Katt Williams appeared on “Club Shay Shay” with Shannon Sharpe on Jan. 3, and the comedian again accused Cedric The Entertainer of stealing his best joke from him for the 2000 comedy special “The Original Kings of Comedy.”
Williams claimed that he was performing the joke at “The Comedy Club” in 1998 when “The Neighborhood” actor came in and congratulated him on his performance. The 52-year-old comedian added that Cedric The Entertainer was performing the same joke two years later in “The Original Kings of Comedy.” Williams first made the accusation publically in 2021 during an episode of “The Morning Hustle,” but Cedric denied he’d stolen the joke.
Williams discussed the alleged stolen joke — which was about white people traveling to space to get away from Black people — again during the latest episode of “Club Shay Shay.”
“Cedric told you, when you asked him, ‘Did you steal Katt Williams’ joke?’ He said, ‘It don’t line up.’ How it don’t line up? He thought that I was just a no-name comedian and he could take this joke, and nobody would know.”
Williams went on to say he had already performed the joke on BET’s “ComicView” twice before.
“It had done so well on BET’s ‘ComicView’ that they had made it part of the commercial,” he continued. “So, part of the commercial of ‘Make sure you tune into BET’ was you seeing me doing this joke. So, this is not just a random joke, this is my very best joke and it’s my last joke and it’s my closing joke.”
Williams added that Cedric saw him perform the joke at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles back in 1998 and even congratulated him.
“Cedric comes to The Comedy Store,” said Williams. “He watches me in the audience, he comes backstage, he tells me what a great job I did and how much he loves the joke. Two years later, he’s doing that as his last joke on ‘Kings of Comedy’ and he’s doing it verbatim. He’s just changed my car into a spaceship.”
Katt Williams’ Joke vs Cedric The Entertainer’s Joke
— Evil Joe (@JoeMahgi) January 3, 2024
Thoughts pic.twitter.com/RKnQo5eOwR
Williams added that he’d given “The Soul Man” actor a pass “for a decade” after he apologized, but after he denied stealing the joke years later, Williams became angry all over again.
“As I stand before you, Shannon, I woulda bust Cedric’s stomach,” said Williams. “There was nothing that would’ve kept me from one of these,” as he made a hitting motion. “Are you kidding me? Why would you downplay me like that? Why did I give you a pass if you were just gonna lie?”
Williams went on to joke that Cedric looks like a “walrus” and dragged him for being an “entertainer” who can’t sing or dance. He also roasted him for his comedy specials being “so bad” that they aren’t even available on Netflix or Tubi.
Cedric denied the accusations on Instagram back in 2021 and said the space joke was his.
“Look, I have no idea what this brother is talking about,” he said. “That joke is over 30 years old, close to 30-something years old. I did ‘The Kings of Comedy’ in 1999, probably had been doing that joke six, seven years before that. I don’t even know if Katt was doing comedy then.”
“So, you know, again, He’s a talented brother. I have no idea what he’s talking about. I’ve never seen Katt do a space shuttle joke,” he claimed. “That may be something he believes is true. I’ve written a lot of jokes, and I’ve had a lot of comedians steal my jokes as well, so I understand if he feels slighted by that, but that’s my joke. That’s my joke, dog.”
After catching wind of Katt Williams’ allegations again, Cedric took to the comments section of The Shade Room to address the topic.
“Revisionist History, regardless of whatever Katt’s opinion, my career can’t be reduced to One Joke Katt Williams claims as his. I been [in] over 40 movies, my specials and brand speak volumes for[who] I am. The ppl I have put on including ‘Katt in the Hat’. At the Gibson Amphitheater,” read Cedric’s comment. He then went on to say, “And all that tough talk! Is corny af I’m grown a— man and none of that s—t gonna go like you think. You do you and I got this over here.”
