Last night’s TV: Katt Williams, Patrice Oneal

On Sunday, Comedy Central gave Katt Williams the broadcast debut for his 2007 stand-up film, American Hustle, an interesting choice for Williams and his crew considering it meant adding all the blurs and beeps of Comedy Central’s censors. It’s essentially a stand-up concert, taped the previous New Year’s Eve in Chicago, folded into a road trip with his opening acts, Red Grant, Melanie Comarcho and Luenell — the latter of whom you may recall vamping it up onscreen previously as Borat’s prostitute. An opening sketch includes a dream sequence with Jeremy Piven and a pitch meeting that allows Williams to parody recent movies such as 300 and March of the Penguins and even get in a dig on the fact that Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence and Tyler Perry all have worn fat suits for the sake of major movie success. Williams gives all of his openers a chance to showcase their stand-up, and when he arrives onscreen, he shows how charm and energy can go a long way in the entertainment business. He told the crowd that if they were expecting jokes from Pimp Chronicles, they weren’t getting them because he didn’t them to have to pay to hear the same bits twice. He may not be tall. But his stand-up walks the walk and talks the talk, even if that means not giving up on a word just because Michael Richards messed up.

Patrice Oneal on Def Comedy Jam? There he was last night on my HBO, and I’m not sure any crowd or setting or anything can faze this guy. So so raw. So so brutally funny. Don’t have a video to link, otherwise I would.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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