Katt Williams
Emmy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer; author of the memoir Nine Lives, No Wives, and 69 Concubines
Katt Williams (Emmy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer; author of the memoir Nine Lives, No Wives, and 69 Concubines) has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include Entrepreneurship, Stand-up comedy craft, Personal accountability.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
Entrepreneurship
Williams says paying for his own specials let him control production quality before licensing them to networks.
“by me paying for it, I could make sure that we hired the right director, the right producer, that the venue was right”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:14:17
Williams recounts Prince's lesson that every artist ultimately wishes to be independent.
“Every artist, no matter how successful they are at any given point, what they really wish they could be is independent”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:15:09
Williams argues that treating rejection as a numbers game removed its sting.
“As soon as I found out, it takes me 300 no's to get 30 yes's. I no longer was bothered by the no's”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:01:38
Stand-up comedy craft
Williams says he deliberately spent years in Sacramento to become funny for white audiences without changing who he was.
“I need to be as funny as I possibly can for these white audiences”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:05:13
Williams says he evaluated rival comedians by counting the laughs they generated per set.
“I'm watching their comedy and I'm counting sales. How many times do people laugh?”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:00:48
Williams says he relied on comedy to change his mood long before considering it a career.
“I never thought I would be involved in comedy, but I learned early that I could count on comedy to help me change how I felt”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 28:34
Other remarks
Williams advises that the only lasting regrets come from opportunities never pursued.
“The only regret you have later in life is the things you didn't give a chance, the opportunities you didn't go for”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:47:36
Williams credits the sex workers he lived with for teaching him how to be a better man.
“they would have conversations on a nightly basis that I know for a fact are responsible for me becoming a better man”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 55:46
Personal accountability
Williams says what looked like confidence was actually a strong fear of failure.
“But fear of failure should not be confused with confidence. I had an overwhelming fear of failure”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:32:12
Williams argues that real risk lies only in betting on outcomes he cannot influence, not on himself.
“In my particular case, I found that the only risk is betting on something where I'm not involved”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:28:12
Child abuse
Williams says he left home before his parents' expected arrest so his younger brothers would not be harmed by the fallout.
“And so I needed to not be there when that happened so that my younger brothers had a chance”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 31:49
Williams says his parents' violence was not sanctioned by their religion.
“They weren't doing this to stay in good graces of the religion. The religion wasn't condoning this”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 24:45
Homelessness
Williams cautions young listeners that leaving home as a teenager, as he did, was not a smart decision.
“We certainly don't live in a world where anyone as a teenager could afford to leave home and just be out in the world hoping God is blessing you”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:45:42
Forgiveness
Williams says he forgave his parents for his own benefit rather than theirs.
“Because forgiving people makes things easier for you, not easier for the people”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:43:06
Christianity
Williams says he separates a personal relationship with God from organized religion and does not belong to one.
“So I made a separation between religion and a relationship with God”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:24:56
Self-worth
Williams advises people with low self-worth to deliberately assert a higher self-worth, even falsely at first.
“Even if you have to lie to yourself about what your self-worth is, that's what you should do”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 1:20:04
Addiction and recovery
Williams credits stories from homeless people in Peacock Park with scaring him away from hard drugs.
“that's 100% responsible for why I never tried hard drugs. Because I got scared straight, like too early”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One! (Nov 9, 2026) · Listen from 37:36
Appearances
Katt Williams: I Lied My Way Into Comedy! List The 300 People Ahead Of You, Then Outwork Each One!The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett · Nov 9, 2026 · 1 h 50 min
Comedian Katt Williams tells Steven Bartlett about childhood abuse, running away at 13, his path into stand-up, self-funded specials, faith, and self-worth.
Often appears with
- Steven Bartlett · 1 shared episode