Find Your Adventure with Katt Williams

At that time, I had already read so many books that I was excited about it. So I was like, oh, I'm guaranteed.
I'm a sure thing.

A terrible childhood. Like, I'm guaranteed to make it.
Like,

all the heroes and all this is where it all begins. Poor girl, Cinderella's cleaning the chimney.
The stepmother's awful. You're like, I'm right on track.

Oh, I'm like, God, you really know how to do it. Like, no, this is why you leave at 13.
That's right. I get it, Jesus.
Yes.

This episode is brought to you by Rivian and Progressive Insurance.

Hi, Craig Robinson. Hi, Michelle Obama.
How are you? Good. Welcome back to IMO.
Yes, on the Vineyard. On the Vineyard.
It's a really, really lovely recording here in this beautiful space.

It really has. You know,

they call this a barn,

but

this is a high-level barn. This is not a high level.

This is

just another house.

As Aaron said, who's my 13-year-old. Who's with us today? Yeah, this isn't a barn.
This is somebody's house. He heard that we were recording in a barn.
He pulled up. He was disappointed.

He was disappointed. He wanted cows and horses and stuff around.
This is not. This is a but this area of the island, up island, Chillmark,

is the best place place to have a Rivian. Yeah, yeah.
And as everyone knows, we got gifted Rivian. So I've been driving yours around and I've been all over the island, but I haven't been up this way.

I haven't been up island. So I'm saving that for my next trip.
Yeah, but you can see how these back roads, you know, how the Rivian really operates well in it. Yeah.
Perfect. Perfect.

Raise your suspension up. Have a little nice, little comfortable ride.
The feature is good.

So do you have to raise it up or is it already raised or are you lowering the suspension? There's two or three levels that you can set it. Yeah.

And depending on the terrain. So in bumpy, you would raise it so that you can get over rocks and stuff and don't scrape the bottom and you lower it to go faster on like the highway.
Have you used it?

I've used all three settings. You know I have.
Excellent. Yeah.
Excellent. Yeah.

Well, it's good to be here. It is, but we, we, we're not going to mess around around today because we are not messing around.
We are so excited. We are so excited.

Just settle down. Man,

we have Cat Williams here.

I mean,

I'm chilled. I'm chilled on this hot day in the vineyard.
Cat Williams is obviously a comedian and an actor who's earned worldwide reputation as one of the world's top entertainers.

He's celebrated for his brilliance and ingenuity on stage, which

you and I both enjoy.

He's also known for his critically acclaimed stand-up specials and today remains one of the top touring comedians. On fire all the time.
Just on the time.

And he's currently on his Heaven on Earth tour, and he is performing in arenas all around the country. And we have to make sure we get to one of these because I want to see how we're going to be.

We can find out where it's going. But without any further ado, can we get the one, the one and the only Cat.
Cat Williams.

You came out like you were called out to the principal's office.

He came ready,

ready.

Hi, Cat Williams. Well, thanks for having me.
I am all.

Thank you. You're a handsome dude.
Right. Yeah, you know that.

You know that about yourself.

You know, there were so many options. God had to make some people 5'5.

And uh-uh, you know,

he puts it in.

Say kids because he gave all the rest of the heights to us.

Yes, yes. You guys are both strikingly tall.

Well, it's good to have you. It's so good to have you here, man.
You've been on the vineyard, too.

Have you been to the vineyard before? Is this your first visit? This is my golf retreat.

So you've been here before golfing.

Okay. All right.
Okay.

And when did the love affair with golf start for you?

It was immediate. Did you grow up golfing? Because black, we don't, we don't grow up.

It's not a thing. No, it's not.
I grew up golfing. It's not a thing.
We lived on a golf course. We lived in a neighborhood with a golf course as black people.
We just drove right past it.

Yeah, it's probably the least economical sport

possible. I'm saying you only need one ball and

39 guys can play.

You know,

it's not that that way with golf. But yeah,

I was grown when I got introduced to golf, but it is,

I've really been able to grow with my own personal game and I like everything about it. There are no negatives or drawbacks.
What's your handicap?

I'm unhandicapped. What does that mean? What does that mean?

I don't even understand that. Just a healthy man.
Just

are you a scratch golfer as they call?

I know all these terms.

Rarely. I have eczema, so

I am a scratch golfer, but

what are the attributes that you take from golf that you can use in your

entertainment life or your parenting life?

Golf gives you the opportunity to do something exactly how the best player in the world would do it.

