The short-lived drama that was stirred up by comedian Katt Williams claiming Cedric The Entertainer stole some of his material remains a hot topic. So much so that “King of Comedy” D.L. Hughley dropped his take on things while speaking with “The Breakfast Club” co-hosts Charlamagne tha God and Angela Yee this week.
In short, Hughley really could not care less about allegations of joke stealing because, according to him, “everybody steals in the beginning.” But when it comes to his longtime friend, he’s inclined to speak up on his behalf.
“It’s not the jokes that make things funny, nobody ever broke because of a joke,” said Hughley. “Nobody. Nobody ever broke because of a joke, they all break because of the personality. Katt is a brilliant comic; no matter what he says, it’s going to be pretty brilliant. Ced is a brilliant comic, and in the end they’re two different people with two different perspectives.”
“The D.L. Hughley Show” host even went as far as to reveal he is no stranger to being called out for swiping jokes. “The first time I ever started doing comedy here in Los Angeles, Tommy Davidson said, ‘Hey, that’s my joke,’ and he was right,” recalled The New York Times bestselling author. He admitted at the time he had no idea the joke belonged to Davidson, insisting that the material had been floating around parlors, so he found a way to deliver it with his own twist. However, he later admitted he realized the joke did in fact originate from the “In Living Color” alum and apologized — years later.
But as it pertains to the Williams claims, Hughley said he’s never known the “Steve Harvey Show” actor to move in any malicious way, and, in the end, no comedian can claim that all of their material is original or not inspired by someone else’s punchy jokes.
“What’s so insulting, stop pretending like you did something that somebody didn’t do to you. I don’t care who you are and how great you become, tell me a comic who says he’s never stolen a joke and I’ll show you a liar, that’s ridiculous,” he added. “Steal from me all you want, you can’t steal me.”
His fans applauded him for freely speaking on the topic.
“Finally a comedian speaking the truth”
“Facts its da sell…everybody sell jokes differently”
Elsewhere in the interview, Hughley got real about his stint of dealing with a COVID-19 diagnosis last year.
“Honestly I never was worried about dying, I was worried about never being the same.” He explained that the residual “brain fog” and exhaustion were both enough to make him contemplate no longer living.
“There were some days I was like I’m not going to do this forever, like, I’ll take myself out of here if I gotta do this forever,” Hughley said. “Imagine being trapped inside your body every day.”
He revealed that while a year has passed since he contracted the sometimes deadly virus, only in the past two months has he truly begun to feel like himself.
