Katt Williams revealed why Steve Harvey quit performing stand-ups, claiming he stopped after losing to him in a comedy battle.
At the beginning of 2024, Katt Williams made an appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast. He sat for a bombshell interview in which he called out several of his fellow comedians along with making several other claims. And they have continued to be a topic of conversation throughout the year.
One of the names that Williams called out during his appearance was that of Steve Harvey. The 53-year-old comedian accused Harvey of alleged dishonesty and revealed what he claimed to be the real reason Harvey quit stand-up comedy.
During his appearance on Club Shay Shay, Katt Williams made several claims about many comedians, including Kevin Hart and Steve Harvey. He alleged that Harvey’s stories about being homeless were false while discussing the real reason for him quitting stand-up comedy.
As per Katt Williams, the reason Harvey gave for stepping away from stand-up was not entirely truthful. “Steve told you that he stopped doing stand-up because he has seven TV shows,” Williams said.
However, Williams alleged that the real reason Harvey quit was due to losing to him in a comedy battle. He said,
He stopped standup because he got in a comedy battle called the Championship of Stand-up Comedy with one Cat Williams in Detroit in front of 10,000 people and lost.
Williams specifically claimed that he humiliated Harvey during the competition by revealing that Harvey wore a wig, which allegedly led to Harvey quitting stand-up. “Because Katt Williams said he was actually bald and that was a wig and I went in and that’s why he couldn’t do standup anymore,” he claimed.
The Steve Harvey Show host officially retired from stand-up comedy in 2012 after performing his final stand-up show, Steve Harvey’s Grand Finale, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
He later stated that he left stand-up to avoid jeopardizing his highly successful television career. Williams further criticized Harvey, making additional claims about his past struggles with homelessness and his inability to transition into movie stardom.
Katt Williams Accused Steve Harvey of Fabricating Homelessness
During his appearance on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Katt Williams also disputed Steve Harvey’s claims of being homeless, suggesting that Harvey fabricated that part of his story. Williams asserted,
Steve Harvey telling people he used to be homeless, that’s my story that’s not his story Steve Harvey was never homeless… Mark Curry was touring with him 25 years ago he was making $3,000 a show in cash and doing five shows a week.
He also challenged Harvey’s claim of not wanting to be a movie star, suggesting instead that Harvey lacked the opportunities and versatility to succeed in that realm.
I didn’t want to be a movie star no you couldn’t be a movie star. There are 30,000 new scripts in Hollywood every year not one of them ask for a country bumpkin black dude that can’t talk good over and look like Mr Potato Head.
“You have to have range,” he further said. Furthermore, Williams alleged that Harvey stole the concept for his 1990s eponymous sitcom from Mark Curry’s Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.
The same Steve that went to go watch Mark Curry do his whole sitcom and then stole everything Mark Curry had… Now Steve got a sitcom where he’s the principal and he wears a suit.
In response to these claims, Harvey appeared to address the issue indirectly on the VICE TV docuseries Black Comedy in America, where he stated that he could recognize when fellow comedians were “lying” about him online.