And then

six minutes later,

you

hit a shot that a nine-year-old.

And this is the same you.

You know,

and

having the ability to navigate your own personal expectations

and to

understand that you always have the ability to

do better

and that

if you had a great hole, you put that behind you.

even as you would if you had had a terrible hole.

You have to put the greatness of that hole aside

because

hole 13 doesn't matter matter at hole 14. Well, you know,

we're going to be

the golf course that we grew up by in Chicago on the south side that we just drove past and never went in.

Now, the Obama Presidential Center is opening up there in May, and there's an athletic center. It's a whole development.
It's on that golf course.

So, we're going to have to, I'm going to commit you now. You got to come out

because we are trying to get young people, black kids exposed, because to be living in a neighborhood with that kind of beauty and not be able to access it as we were not,

because all we were doing was just riding past it.

It's a good way for Barack to connect his love of a sport to the neighborhood that it's given us so much. So we would love to have you

involved in that. So I'm going to use this opportunity to get you on the hook.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

You and your husband are

one of only a handful of actual

superheroes that we've seen in the country. And

a superhero is somebody you put ungodly expectations on. You expect them to never make mistakes and you want them to be flawless and just things that just aren't realistic for humans.

But the way that you two

pulled that off

was,

I think when we look back 100 years from now, like you were the source of pride for

a nation that needed that. So, yeah, whatever we can do,

pay you back for that. We'd love it.
Thank you, Kat. That's very sweet of you.
Well, we can end it now. We all go home.
Yeah. Yes.

Right. Money's worth.
I'm not done yet. Right.
So when you sat down, you said you grew up getting whoopings.

You said that was an odd thing for me to just come out with. Yeah, but

black folks, we know, we all know about a whoopin'. We know.
We know. So

I want to back up and just hear how Cat Williams became Cat Williams. So I want to know how, you know, how did that start?

So I really owe

everything in my trajectory

to the love of books that I

forged early. So,

reading books just

shaped me into this. So,

for example,

I can remember young

figuring out that

my mother and father

didn't really love me,

but they took really good care of me.

And

how could you, what made you say they didn't love you?

What did they do that left you with that feeling? Nothing, nothing. I just

I was reading so many books and I was seeing so many stories and I was just trying to figure out where I fit in with these stories if I was that type of person.

And

I realized that my mother

never kissed me, right?

And that there was this dynamic that existed in other

households that I didn't have in mind. But I was at that time, I had already read so many books that I was excited about it.

So I was like, oh, I'm guaranteed. I'm a sure thing.

A terrible childhood. Like, I'm guaranteed to make it.
Like,

this is where it all begins. Poor girl, Cinderella's cleaning cherries.
It's like mother's awful. You're like, I'm right on track.
Oh, I'm like, God, you really know how to do it.

Like, no, this is why you leave at 13. That's right.
I get it, Jesus. Yes.
Yes.

Way to turn it around.

Way to turn around

that early. Yeah.
Like, wow. Because.
How old?

Like six. Yeah.
Yeah. I had already made the decisions at six just because

once you've read thousands of books, you see that all of these stories are similar and that

you're going to make it through. Like they're like

depression is the worst disease because it makes you think things that are incorrect, you know? So

I was reading so many books of so many people in so many different circumstances and it always works out. It always gets better.
Life is always worth the next adventure. And so

that's how I was looking at things even that early.

How many brothers and sisters did you grow up with? I'm the oldest. I have have two younger brothers.

So did your parents have you sweeping chimneys and whatnot? I mean, what was it about your childhood that made you read those stories and say, you know what? I'm missing something. You know?

Well, I wasn't at the age where I thought I was missing anything. Now, granted, in retrospect, I was, but.
I was using all of my setbacks for my benefit. So I,

so, for example, like I wasn't allowed to watch television or see movies or go over people's house or go to a dance or no extracurricular activities of any kind, but I devoted all of that

time to reading. So I got three open books every day.
I'm in the middle of these and I'm

I'm immersed and I'm getting, I feel like I'm really

learning something from everyone's experience and that it's putting me ahead of the curve because of how much

knowledge and information I'm getting on

something that doesn't have anything to do with me. Like I'm reading about Winston Churchill, but

the stories all go together.

And

this

situation you were in, not being able to do a lot of stuff, that was because you, was that because your parents were religious? Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. They were Jehovah's Witness.
Right. Right.

