Photo: Club Shay Shay via YouTube
Do you remember the last dance? The must-see documentary event of early 2020 where Michael Jordan, reflecting on his final NBA championship campaign and legacy, captivated the world by finally breaking away from his former teammates, rivals and the headlines that followed him throughout his career? Imagine if “The Last Dance” consisted of just one long interview, shifted the focus from basketball to stand-up, and swapped Jordan for comedy legend Katt Williams.
On Jan. 3, the internet stopped dead in its tracks when Williams sat down for a nearly three-hour tour-de-force interview with ESPN First Take correspondent Shannon Sharpe on his podcast Club Shay Shay. “The reason I had to come is because you created a safe place for the truth to be told,” Williams said at the start of the interview. “And I've seen all these humble comedians come here and show disrespect in your face and tell you straight lies.” Was he there to “set the record straight”? Sharpe asked in response. Apparently so.
During the course of the interview, Williams makes outrageous claims (he said that Harvey Weinstein offered to “suck my penis in front of all my people at my agency”); expresses personal grievances with about half a dozen comedians, including Cedric the Entertainer (who allegedly stole one of his jokes) and Michael Blackson (a comedian who doesn't get “booed”); covers the production of Friday After Next in detail; and dismisses rumors about his private life. He may not always be the most reliable narrator, and there are moments—like when he calls Kim Kardashian a “whore” or fixates too much on which male comedians have worn dresses in movies—that raise eyebrows. But this is more of a situation where you can buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Even before the interview's YouTube premiere was complete, it went viral on Twitter. inspirational memes, jokesAnd Fact checking; provoked reactions from some of Williams' targets; Sparks discourse about how young black comedians rarely receive the attention that these older black comedians continue to receive; and much more. To get the full effect, you have to watch the podcast episode in its entirety. However, below is a brief selection of the various highlights, apparent accusations and possible slanders.
About Kevin Hart: “In 15 years in Hollywood, no one in Hollywood has any memory of a sold-out Kevin Hart show, there was a line for him, or ever getting a standing ovation in any comedy club. When he got here he already had his deals. Have we heard of a comedian who came to LA and in his first year in LA had his own sitcom on network television and made his own movie called Soul Plane that he directed? No. We have never heard of this before or after this person. What do you think a plant is? Maybe people don't understand the definitions of these words. He just filmed his documentary with Chris Rock in which he shows you that he spent his entire comedy career on the East Coast. So how could he do the same thing here in Los Angeles at the same time? It did not happen.
For five years, every single film Kevin Hart made sat on my desk. I was just like, “Can we get some of this Stepin Fetchit shit out there and then I can do it?” It doesn't necessarily have to be gay because I'm not gay. That doesn't have to be funny, does it?' And when I say that and they say, “Oh yeah, no problem,” and then they give it to this other guy and let him just do it the way it was and act like I'm a bad person because I My standard continues to stand.
They tell you there are no gatekeepers, but we keep seeing the same person opening the gate. Did Kevin not let Tiffany? [Haddish] In? …What do you mean there are no gatekeepers? There are a hundred gates out here. Everyone I saw had a Guardian.” (January 4th Hart continued to answer Williams Twitter in a post promoting his upcoming Netflix film Lift. “I need to increase the anger beyond the champion,” he wrote. “It's honestly sad.”)
About Cedric, the entertainer: “Cedric is sitting here telling you why he’s not a movie star. He looks like a walrus… He can't even take his arms off his stomach. Here I sit: “Why am I not a movie star?” He never wrote anything! Remember: When Cedric the Entertainer starts, he's supposed to sing, dance, and tell jokes. That’s why he’s called “the entertainer.” We found out he can't sing, can't dance, can'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 they're not available on Netflix or Tubi.” (Cedric the Entertainer responded to Williams' comments on Instagram on January 3, saying, “Revisionist history, regardless of Katt's opinion, my career cannot be based on a joke that Katt Williams claims for himself.”)
About Kanye West: “I suspect we are pretty terrible people when we say someone has a mental illness and then watch what they do. If you say someone has special needs, why should you pay attention to them and hold them accountable like everyone else? Wouldn't you rate them on a curve? Because I mean, what are we reacting to? You're the one who put him in a position where he thought he was God and could call himself Yeezus. And you're the one who told the man who writes music lyrics that he's a genius. It's you. So what do you expect? The guy married a whore! I mean, I married her because she was one. Not, he didn't know. He understood that he wanted this. He approved of it. He wanted to build his family on that. If what I'm saying isn't true, then how did she end up with Pete Davidson? And what if you weren't even good enough for Pete and he left you? What does that mean the product was? No, I don't support or denigrate Kanye because I don't understand what we want from him. I don’t know why we look at a basketball player and say, ‘He hasn’t scored a hockey goal all season!’ He doesn’t play hockey!”
