Katt Williams claims that he’s quitting stand up comedy.
“I’m just gonna go ahead and announce my retirement from standup, I’m kinda done,” Williams said. “I’ve discussed it with my kids, I wasn’t gonna do in the middle of a Seattle street, I was going to go to Los Angeles and do it in the offices of ICM or LiveNation,” he said in an interview with KOMO TV.
Considering his track record of late, a break may be just what he needs. Instead of rehearsing his routine, reading movie scripts or booking shows, this is what he has allegedly done in just the past couple weeks:
Led police on a high-speed motorized tricycle chase.
Got in a fight at a bar and threw a cigarette in a woman’s eye.
This is either the most elaborate joke set up ever, or Williams is taking notes from the Lindsay Lohan book on how to ruin your career.
Never has the troubled black comedian had so much in common with a skinny white girl with a rap sheet from Long Island.
They both had a very promising start to their careers, only to jeopardize it with some really bizarre behavior.
No doubt drugs and alcohol was a factor for the two. And if Katt Williams isn’t careful, his career will suffer the same as Lindsay Lohan’s has – a laughingstock has-been with a horrible professional reputation.
Just add up the sum of all of Williams’ antics these past few months, which, outside of the above also include: several gun violations, burglary and criminal trespassing charges, being arrested for fighting in an Oakland, California club, and attempting to fight at least three audience members at his own comedy show.
I repeat: Katt Williams tried to get in a fight with his own fans. No surprises here, those disgruntled fans are now suing him.
Right now it’s not looking good for Williams. That said, comics are known to be somewhat moody and unstable people.
Williams is certainly not the first comic to go off the deep end — Richard Pryor infamously set himself on fire while freebasing, Tracy Morgan spent much of last year apologizing for homophobic hate speech, and Martin Lawrence could probably teach him a thing or two about avoiding the pitfalls and traps of Hollywood.
Though Martin Lawrence has painfully clawed his way back to some semblance of success, it certainly ain’t what it used to be for the former TV star, and perhaps never will be. Not to mention that Lawrence didn’t have half the legal troubles that Williams is racking up – with as many court dates as Katt Williams is going to have scheduled, he probably won’t even have time to rescue his professional reputation, let alone actually work.
Take it from Lindsay, Katt: Once you start down that road of legal troubles and bizarre behavior, it is a long detour from the career of your dreams. Eventually people stop taking chances on working with you. You become a paparazzi goldmine of foibles and follies. Your fanbase dwindles to a bunch of crazies and people who feel sorry for you. Your talent starts getting referred to in the past tense, because “you had so much promise.” Your career becomes beyond repair.
Those who know and love Katt Williams as a performer appreciate his brashly honest sense of humor. However, his erratic actions are moving out of the odd-but-humorous category, and into the what-in the-world-is wrong-with-him subdivision.
Perhaps it is time Katt Williams to retire for a while.
He needs to drink some water. Maybe lay off his beloved marijuana (or whatever drug of choice might be fueling these bad decisions).
There’s only but so much more opportunity for Katt Williams to salvage his career, or he risks becoming the black male Lindsay Lohan.
Follow Kia Miakka Natisse on Twitter at @miakka_natisse