And high up in the organization. Yeah.
But, you know, a lot of the things

that I learned, I learned because of that situation. So I already knew that when I got in the position to be a parent, I understood

love is the most most important thing and it's free. Yeah.
Like you can do that. That's right.
And I know all the other stuff seems to matter, but actually

the imparting of love and

creating an individual that knows how to receive it and give it and deal with it is just so important. And don't get me wrong, my father was

a great father. He's a great husband.
My parents are still together. They've been together almost 50 years now.

So like they're,

they're wonderful.

What's your relationship like with them today?

I love them today. Same as always.

I'm more

that they got more respect for me for how great of a job that they did, even when the feelings.

weren't there you know and i i appreciated that and that made it so much easier for me to adopt children children because I realized you know DNA doesn't matter bloodlines don't matter

fact families where the love is yeah that was another thing I didn't realize about you that you have adopted a lot of kids tell us I didn't see that in the bingo cards right

but

My son's mother was living in another state and she had another life and had kids. And at some point,

she faced an addiction crisis and her children went to the orphanage. So when they called me,

I don't have a direct relationship with these children, but they are the siblings of my

son. And I did all the research and I knew that it takes a million dollars to raise a child.

And I was eager

to say, wait a minute, Lord, are you?

Are you saying I'm going to have $10 million to take care of 10 kids?

Fine. All right.
I'm in. Let's go.
Yeah.

Because

you don't want to let me suffer. You're certainly not going to let.

And it was.

Best experience. How old were you when you adopted the kids? And what stage in your life were you, were you already in comedy?

Were you already already cat williams or was this yes ma'am but a lesser form a smaller case k

um

i was making less than 25 000 a year so that lets you know where i was um

but i had been working and

everything

was

looking good it was a period in my life where I think

that's the only way he could save me is to give me this instant humongous family and all of these. I did keep saving.
I did. What was going on?

I love women so much.

Tell us more. And

so

I had a five-bedroom house with a woman in each room. Okay.

Because

I like women. I like waking up hearing them.
I like them being around. Like that's my

sweet spot.

Well, it sounds like you weren't in crisis. No, it wasn't in a crisis.
No, it wasn't that type of crisis. It's just that

the kids happening instantly like that meant, no, I got to grow up, I got to do stuff a different way, like I got to do a different trajectory. Like, I'm going to be a family man now.

So, I couldn't be the bachelor superstar that I had envisioned at that point that I was getting ready to go into.

So, yeah, saved me for sure.

What was the biggest challenge in your parenting career?

The hardest part is

losing a child is probably the

worst thing that can happen to you on this earth. Like, there's no recovery from it.
There's no

you lost a child? I'm sorry. Yes, ma'am.
But sorry.

Yeah, that was

probably the only regrettable thing is that

I had built myself to be completely impervious to the machinations of the devil. So there was nothing Satan could do that would ever

take my joy from any

situation.

And

the worse things are going. for me personally, the more you can probably find me smiling and telling jokes because that's how we get back.

But in that particular

circumstance, it's the worst

thing imaginable. It doesn't get any better.
It actually gets worse.

But yeah, other than that, it was

complete joy.

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And, you know, when I think about

some of the challenges and the benefits of home ownership, I really think about the neighborhood we used to live in and

when we were growing up or where we moved to

where we moved to when we bought our homes. And I picked the the area because I knew it had stable home prices and we knew it had really good schools.

And the really good schools part was the first part. And then we got the added benefit of it was such a good area.
Our friends and family ended up moving there too.

And that's how we began to build our community and build our friends and

have sports and parties. And it was not a benefit that I had looked for.
I thought we were gonna have to build a whole new community. And what happened was our community came to us.
Yeah,

that was certainly

one of the highlights of living in Hyde Park.

It is a well-established community. It's diverse.

It's got tons of amenities, not just schools, but where we live was right down the street from the Museum of Science and Industry.

And that was a benefit when the kids were little to have the museum that was full of exploration and wonder.

a walk away from your house.

So you remember we used to grab the kids on any given day or mom could pick up the kids, walk down to the museum, and they would spend an afternoon.

So it's not often that you get to live next to one of the most highly visited museums in the city. So that was a huge benefit.
Yeah, yeah.

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What do you think parenthood taught you about

yourself,

especially since you had a bunch of kids?

That there's no such a thing as doing a great job. There's just such a thing as doing a bad job.

And

if you're making sure that you're doing a good job, then that should take a lot of the panic and anxiety away from you.

I think

I learned that the most, patience.