About Harvey Weinstein: “They canceled me because I talked 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 should I do? He did all of this. I think I'm the only black person in the script. I get there – there are three other black people. Huh. I told him “No.” What are you all doing?”
About Steve Harvey: “You couldn’t be a movie star. There are 30,000 new screenplays in Hollywood every year. None of them asked for a country black guy who couldn't talk well and didn't look like Mr. Potato Head.
Steve told you he stopped doing stand-up because he had seven TV shows. The only problem was when he quit stand-up, he didn't have those seven TV shows. He quit stand-up because he got into a comedy fight called “The Championship of Stand-up Comedy” with one Katt Williams in front of 10,000 people in Detroit and lost. Because Katt Williams said he was actually bald and that it was a wig. And I went in and that's why he couldn't get up. Imagine him coming to tell you another story where he got so big and it was Bernie [Mac] And it's their fault because they wanted to be movie stars. What? They called Ocean's Eleven to get this part. What do you mean you didn't want to be a movie star?
That's like Steve Harvey telling people he used to be homeless. This is my story. That's not his story. Steve Harvey was never homeless. Mark Curry toured with him 25 years ago. He earned $3,000 per show and played five shows a week. They just tell the stories: “Thanks to my wife, I am where I am.” That’s what you said about the first wife! Have you forgotten that? You told us it was her. Then you married someone who “thinks like a man.” What are you talking about? They think they can rewrite history.”
At Rickey Smiley's claims that Williams' role in Friday After Next was meant for him: “I don’t know why he would lose a child and go on the air and start lying. That's why people believe in rituals right there.
Your story is about Rickey Smiley, who couldn't even say curse words because he had a Christian following… He wanted to play the pimp? Why didn't you ask him why he played a woman in more films than a man? They wouldn't let an athlete who took steroids talk about one of the greats. Rickey Smiley can't act because Rickey Smiley can't act.
He was so outrageous that I put it in my contract that I would no longer work with Rickey Smiley unless he wore a dress. So what was Rickey Smiley's next film? Was it the first Sunday? Did he wear a dress in it? You can bet on it. It's in my contract. He's a credible actor. He and Tyler Perry can't play man to save their lives. They play good women, and I believe that the best actor should play the best role.” (On January 4, Smiley responded to Williams on his radio show The Rickey Smiley Morning Show. He got his former manager to confirm that he Before Williams auditioned for the role of Money Mike, he clarified that he was glad Williams got the role because it “made it funnier” and there was “no way I could have played that role like that.” He said he didn't want to make derogatory comments about Williams because he didn't like the way Williams' remarks made his “children” feel, adding, “There's nothing but love here.”
About Chris Tucker: “The Chris Tucker we have now is Epstein Island Chris Tucker, not Smokey.
Chris Tucker didn't want to be the poster boy for smoking weed. He doesn't smoke weed like that. He in church. He is Michael Jackson's best friend. Michael Jackson called it Christmas. Have you ever met a man who gave you a nickname like that?”
About Diddy: “I came into this business and said I was going to expose it. When I talked about Michael Jackson, when I talked about R. Kelly, I got canceled because of those things. Because “Why would you talk about another black person?” Race is not where the line is drawn. It is the side of God and the other side. And we don’t care about the other side – period. Period. All these big deviants will raise hell in 2024. It's about them all. It doesn't matter if you're Diddy or whoever you are. TD Jakes – every one of them. All lies will be exposed.”
At Wanda Smith: “You can’t lie to me about being an inferior comedian. I will destroy you, and I will never call you your name. I will never say anything disrespectful about people who look like you. It's a very fine line that I have to call. But this lady is trying to embarrass me in front of a predominantly gay fan base. That's why it was canceled. Gay people don't take kindly to you calling me gay in a derogatory way. Gays don't see this as derogatory. So why are you trying to shame me with something in a community I don't belong to? There are no gays saying I belong there or have been there. But I don't hate it over there, and how dare you?
