Katt Williams says his first time doing comedy happened by accident at 16, when he got past a club's ID line by telling the bouncer he was a comedian and was then told he was comedian number five in a comedy competition. He tells the story to Steven Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO in the episode Katt Williams (Nov 9, 2026).
Clip: Viral Podcast Shorts YouTube Short from the full source linked below.
It is his recollection, and he tells it as an origin story he did not understand at the time. This article covers only that segment of the conversation.
A night out with the flower crew
Williams sets the scene with a job. He was part of a group of five or six people who worked in a business selling flowers. One night, instead of going home after work, the group headed to a little club, a little bar.
Bartlett asks whether these were all adults. Williams says he thinks the oldest might have been 21, with everyone else 18 or 19. He was just 16. He only had dress clothes, he says, so everyone assumed he was a young man of age.
The ID line and the bouncer
Standing in line, Williams realized someone was checking IDs. Nobody in the group knew how old he really was, and he could see a problem coming.
While he was trying to work out what to do, he noticed that some people were not getting in the line at all. They walked around it, said something to the bouncer and went straight in. No ID, no money changing hands, nothing.
He watched more closely and worked out what they were saying: that they were comedians. That, he says, was the first time he even knew comedy was happening there. It turned out the club was holding a comedy competition.
So he did the same thing. He told the bouncer he was a comedian, got in without an ID and was told he was number five.
Comedian number five in a 30-seat room
Williams admits his plan was to slip back to where his friends were once he was inside. The room ruined that idea. He estimates it probably seated only about 30 people, so there was nowhere to hide. He was, in his words, literally comedian number five.
The format was explained to him: each comic got up for roughly three to five minutes, and when everyone was done, they would pick the one they liked best. He calls it his first foray into comedy of any kind.
One joke, one subject
Bartlett asks about the result of the competition. Williams does not give a direct answer in the clip; he moves instead to what the night showed about how new he was to it. If he was up there four or five minutes, he says, he only told one joke. He did not have multiple topics. He talked about one subject the entire time, and, he says, they liked the subject.
Because he never states the outcome in this segment, this article does not say whether he won, placed or lost.
Five years away from the stage
The most surprising part of the story comes at the end. Bartlett notes that Williams did not do comedy again for years after that night. Williams agrees: he did not do comedy again for another five years, because he still did not understand that it was a job you could do.
That detail turns a funny story about sneaking into a club into something more reflective. A teenager stumbles onto a stage, talks about one subject the crowd liked and then walks away for five years, by his account because he had no idea it could be a career.
Related reading
- Katt Williams' real name
- Matthew McConaughey on turning down $14.5 million, also on The Diary Of A CEO
FAQ
How old was Katt Williams the first time he did comedy?
He says he was 16 when he got into a club's comedy competition by telling the bouncer he was a comedian.
Did Katt Williams win his first comedy competition?
He does not say in this clip. Asked about the competition, he talks instead about telling only one joke on one subject, so this article leaves the outcome unstated.
How long did Katt Williams wait before doing comedy again?
He says he did not do comedy again for another five years because he still did not understand it was a job you could do.