If you have a special needs child, you

just look at the world differently. You realize that the special needs community is like the only.

legitimate angels on earth. Like a lot of the things that make people a bad person,

somebody with autism doesn't even know how to do that.

Like they don't know how to be jealous or envious and

conniving.

One of my favorite guilty

pleasures is, have you seen Love on the Spectrum? I just love

that show. Oh, my God.
Oh, I mean. Everyone on it.
Everyone on the show. And Craig, my brother is never caught up on any social media.
I apologize.

I apologize. It's a beautiful,

it's a reality-based show, and the producers of that have worked on later daters with us. And so it's the kind of reality TV that I really love.

I mean, I love it all, but these are just really some of the best humans. They're autistic people who want to find love.
And I think I cry every episode.

It's just like you, like you said, Kat, the best display of humanity

yeah i watch it just to cry yeah

like it's um it's a free therapy session just to go and be reminded about how wonderful it is to be human and to see

um

people searching to attain something that they can actually get to. And the fact that it goes from season to season and like they're famous now.
They are. They need to be.

They're famous now, and yet they're still right where we need them to be.

It's such a genuine experience.

Do you have children who are autistic? You have one. I have one.
Yeah.

Bless her heart. Yeah, we love.
Oh, my goodness. Oh, Leanne, she's the best.

I want to get back to, because one thing I didn't ask about.

You were emancipated at 13. Is that I've read that, yeah.
If you read that about

tell us more about yeah,

so it's not often that you know, and you just 13 and what led to that. Did you just walk out the door? Did you just say, Hey, okay, thank you, everyone? I'm gonna take all my books and I'm on my own.

I don't know how to put this without sounding facetious, but if you came from a Bible-reading, believing family yeah then you already knew i was finna do what jesus did

okay bounce okay yeah and go find his temple to turn over cables like this is

this is the life of a christian revolutionary

i gotta tell you you're way ahead of me because even if i wanted to leave at 13 i wouldn't have had the nerve to do it nor the wherewithal that i could do it it was a terrible idea And I, I, here we go.

I don't talk about it because I don't want any young person to hear that and think that it's possible that they can pull it off. Hearing that it's terrible is useful, but it wasn't.

I just wasn't terrible. No,

no, of course not. I'm the adventurer in this story.
Are you kidding me?

Look at me now, sir.

I'm grown.

Got a mustache and a cigarette. I'm 12.

Welcome. That was my last.
I'm picturing little

cat. Did you have the stick and your goods and a little kerchief? No.
Did you walk out with it? I had a full suitcase and a Rottweiler puppy.

You left with destined for failure.

It's like, and I'm dependent. I'm taking a responsibility.
Exactly. It's like, man, and I'll take this puppy.
So where'd you go?

Where was the first place you and your puppy, Rottweiler puppy, went when you left your house miami florida you went to a whole nother state that was always the thing how'd you i went to i went to a truck stop

oh the best place to go wow because everybody's going out of here

and so then i

checked license plates because I was looking for a warm destination and I was hoping for LA or California, but Miami presented itself and the guy guy let me and the Rottweiler puppy get in the back part

of the

empty truck and he would stop every once in a while. Did you have any money?

I was loaded.

I was loaded.

I must have had $1,200 and you could not have told me that I was

a young millionaire. Oh, yes, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am. How did you get all this money?

So the only thing I was allowed to do, I was allowed to cut grass in the summer and I was allowed to shovel snow in the winter so i probably had 60 clients on each of them i'm only making

the lawnmower and the shovels and wow

and so me having money just gave me the ability to not have to wear the clothes that my parents wanted me to wear to school.

I could wear that out, go change, get into something fly and presentable for school.

And then like I was living multiple multiple lives but the money made it possible for me to have that freedom and i learned that pretty early on what was your uh alter ego with your money when you went to school were you one way at home because you were dressing different and then you took your lawnmower money and went to school and your whatever what who were you i had a relationship with the candy lady so i was in sales already and i was buying at a wonderful price, upselling and supplying schoolmates with candy.

So you were that kid. You were the kid that had the na latest.
Plus I had money.

So I didn't have to,

I was able to

treat the women that I liked. Nice.
Really nice. Nice.

I learned that

supplying happiness to people.

So you were Money Mike early.

Money Micah.

Yeah.

Was that where your character came from? Money Micah, you were practicing that at 13.

It seems like it's all planned out, but you know, God showed me early on that there was this pathway, and I wasn't really certain of how to make sure that I was on it.

