Where do you go?
They they consider that like like when after Bernie left them same three guys.
I'm telling you about the king.
Yeah. Right.
Because DL is the greatest.
There's no DL slander gets tolerated.
But they came to me. I was supposed to be the fourth king. I got the greatest. No DL slander gets tolerated. But they came to
me. I was supposed to be the fourth king.
I got the offer. But I turned
it down. Why? Because you
shit on Bernie.
And I know the truth.
You think I'm going to let you shit on Bernie
and then come get me? I'm the next king?
Fuck you.
Why? Because the whole
time Bernie was here, you was acting like you was funnier than him.
The reason you was supposed to go last is because it was your tour.
Tell the truth.
It was Steve's tour.
Not it was going to be called the Kings of Comedy.
It was Steve's tour.
These are the guys opening for him.
Of course, you got to close if it's your tour.
That's why it was such a big deal.
But you couldn't do it.
Because you can't beat the best.
And until you humble yourself, you will forever be kinged by the king.
And because you finally did it, because you had no other choice.
And now that he gone, you're going to act like, he wanted to be a movie star.
You stop it.
You stop it. That man was funnier than all of y'all. And y'all thought
y'all had one over on him. You thought he was black and ugly and you were good looking and he
couldn't make it because you did. And that ain't the way comedy works. The king is the funniest.
Period. Every time. And that's why no audience member was ever swayed.
It didn't matter where Bernie went.
You think if Bernie went first, he wasn't
the king? Get
out of here. Get out of
here. Get your ego out of
this. You let the best
be the best.
Cat Williams, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for
coming on, bro. I really appreciate that. Thanks
for sharing the stories. setting the record straight.
Now, you know they're going to double back.
Impossible.
Impossible.
Only because once you play this back, you'll realize I didn't say anything that made me look in a good light.
I wasn't tearing down others to boost myself up.
But I do have to acknowledge things
that did not take place.
We're very ingenuous
if we say this is not a game
and we don't play it and people
ain't in positions and people don't have
their favorites and they group and they
click. That happens in all
businesses.
No, no. Say what side you
on. Say why you don't like the other
side. And then get to the game.
But in the game,
I'm wiping the field with them
to the point where they don't even compete
anymore. So how you gonna let
a dude that been
on the bench for 15 years
I would
have beat Jordan's ass. Shut up.
Jordan is still alive.
We'll call Jordan right now.
You can't beat him now.
Not then.
You can't beat him now.
Let's get to your upbringing.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Raised in Dayton, Ohio.
What was Cat Williams' upbringing like?
Your parents were Jehovah Witness.
You were a prodigy.
You were brilliant. Youy you were brilliant you talked
to me that you got accepted to college at seven years of age you can read fluently at three years
of age so having that kind of knowledge having that kind of uh of of of prodigy or so what was
so I mean was it what was your upbringing how was it how was life as Cat Williams coming up
um I I What was your upbringing? How was it? How was life as Cat Williams coming up?
I. I was often confused because I knew things and I wasn't sure how I knew them.
I knew things that I felt like I don't have a reason that I know this, but I loved to read.
I was voracious because they told me when I was young that knowledge was powerful, that knowledge was power. And I had studied powerful people, and I really believed that.
Immediately, my next project was to read the whole encyclopedia set. So when you're like
six, seven years old, you read the whole encyclopedia set. You think you're one of the
smartest people in the world, only to get out in the world and find out you don't know anything.
You know, so it was a confusing time. But yeah, I had a childhood. I was grown. But I,
But yeah, I had a childhood. I was grown. But at five years old, I was in truth to people somehow benefited them and also benefited you. And yeah, so when they would ask
me what I wanted to be, everything that I would say that I wanted to be was something that didn't exist and they would never give me
credit for it because I needed to say a doctor or a lawyer but that's not what I wanted to be
so your parents weren't as supportive as you would have hoped because you were wanting to
be things when you got older that they had no knowledge of or it didn't exist at the time
no it wasn't that it was um wake up with football every morning
and listen to my new podcast nfl daily with greg rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the
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That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook,
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This is their window right now.