I'm not trying to insult black women with short hair. I'm not trying to insult burly women. I'm not trying to upset other comedians. I'm not trying to do any of that and I'm qualified to do none of that and gut you anyway because I'm smart enough to know to say you have gnarly fingers because I know your Limited education means, that you don't know what the word means and therefore can't possibly respond to it. You’re not sure of the meaning.”
About Faizon Love: “I only use comedians who are funnier than me. Anyone who ever told you otherwise was a big fat faizon liar. There is no one like me in the industry… Faizon said that getting a Netflix special was easy. I have 12 special offers. Guess how many Faizon has? Zero. Why is he allowed to have conversations about real stand-up people? We don’t let people who drink juice discuss real athletes.”
About Michael Blackson: “Most comedians don’t get booed enough. So it happens that Michael Blackson, who is a real African, puts on a fake African accent.
If you are the African king of comedy sir, there are actually comedians doing comedy in Africa. If you want to say that, you have to go to Africa and start a school. You have to put in some work. And these guys take my advice, change their entire personality, and then hate me for it.” (Blackson replied to Williams in one Series of tweets on January 3, saying in part: “Katt Williams is a very smart dwarf neega, he's targeted the top 10 comedians alive today so we can all respond and make him relevant again.”)
About Jonathan Majors: “I didn't want to be with a white woman because I was afraid she would send me running into the streets like Jonathan Majors. Not because I didn't like white women. I think white women are just as amazing as any other women, but I'm not going to pretend I'm not afraid of them. I have a reason to be afraid. You could be Kang the Conqueror and they could tear your rabid ass down in two weekends.
First, they traveled around the world for two years, telling any women who would listen that this was a handsome Negro. Since when? When did you start liking a big nose? When did you all like a small head and a big jaw? When? That looks like my daddy. When you start to like my daddy? You like facial features like that on black people?! If this ugly n – – – – looks good, then all n – – – – – look good.
Thank you, Meagan Good. God bless you as you come to rescue this slave. If he had had to be there alone, he would have gotten all four: guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. It just came in so beautiful that they had to throw half of it away, God bless his heart.”
About Joe Rogan: “Joe doesn’t want me [on his show] … Joe has six comedians who were never funny that he wants to push out.” (To update: On January 4, Rogan responded to Williams Twitter: “I love Katt. He's one of my favorite comics and I'd love to have him there. We talk about him all the time. If he's down, I'll make it happen.”)
On Ludacris: “There was a crossroads where we were both invited to an Illuminati event and it had to be one or the other of us and decisions had to be made. So it was the two of us; we were the same. One of us had to cut off all our hair and couldn't do the sideburn thing with the ends anymore. And the next person, they said, would get $200 million because they would pay him $10 million per movie to make 20 movies. And that's how the conversation came about. It turned out that one of those people was Ludacris and the other person was Katt Williams.” (To update: On January 4, Ludacris responded to Williams a video freestyle he posted on Twitter. In it, he rapped that “he was never an Illuminati” and said, “Addiction is on the rise, comedians are taking the temperature.”
About Martin Lawrence: “Martin tried to put my first dress on me. When he had to take his break, he said to me: “Katt, when I come back, I need you.” You are my young partner; You are my brother in comedy. When I come back, just promise me that my next film will be Me and You. We will do it together. “We're going to do some buddy cop shit.” I said, “Martin, you took my fucking word, my n—-. Do what you have to do. When you come back, I'll be in your movie. Don't stumble. I don't need to see the script or anything.' You know, we walk into this office and this idiot is pulling out Big Momma's House 2. I almost died. And I got to read this script in front of all these good white people who want me to put on a dress with him.”
About Taraji P. Henson: “It was the saddest thing ever, because imagine being in your genre – your sub-niche, whatever that is. Imagine being in your line, imagine being at the top of your line, to the point where if they don't take you for the role, there aren't three black actresses they say may that they are greater than you, we will admit this. Imagine being at that point and having to humble yourself and say, “They're not paying me, and they're not raising my salary because I'm doing better or nothing's happening.” To them, it doesn't matter if I'm famous and people know me or not. They want to pay me exactly what they're paying the new girl and I've been suffering for this for a decade now and I just accept it. I was just cheering, but I just have to say that's wrong.' We should be ashamed. But this is a country where we don't pay teachers and then say the children are the most important thing. You can't have it both ways! … That’s what period [we’re] in. It's the time when victims can say, 'You've been hurting me for a long time, and I just didn't say anything.'”
This post has been updated with responses to Williams' quotes.