Words and Images by DeWayne Rogers
It wouldn’t take long. In fact, he virtually guaranteed it. Funnyman Katt Williams was so sure that he would open up in his cover interview for rolling out, that he guaranteed that by the end of our time together, my perception of him would be completely altered. To top things off, Williams even upped the ante by saying that all of this could be done in five questions. Well, I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge, so I decided to take him to task. The end result? Well I’ll let you decide for yourself, but let’s just say that the joke was on me.
What truths have you uncovered during your time in Hollywood?
Hollywood is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. There are a lot more dynamics than I was initially prepared for, and I’m sure that’s gotta be the same with anybody who comes into the entertainment business. All of that has made me just want to do better. I did 15 projects this year. So if you can imagine how hard it was to do 15 projects, raise your kids, have a personal life, have outside businesses, go to jail, sign three deals, [one with Dreamworks, one with Sony Screen Gems and one with Our Stories Films] do an MTV roast, have a show on BET, and do two movies, and do all of that in the same year. When that is the case, you have to do what you have to do. And what you have to do is step up to the plate every single time, and swing for the fence. I know nothing else.
So what is that process like for you? In theory, it’s good to swing for the fence every single time, but I’m quite sure that you miss sometimes.
There is no process. I already told you what my mind-set was. The process has nothing to do with hits or misses. The process has to do with every time I step up to the plate, I am hitting a home run. That has nothing to do with what happens after that. But what I’m telling you is that I’m either scoring a home run, or I’m picking myself up off of the ground because I swung so hard that it spun me around. And I will accept either of those as the answer. So every time I step up to the plate, I either pick myself up off the ground, or I Barry Bonds them, because there’s nothing else for me to do.
So it seems like even from this home run analogy, that you’re doing a lot of self-evaluation. Who are you including in this process? Do you have good people around you that can honestly evaluate you, or do you just solely depend on your own perception?
It can’t ever be just with you. That’s what you’ll find out if you’re in Hollywood long enough. Just trying to be better, you find out that it is just not possible for you to complete yourself in the entertainment business. Because you’re constantly needing assistance to do what it is that you need to do. Your whole life you’ve been able to dress yourself, but you can’t dress yourself in Hollywood. Why can’t you dress yourself? Well, there are certain rules that you must abide by. There are certain colors you don’t wear, and certain things you don’t do — but if you’ve never been in this environment before, then you have no clue what the rules are. So as a visitor to this world of entertainment, I just try to use my same grind, and try to let those same principles that I learned before this carry me through this.
You just mentioned the grind. You recently embarked upon a 100-city comedy tour recently. By any standards that’s a lot of traveling and performing. How do you get up, and stay energized for all of those shows?
I never go down. I step up to the plate, and I do what makes home runs happen. Everybody does things for different reasons. I have eight children who go to college because of what I do. That’s eight million dollars if they go to bad colleges, and that’s 15 million dollars if they go to good colleges. And unfortunately for me, my kids are smart, so that means that daddy needs to make 15 million dollars. So I don’t play any games. And even when people think that I’m playing, I’m not, because I know that it’s going to take 15 million dollars for my children to get an appropriate education. So while other people are goofing about, I’m standing there at home plate waiting for the next pitch so I can hit my next home run. And that’s why I can’t stop, because most people only have one child. The national average is two, so I have to work four times harder than the average American. And not only do I do it, but I’m proud to do it.
Some people are really funny in person, but it doesn’t seem to translate on stage …
Let me cut you off right there. That happens in acting, too. If you ask how many people think that they could be an actor, the numbers are staggering. I bet if you just polled 100 random people, 90 people are going to tell you that they think they have what it takes to be an actor or an actress. Because real skill in acting is that you make it look easy. It’s the same with comedy. It’s not easy to be on that stage. But it’s my job to make it look that way. And you know you’re right, some things and some people don’t translate on stage. And I don’t understand why things work that way sometimes. There’s no reason why Owen Wilson should be able to have a messed up nose, but still make it to the height of entertainment. One of the hottest actors in the world has a nose that goes to the left. Now for deformed people everywhere this has to excite them, because they have to be thinking, ‘Well, if Owen can make it, then I can make it.’ The same goes for the actor that is a midget, and was in all of those movies. He was probably in 110 movies, and to be able to do that and be shorter than me — that’s amazing. So you know I factor all of that in. I’m a success story; everybody in the business is their own success story. But that doesn’t mean that just because you see us, that what you do is going to necessarily translate as well. Just because you are a funny comedian, doesn’t mean that you can be a good actor. And one day, people will finally realize that just because you sell drugs, it doesn’t make you a rapper … [long pause] And that’s all I have to say on that.