This is their Super Bowl window.
Why would they trade him away?
Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl window, why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl.
I don't know why, Colleen.
Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day.
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to listen to the good morning football podcast monday through friday on the iheart radio app
apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast mtv's official challenge podcast is back for
another season that's right the challenge is about to embark on its monumental 40th season, y'all.
And we are coming along for the ride.
Woo-hoo!
That would be me, Devin Simone.
And then there's me, Davon Rogers.
And we're here to take you behind the scenes of...
Drumroll, please.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
The Challenge 40, Battle of the Eras.
Yes.
Each week, cast members will be joining us to spill all of the
tea on the relentless challenges,
heartbreaking eliminations, and of course
all the juicy drama. And let's
not forget about the hookups. Anyway,
regardless of what era you're rooting
for at home, everyone is welcome
here on MTV's official challenge
podcast. So join us every
week as we break down episodes of
the Challenge 40 Battle
of the Eras. Listen to MTV's Official Challenge podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm saying I'm almost 100 years old right now,
but if we go outside right now, I can run a 4-3-40 or sub.
I can do a 4-1-6 if I'm in short.
Oh, there's Jimmy John's across the street.
We can order a sub.
Oh, you've been on the submarine.
That what you sub?
So back then, it was even greater.
So you got this guy that all the coaches want to play.
Hey, Cass, don't do that.
Hold on, because I'm
5'5
in the fifth grade. I've been this high
my whole life. Like, there was
a portion of school where I was one of the
big dudes. Like,
as soon as everybody caught
their growth spurt, I was out of there.
But I'm saying
I was a competitive individual.
My father was an athlete. I can see that. Like, no, I've been of that but i'm saying i was a competitive individual my father wasn't at me like like
like no i've been 145 pounds my whole career that's why i never bothered when they said
your cat's on drugs i knew how you gonna prove that i'm my body is a temple i've been the same
size as i was 10 like what do you yeah like i haven't i haven't changed off this pivot foot.
This has always been who I was before stand-up or anything.
But it was an interesting childhood.
I appreciate my parents, even though I couldn't live within the religious frameworks of what they had set up.
But that was more not wanting to live a double life and not want to embarrass my family
You know what I mean?
Because I read where a form of punishment for you is that they would take books because you mentioned you were such a voracious
Reader and a form of punishment. It was when they would take the books for because you could read fluently you told me how
And like three or four years old you could read read read not not just a little child's book, but you could read, read.
Well, I'm saying when we when we go to Haiti to do missionary work, understand that my mother and my father, nobody that's there with us speaks French.
And I mean, it speaks Creole and reads French.
So I'm in charge of everything from the housing to the cars to the gardener.
Like I'm saying, so I'm not just reading.
I'm reading in multiple languages.
Like I'm probably reading 3000 books a year from the time that I'm eight years old to the time that I'm 12.
No, no, no fiction books at all.
I'm only reading nonfiction. You could drive at 12.
You received a full scholarship to the National Science Academy in Dayton, Ohio.
But you failed. So you couldn't become so you would become ineligible.
Why did you want to take that opportunity? I didn't see it as an opportunity.
When I got in there, all the students were wearing lab coats,
and it seemed very confined and restricted,
and nobody seemed like they were having fun.
It just seemed like everybody was smart.
I didn't want that.
That wasn't what I was signing up for at all.
And plus, I thought that I was...
Jesus was my big homie.
So you know how you get a story about a dude
joined a gang and you get a big homie
like at this particular point in my life
my thought is that
the Bible is the greatest book that's
ever been written that it
houses the truth and that it
gives you this story of Jesus and that
I'm supposed to be like him
so it's already in my head
that as soon as I get 13 I'm supposed to be like him. Okay. So it's already in my head that as soon as I get 13, I'm leaving.
