Excerpt From Chapter 1 The Night The Lights Went Out
It was Atlanta, Georgia, October 2008. This was to be Katt Williams’ third outing as host of the very popular and profitable BET Hip Hop Awards. He'd raised his price based on his previous success manning of this annual event whose stats he could quote in his sleep. With Katt Williams at the helm the show got that rare boost of garnering more viewers in reruns than in initial airing. He was break room conversation. If you missed him the first time your friends and co-workers recited his highlights with such zeal that you'd correct your gross oversight and catch him the second time around. The man knew his worth when it came to this show - maybe a bit too much.
Success is the first cousin to hubris and Katt was getting acquainted with his new relative. The star studded line-up even included the addition of one of his own Kattpack label artist, Lady of Rage just to keep him happy. All systems were a go for another grand slam performance. Katt just had to show up, read the teleprompter and be funny. The second and third parts he had down to a science. It was the first part that he seemed to have trouble finessing.
The 3rd Annual awards show felt different than the other two. I'd come aboard for the first one as little more than an after-thought. Katt had his birthday party at his home in Woodland Hills and invited myself a string of comedians to share in the festivities. Earthquake was there along with Katt's touring mates, Luenell and Melanie Comarcho. We smoked weed, drank liquor, ate cake and listened to Katt lay out his plans for an all-out takeover of comedy. He was going to go back on tour with the girls and Red Grant. He was going to mount another tour simultaneously with Earthquake as the headliner. He was going to record a comedy DVD and a rap CD. And he was going to use me as his writer. I liked the plan.
All the big guns were at that show: Snoop, Kanye, Jim Jones, Lil Wayne, etc. Katt knew 'em all and talked like he'd known them all his life.
Then again that's how everybody treated Katt. Fame
makes you get friendly real quick and Katt was famous; the comic with an honorary hip hop pass. I didn't know at the time he'd also stepped on a few rappers toes in the process, but even if I did it wouldn't have mattered. In reality this was just another writing gig.
To most egotistical comedians writing for another one of the ilk can be a thankless position; that is unless you have your own identity. Paul Mooney will forever be known as Richard Pryor's writer, but he's also known as Paul Mooney. Well, I was Katt's writer AND D'Militant. That part meant I could lose my laminated credentials and still circulate around the venue. It also didn't hurt that I used to work at BET.
The trip to Atlanta also gave me a chance to reacquaint myself with Katt. I figured the only reason
he'd hired me was because I'd written for other name comedians and a book on comedy somaybe I knew what I was doing. I definitely earned my pay. While Katt played video games I wrote. While Katt relaxed and got high – I wrote. While Katt enjoyed his time with son,Micah – I wrote even more.
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