Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Katt Williams: The Last Report’ On Netflix, Believe The Hype, Even When It Comes With A Side Of Beef
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Katt Williams: The Last Report
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Two years after he went mega viral for a podcast appearance calling out big names in entertainment and comedy alike, and followed that up with a live special on Netflix, Katt Williams is back. Have the years, nay decades, of intense spotlight changed him? Yes and no.
The Gist: The public announcer introduces him to the stage as both “the king of underground comedy” and Dr. Katt Williams, which despite the paradox, pretty much sums up the comedian’s status some three decades into a career that has found rise, fall, and rise again to become one of the most talked-about stand-ups of this era.
While he become known for making headlines both good and bad, the past couple of years have found him settling back into a groove, which he shows off here in an hour that includes both pointed barbs at fellow celebrities as well as self-deprecating shots at himself, particularly, as the trailer shows, his attempts to become a farmer?!
What Comedy Special Will It Remind You Of? Although he’s a couple of years older than Dave Chappelle, Williams has tended to come off as more of Chappelle’s scrappy younger brother than an older one. And that’s not meant as a jab about his height or physical stature. Williams tends to tell jokes and make proclamations that would make Chappelle’s toughest bits seem mild by comparison, but somehow Williams always gets away with it.
Photo: Netflix
Memorable Jokes: An opening section of jokes where he simultaneously hypes up women while also making fun of their hygiene is buffeted by a recurring hook from GloRilla’s “Let Her Cook,” which he keeps turning to as he later hits celebrities over their addictions to drugs and/or weight-loss medications. I’m not quite sure what happened between him and fellow comedian Lil Rel Howery on the set of One Of Them Days, but Williams mocked Lil Rel for getting so skinny, “he went down to his baby weight.” Complete with photos of Lil Rel plastered on the big screen behind the stage. He also jokes that Oprah looks like a 12-year-old boy now.
But then again, he’ll also turn the tables onto himself, acknowledging he couldn’t bear passing kidney stones, and comparing the names of new medications to his possible nicknames growing up.
About 22 minutes into the set, he reflects on the aftermath of his Club Shay Shay interview with Shannon Sharpe that broke the Internet two years ago. Williams cracks he can no longer sneak into the “Illuminati” meetings; hence this might be his titular “Last Report.” Not that that’ll stop him from spreading his own theories on who shot JFK, the importance of cholesterol, and what he thinks about fluoride, too.
Our Take: Speaking of that Shannon Sharpe interview, Williams reflects now: “I thought they was just gonna laugh it off.” When his words caused an uproar, he said he wanted to go back and find out what he’d exactly alleged and about whom.
In retrospect, he feels no guilt about alleging an unnamed comedy legend had suffered a stroke, and he’s slightly aghast that Sean Combs only received a four-year sentence for “taking 37 asses,” while Williams himself claimed he faced four years over only “two blunts.”
In his mind, he believes the public no longer cares if a story is true or not. He might sadly be more correct than any of us want about that.
That said, he also says he’s willing to admit when he makes a mistake. And even in the days of “Donald J. Darth Vader Trump,” Williams says he still believes we’re more united than we may be led to believe. “You gonna have to depend on somebody who don’t look like you.” He cites the attacks and mass deportations, and notes how that’s going to kill the farming industry unless we step up to do the work ourselves. Or fight ICE. And he jokes that his bid to start a farm did not end well, because he couldn’t bear to kill any of his animals once he got to know them as friends and family.
For all of the tough talk from Williams on podcasts and onstage, he’s also equally bold in this hour about wanting to make his audiences feel better about themselves. He goes out of his way to single out multiple demographics for pep talks, urges everyone to consider how just one change in their lifestyle might alter their outlooks and futures, bringing it all home with a big dick joke. Literally.
Perhaps he’s just found himself in a state of gratitude. As he says in the opening minutes, he’s been on this comedy and acting journey since 1995. “So the fact that this is where we are, full circle, I appreciate this.”
Our Call: And perhaps we’re in more of a position to appreciate Williams, too. This might not be his most brilliant hour from top-to-bottom, but it’s still worth a STREAM IT. When he jokes that anyone can make it big today, he catches himself after roasting FBI chief Kash Patel with a photo of Patel onscreen.“Take that down before I get a knock on my door,” Williams laughs, before also pointing out the hard truth about putting Patel in charge of federal law enforcement: “He can do that? You can do anything.” He’s not wrong.
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.