You, at 13, you not only like, okay, mom, I'm moving out.
You moved from Ohio to Florida on your own.
You weren't afraid.
I mean, you're like, did you, did you not have,
so what were you going to do when you got
to Florida? Don't say I wasn't afraid. There's no such thing as a human being of not being afraid.
There are certain human beings that understand that being afraid in no way stops you from doing
what you got to do. Okay. So, um, I w I was afraid, um, but I couldn't be that afraid because I knew what had happened with Jesus.
I knew how it worked out.
I knew that I wasn't in the wrong with how I was feeling, and I knew that I didn't have any bad intentions in it.
So I trusted God that it would work out.
Why Florida?
Because if you're raised in Ohio, the one thing on your list
is I'm going to get away from snow and I'm going to get as far. I want to tell me the place. I
literally went to a truck stop and I asked all the truck drivers where they was going. And it was one
guy going to California and it was one guy going to Florida. And they told me how long it was going
to take. And so that's why I ended up in Miami
because how'd you get there you caught a bus no I just told you I was at the truck stop I got in
I didn't hitchhike I got in the back of the dude's 18 wheeler me and my Rottweiler puppy
and my suitcase yeah because I was I probably had $2,500 on me like I was
shoveling snow and cutting
grass like I always have pockets full of money
when did you make the decision that you
were going to leave Ohio
and go somewhere
it ended up being Florida so but when did you know
that you were leaving Dayton Ohio
going to Florida
and my father
and I's last interaction,
somebody could have not made it.
And we both understood
that was all bad.
What was the disagreement about?
If you say that my family is very religious let's just say i'm not so anything that i i'm
going to do is not it's going to fall out of the guidelines right but i'm not going to let you tell
me what i'm going to be even especially what you're saying is wrong i can't condone wrong
and if i find out that something is wrong and i can't condone wrong. And if I find out that
something is wrong and I tell you it's wrong and you don't back me, that's what it is.
Even as a young child, you were willing to tell your parents that some of the things that you're
saying doesn't coincide with what I've been reading in the Bible. No, no, very simply.
Don't try to disfellowship me for sexual acts
and I'm a virgin.
Sorry, God, don't make mistakes.
You don't get two times to fuck me over.
What do you mean you went to God
and he told you I was guilty?
You just lied on God.
So long.
That's it.
There's no conversation.
Deuces. That's what it was. That's it. There's no conversation. Deuces.
That's what it was. That's when you made the decision after that conversation right there.
You say, no, I can't I can't live under this rule. It wasn't a conversation.
It was an altercation in the altercation. I love my father. My father loved me. But we are two men at it that it'll never be the same again.
men at it.
It'll never be the same again. You can't sleep
comfortably around me.
And I can't sleep comfortably
around you. How similar are you
to your father?
I don't know. He's a great man.
I'm saying...
Because he had y'all butted heads.
Right.
But I'm saying that generally happens with a father son dynamic.
It was just that religious relationships are always difficult in families.
They always are. Before it got to the point.
Because the dynamic, he's father, your son, before that dynamic and you step up on his level
and you challenge him,
you felt it was best for you to leave.
No, no, no.
I'm not being challenged.
I'm being beat to death.
Oh, he was abusive.
I didn't say that.
I said we were in an altercation.
Oh, I see what you did there.
I saw what you did there. I saw what you did there.
I saw what you did there, cat.
I saw what you did.
You was in an altercation.
You didn't say you lost.
You said you was in an altercation.
I in no way gave you the impression that I won anything.
I'm the one leaving.
I'm out of bounds.
This is his house.
Right.
Yeah.
So as long as I'm going to be under his roof,
there are certain things that i'm gonna
have to do right and the only way that's gonna change is either this or that and i i'm saying
i had two younger brothers like i'm not i'm not an unreasonable person like i don't have any mental
issues whatsoever despite what they lead people to
believe you know i make good pretty good decisions were you not so how was their relationship with
your father were you not afraid to leave them well i asked because it it went all the way to
the actual department so it was actually going to be something.
