Katt Williams' Fall and Rise
By Ryan Smith
The jaw-dropping success of Katt Williams' wild ride of an appearance on Shannon Sharpe's Club Shay Shay podcast started the new year with one clear message: the veteran comedian has far more than nine lives.
In a conversation spanning almost three hours, Williams, 52, discussed his family, career, legal issues, grievances with other comedians, and this year's presidential election, among many other subjects. He also shared claims so wild that it was forgivable to expect a punchline (the assertion that his and Ludacris' fates in Hollywood were decided at a meeting with "the Illuminati" is a bona fide highlight; Ludacris dismissed the allegations via a freestyle rap).
The plethora of quotable, meme-worthy moments proved to be social media gold. In the almost two months since the interview's January 3 release on YouTube, it has pulled in more than 60 million views on the platform. Countless snippets of Williams waxing lyrical on a range of issues during his cognac-fueled chat with NFL legend Sharpe have become viral hits on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.