Katt Williams stand-up comeback hits another speed bump in Ontario

Developing…

The Katt Williams home page asks in big bold all-caps: “WILL KATT EVER DO STAND-UP AGAIN?” The truth, however, is that he was supposed to be performing all this weekend at the Ontario Improv in southern California. Supposed to be performing. What really happened? Williams performed Friday night, and according to at least one audience member, was inconsistent onstage, blogging: “There were funny bits, sure, there were smart-psycho genius funny jokes, but his morose cadence and Presence with a capital ‘P’ were lethargic at best. The otherwise hyper, motormouth was pausing between bits while the crowd fell into awkward silences.” This audience member alleged audience members began filling the silences with heckles, which briefly energized Williams.

Apparently things got more problematic on Saturday’s first show, because Williams didn’t perform on the second show. Instead, his feature act, Gina Yashere, stepped up to the plate. Yashere told fans that she had to do an hour on one earlier show because Williams showed up to the venue late, then reported she was the surprise headliner for Saturday’s second show, writing on Twitter and Facebook: “Er… So I’m now the headliner on Katt Williams show.. We’ll see how this goes… Don’t be mad @ me people…” For his part, fellow performer Maronzio Vance suggested that rumors were flying around on Twitter, while adding his two cents on the same feed last night: “Everybody is not a comedian! I mother fucking repeat! Everybody is not a comedian! Every ticket is not a Lottery Ticket into comedy.”

TMZ reported that Williams had become so belligerent toward the early Saturday show audience that the club itself told him to leave and not come back. The TMZ video, however, is inconclusive on Williams’ side of the story, as it shows him outside of the club between shows, trying to talk over the shouts of multiple audience members, including at least one heckler.

Roll it.

Williams told his Twitter followers last week that he planned future stops in Phoenix, California and Ohio.

Sure enough, his next scheduled performance is Aug. 13, 2011, at the Wild 94.9 Comedy Jam 2011 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif. The advertised lineup, with the disclaimer “Performers Subject to Change,” lists Katt Williams, Gabriel Iglesias, Dave Chappelle, Chris Tucker, Jo Koy, Dustin Ybarra, Dov Davidoff. Williams and Chappelle? What could possible go awry?

Williams also is billed for two nights, Aug. 19-20, 2011, at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix.

Were you at the Katt Williams shows this weekend in Ontario? What’s your take on this?

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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4 thoughts on “Katt Williams stand-up comeback hits another speed bump in Ontario

  1. I was there with my husband on Saturday night at the first show. We were highly disappointed with Mr. Williams, although we love him, he was not himself. The other comics were so much better than him. We saw the hecklers and all of the hoopla outside and decided to leave since it was so volatile.

  2. i attended Fridays first show. the mc for the night was a writer for the boondocks he was great. the lady comic from europe did a wonderful job filling in for him showing up late. she was also great. when kat finally got there he was dressed crazy with green hair and some soldier get up. he was not all that funny i thought at first ok a lil ring rust hes gonna shake it off and do his thing…. no he never got up to speed lots of loooong pauses and no punchlines. he mostly talked… just talked about himself being in retirement for 44 months his kid and a couple other random things. felt almost what id imagine a therapist would feel like listening to a patient. when he started getting a lil funny the show was over even though he went about 10 min past his light they gave him. he kept apologizing and said he hoped he was funny. it was horrible epic comedic fail. on the way out everyone in line kept asking was he funny because you all look depressed. im sure we all did. i was suuuuuppppppper disappointed

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