When I asked them if they could just make sure that my brothers didn't get separated
and what have you, they said they couldn't make those type of guarantees, that they weren't
really sure what would happen if this went down and so part of leaving was the hope that it would be OK for them because none of them experienced what I experienced.
I'm saying I'm the oldest. It's a lot riding on me. I'm supposed to at least religiously hold down the family's name at this household.
You know what I mean? How much older are you than the baby and the knee baby?
You know what I mean? How much older are you than the baby and the knee baby?
Like a lot older. Like if I'm.
I think 13. Yeah, they're five.
And. In Pampers.
Wow. You go to Florida.
You tell the story. I've heard you. You were homeless.
And somebody else told the story, said they were homeless. And you said they they hijacked your story.
Now, I don't I don't. At 13, I shouldn't have to tell you I'm homeless.
I'm in a I'm in Miami, Florida. I have no family members in Florida.
I couldn't buy a house if I wanted to. I couldn't get a house if I wanted to I couldn't get an apartment if I wanted to I don't have a credit history like this is not a
stretch for me to say that I'm homeless I'm living in a park in Coconut Grove
the park still exists to this day for eight hours a day I would get up and go
to the library and study for eight hours a day to increase my education.
And then I would leave out of there and go to the marina and steal car radios and make two thousand dollars almost daily.
Like I had a routine. So you really could have played that old thief in Santa Claus.
You could have played it. No, the Santa Claus wasn't a thief.
Yeah, he was.
The Santa Claus, you can't tell me.
I read the script.
Ricky Smiley told you he didn't read the script.
The Santa Claus was a crackhead.
He just had that outfit on.
That's what I couldn't have played.
Okay.
Like, I couldn't have played a black guy that got raped in the bathroom.
Right.
So, at any point in time,
you're like, man, I made a mistake.
Man, I should have stayed my butt in Ohio, man,
because this is, man, this ain't what I signed up for.
I didn't experience anything once I left home
that I hadn't signed up for.
If anything, it saved my life.
Me being homeless for that small period of time
allowed me to see all of the people that
were in that situation and to see that these were lawyers and doctors and teachers and that these
people were white and black and Asian and Indian. And the only thing that all of these homeless
people had in common was they made a bad decision and aligned themselves with drugs.
And I interviewed them all.
What drug?
And guess what, Shannon?
Nobody had a great story.
Nobody had a great story of what meth had done for them,
what crack had done for them,
what cocaine had done for them,
what heroin had done for them, what speed had done for them, what heroin had done for them, what speed had done for them.
Nobody had them stories.
Everybody's story was I had my life together,
and then I decided to do this dumb thing.
And I lost my wife, I lost my house, I lost my cars,
I lost my reputation, and I'm now out here sucking penis in the
woods.
What? Talk about
scared straight. You ain't got to
worry about me.
If it ain't weed
or nicotine, you won't see me touching it.
I don't want no parts. I done seen
what these things can do to people.
Anything that take over your free
will is the devil itself.
Have you ever thought about what your life
would have been had you stayed
in Dayton, Ohio?
No.
That's like asking somebody
that's in the NBA for 14
years, like, what would have happened
if you didn't come to the NBA?
Oh, I shudder to think I I thought
it was what I was made for I thought it was what I was built for anybody that knows me will tell
you that when they first met Cat Williams when I was Cat in the Hat and they tell these stories
about how he changed his name look the truth of the matter is Disney Disney sued me. Yeah, I was cat in the hat.
They sent me a cease and desist letter, and I'm not even making $25,000 a year.
And the mega company Disney has sent me a cease and desist telling me I can't use any variations of that name.
Fine. I'm Cat Williams.
That's all that happens.
