Katt Williams covered every topic from Donald Trump to El Chapo to Taco Bell in his new hour-long comedy special, “Katt Williams: Great America,” which premiered on Netflix on Jan. 16.
Williams began performing at a young age in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio. In addition to being a comedian, he is an actor, singer and rapper. His comedy has evolved to focus mainly on politics and current events.
Williams has been arrested a multitude of times — something he jokes about during the special. “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I can’t catch the flu. A lot of y’all don’t know every time you go to jail you get a flu shot … I can’t legally catch the flu until 2026 I think it is.” His TV credits include “NYPD Blue” and “The Tracy Morgan Show.”
The stand-up special, performed at the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida last year, opens with Williams bursting onstage to the beat of “Bad and Boujee” by Migos, and he is welcomed by an enthusiastic, lively audience.
Williams’ attire is flashy and over the top. He sports a gold lamé and black patterned suit, gold sunglasses and sneakers, and holds a shiny gold microphone. The set is equally intriguing: It looks a lot like the Oval Office. In the center sits a large wooden desk flanked on each side by red velvet sofas sitting on a large blue oval rug. On the end of each sofa is a large, gold lion statue. In the middle of the stage are two gold stools and on the walls above the sofas there are two portraits of Williams himself. Williams puts on a physical performance, pacing across the stage and using the stools and microphone as props as he acts out a lot of his stories.
Williams draws a diverse crowd, proven when he asks different groups of people to applaud when he describes them. “Younger than 25” elicited wild applause and the older crowd had a lesser, but still boisterous, response. His unfiltered comedy has the audience laughing a good portion of the time.
This special is not for everyone. Williams uses excessive profanity and discusses Viagra for seven and a half minutes in great detail and very graphically. He also has some choice advice for everyone: “Take this little piece of advice. Add it to your life … Do more f**king … It’ll change your life.” He goes on for quite some time about the ways in which it will change your life.
During the first portion of the show he spent 10 minutes doing jokes specific to Jacksonville, Florida, which, if you are not from there, would probably sail over your head.
However, Williams hits the mark on topical issues including protesting and global warming:
“Snowmen used to last for four, five months. Now, winter is gone. Winter used to be from September to April. Then winter was from November to March. Now winter is just in Alaska and New York, that’s it. Nobody else has seen a winter at all.”
And President Trump: “I thought for sure Trump was gonna have a sense of humor… you announced your presidency on Comedy Central… ”
His jokes were not all political, though — he made some witty cracks about fast food and aging as well. All in all, the show was topical and high spirited and very raunchy.
For me, this performance was pretty shocking, and it wasn’t my favorite way to spend an hour, simply because of the graphic content and the relentless profanity. It was uncomfortable for me, and I would imagine it would be for many others.
However, he does have a loyal following, and the audience in the Florida Theatre responded to him enthusiastically and clearly enjoyed themselves at his show. Perhaps it played better live in the theater, with lots of energy in the air, than it did in the Netflix special.