I have been this same product the entire time. They will tell you when they first saw me doing stand-up i was just like this this is what i bring this my style
when did it when did you know you was going you wanted were you always funny did you
always want to be a comedian how did you stumble on a comedianship no i i i loved what they did and so
i studied them all of them i studied all of the white comedians because i wanted to know why is
monty python funny why is don not so talented i wanted to know what is george Carlin's thing?
So I studied all of the comedy masters,
regardless of the field,
because I loved to laugh.
I didn't know that these people were making a great living at doing this.
I thought this is just what they did.
They tell jokes.
They're funny people.
But I loved the craft.
And that's why when I got into the craft, I thought it was my obligation to make sure that I kept writing new material so much that it forced these comedians to stop doing the set they've been doing for 10 years and keep writing some new stuff.
And I knew that if I could get that to take on on that most of these bums would have to just quit
comedy because they can't keep up they're not gonna keep writing an hour worth of material
right i've written an hour worth of material 19 times they're not gonna do it why because
they're not creative writers they want to get somebody else to have them write it and put it
together so if i'm listening to you correct,
correct me if I'm wrong,
I think the best thing that ever happened
was the internet.
Because now they have to.
Because normally, like you said,
you could do a set
and you do that set in Kansas City,
people ain't heard it in San Francisco,
people ain't heard it in Miami,
they ain't heard it in Detroit,
Chicago, Atlanta, so forth and so on.
Now you do a set, it's on the internet. Somebody heard it. Miami. They heard Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, so forth and so on. Now you do a set.
It's on the Internet.
Somebody heard it.
So you can't do a set and make it last three months, four months.
Well.
It doesn't allow the regular comic the ability to grow is the real problem.
comic the ability to grow is the real problem like the part of comedy is me taking these jokes in January and by March I've begun to craft this joke it's
not as simple as it was when I wrote it it was just da da da da da but now it
has the complexities of the fact that I'm having to deliver this to an East
Coast audience,
a down South audience, a Midwest audience, a Utah audience, a Colorado audience.
And so it begins to take on a different complexion because you're having to deliver it to different
people. And so this is what sharpens your joke. You then take those sharpened jokes and make a special, not you just randomly
take some. So it's a process. You don't allow them the process. If the first time the guy did the
joke, now that's his joke. And the joke is everywhere that just sets it up for people to
steal. So how many times must you tell a joke before you master it?
How many times have you had to sleep with a woman before you done with her?
That's not fair. If it's great, never.
If it ceases to have usefulness.
So it has been spoken. Right.
I read that you was raised in Florida.
You had some help, some ladies of the night.
No, no, no.
That's not true.
No, that whole story doesn't take place in Florida.
That story takes place in Oklahoma City.
Okay.
So after I'm in Florida, I then join.
I try to join the Marine
Corps and they won't accept me because I'm too young and I've lied and told them I'm 16 and my
family's moving down and I don't have my ID, but it's coming. And so they let me go to the boot
camp. That's not going to work now. Okay. So I've learned that lesson. So then I get this job
selling stuff door to door across the country.
And so I've been to all 50 states.
Again, I'm 14 years old.
So I did that.
While I'm doing that, one of the places I'm at, I'm in Oklahoma.
And I've decided I'm going to stay here because of meeting these ladies that you're talking about and that situation.
I don't know at the time why that's important in my life or why it's something I should
be doing or any of that.
But now later on, it certainly helps me in formulating Money Mike for Friday After Next
and a pimp named Slickback for the boondocks.
Oklahoma,
so San Francisco,
Oklahoma, Sacramento. From Florida,
you moved to the West Coast.
So you're traveling.
When did you set up shop on the West Coast?
How old were you then?
I guess I'm
18 or younger.
And once I have a child, I realize that it's a lot of things that I could use to about pursuing or been good at, I now am a single parent and I got to redo this thing.
So I need comedy to really work out for me and me and God go into extreme conversation where I'm explaining to him that I'm a crash out dummy if he don't send me a lifeline like I need something
I can hold on to
Before I had left, Florida
I did stand up one time because we was trying to get in the club
I didn't have ID so I said I was a comedian they end up having me do five minutes
I kept that in my head that I had done that when we get to Oklahoma
They're having a competition
for stand-up, and if you win, you get to go out on the road
with Jeff Foxworthy and Dan Whitney,
who was Larry the Cable Guy, and Richard Jenney,
and these great comics, you get to open for them.
And once I did that, I realized, okay, as a comedian,
I'm like way behind schedule.
I started this too late. All the funny guys are already funny and no names.
Like, how am I going to progress? So I realized that I I do better with a white audience than I do with a black audience. And I'm not sure why that's occurring, but the white audience likes me more.
That's interesting.
So when I moved to Sacramento,
it's because Sacramento has a white
and a black audience almost 50-50.
That's almost the makeup of Sacramento.
So I live in Sacramento for two years
until I get to the point where I am equally as funny
if the room is black as I get to the point where I am equally as funny if
the room is black as I am if the room is white. That's not enough. Now I need to
be one of the good ones when it comes to black comics. So now I have to move to
Oakland and that's what lands me in Oakland for three years, once I have dominated
male black comedy in Oakland to my liking,
now I'm prepared to go to Los Angeles now. Now I know you can't throw me any curve balls.
If it's a white audience, if it's a black audience,
no matter what they are, I'm prepared to deal
with all of the audiences.
Do you write jokes according to the audience that you're going to be in front of or is your joke universal?
Well, in the beginning, I part of my framework is that I'm tailoring every show to this audience.
OK. And that's how I was able to show my range and show that I was better than
my competitors is that I'm Cat Williams, but I was still doing clean comedy. So I was still going
to churches and doing 45 minutes of stand up at the church with no curse words, no sex, drug
material, no, none of that, just straight stand up. And then I was doing everything else.
And I had the regular club. Yeah, that was that was the range is that where when in Rome,
do as the Romans do. So that's how I started. But as you begin to get better, you begin to be able
to speak to your entire fan base. And that's really what's
been helpful is that I've been having the same conversation with my fan base for 12 comedy
specials. Is that what set Cat Williams apart? Is your range is that you can do a comedy,
do 45 minutes in the church. I can go to a comedy club in front of 250 or I can go into arena with 15,000.
That's range because everybody can't do that, Kat.
Well, if that's what range is called, then then then, yeah, it's range.
But I I like the people I'm talking to.
You see what I'm saying? So it's not like it can't be condescending
because I'm talking to my white male friend
when I'm telling that white joke.
When I'm talking about this joke about this black lady,
I know that black lady, that's who I'm talking to.
I'm speaking to this fan base
that I've been speaking to from the beginning.
I already told them what I was on when I first came in.
I told them they was going to come after me.
They was going to cancel me.
They was going to say terrible things about me and try to mess my life up.
I said that coming in to stand up.
I'm saying it in my life.
So you knew what it was going to be?
It has to be.
I know I'm going into the belly of the beast.
How could I be naive?
I know that I'm going into Satan's playground, but I'm trying to be so good that you got to bring me in so close that I can see who's doing what and what's going on in there.
In San Francisco, you joined the nation.
I was ever in San Francisco. I was in Oakland.
You was in Oakland. Did you join the nation? Is that?
I was ever in San Francisco. I was in Oakland. You was in Oakland. Did you join the nation? Is that?
Yeah. Minister, Honorable Minister Farrakhan and I have an extremely close relationship. He refers to me as one of his sons. So, yeah, I spent a particular period of time.
period of time. Let me explain. Yes. Because my particular background was already religious and super strict. Right. I didn't find out about other religions by reading about them.
I went to their religion. I don't want to learn from Jewish people from outside. I want to be in a synagogue. I want to I don't want to learn about Muslim people from I want to be in a mosque.
I don't want to hear about the Baptist or the Pentecostal. I want to go to their church and see.
And so that was the religious discovery that I was on through that period in my life.
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