Wow.

So you get to Miami. Yep, so we get to

Miami with your puppy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
This trip probably only took us maybe three days at the most, maybe two. It was a really nice ride.
But there, so I'm there. And

I just had never seen a place so big with so many different neighborhoods and a different culture and ethnicity every three blocks. And it was really

a bit of a culture shock but i

found a place in coconut grove at a park and that's where i made my residence and it was across the street from a library and so i would eight hours a day i would be in a library reading and um so you just camped out

literally literally did you buy a tent with your money no ma'am So you're just laying out on the grass with your puppy, a 13-year-old? No, no, no. They're all across the the street to the library.

There's a

set segment of population that this was kind of a, in the homeless world, this was kind of a gated community. Yeah, yeah.
This park by them with a marina behind it so you can't encroach.

And it's in Coconut Grove. So yeah, I was able to purchase a brand new mattress the

first day I was going to have to sleep. So I never slept on the ground or anything.
And remember, my clothes are all dress clothes.

I only have slacks and white shirts shirts and ties like is anybody like i'm just trying to picture i can't i can't picture any of those like and i'm still like are you telling the truth are you joking because i'm like still trying to picture you you went and bought a mattress how'd you get the mattress to the park i mean i brought it

They delivered. Oh, you went to a store and you had them deliver your mattress to the park.
There's a homeless hierarchy in the place that I was at.

So there was a guy who was in charge of whether or not you got to be there or not. And how did you convince him that you should be there? I didn't.

I've lived,

I have a presence.

Yes, you do. And

I'm one of the people that

doesn't have ulterior motives. And most people I found do.

But even at that age,

I didn't have any.

I didn't think I was owed anything. I didn't think I was in a bad experience.
I thought I was making choices and decisions and I was trying to see if I could get them to work out.

So when I get there, I get the mattress.

And then there's this process where I find out how everybody else ended up in this park.

And

that is what was life-changing is to find these,

to find out these are doctors and lawyers and nurses and accountants. And

each one of these people had an experience with drugs and it led them here.

And

which is why when I emerge from this part of my story, like drugs are not a temptation for me because I've not seen or heard of parties or anybody having fun.

I've just met these 40 people whose lives were destroyed and they're out in the

elements living with that and the fact that they're not going to be able to get those lives back, that this is a new reality for them.

And so as a young, impressionable kid, being able to see the harshness of life like that

was very instrumental.

And so when did you emerge from that?

So if I fast forward, so now I'm in Florida. I'm thinking that, okay, I've left Ohio, right?

So I have a humongous family in Dayton, 100 first cousins, both sets of grandparents. So I'm like, you know, when I leave,

this is going to be a big deal. It's going to be in the news, on the papers.
Like there's going to be a worldwide

line for your boy.

Where is he? Right?

Milk curtain. December

curtain. These conniving parents of mine.

Let's say I left on Sunday.

They moved out of the city on Monday.

Oh my God. So no one knows I'm gone.
My grandparents don't know. Nobody knows.
Nobody thinks anything's wrong. What? My,

yeah, it was,

it was crazy. And so the way God works, I'm walking down a highway, maybe three years later, two years later,

walking down the

shoulder. And a car pulls over.
And I'm like, boy, these girls will not stay off of you, boy.

They're pulling over on the highway now. That's a lot.

So you got to be pretty good looking for that one.

Anyway, it's not any girls.

It's my parents and my two brothers.

And they are in Florida and saw me.

Just like on vacation or something? Just passing through Florida. Oh, wow.
So

right. Were you still living in the park?

No, this is

at least a year later. So, no, I've moved from

those confines. But, yeah, so now I am

at this place. I think it's called Winter Haven or something.
It's where the carnival people go when they're not in carnival season.

Yeah, no, I know nothing about this. You say this, like, you know, like you know, Winter Haven, you know, the carnival people.
I'm like, no, Cats. This is Florida.

I know.

Like, you know, I was like, am I supposed to know about this?

This goes along with hearing the unbelievable story. I love it.
You've had to wife.

We need popcorn.

So, yeah, I was,

I'm now away from Miami

near a place called Ruskin, Florida. And

my parents pull over on the highway and

very apologetic and let's just put the family back together. And we end up moving to Haiti to do missionary work.
No, you didn't. And so I spend the next two years in Haiti.
What?

Just, did you just get in the car? Where's the puppy? I just got the dog. Where's your dog? So here's the thing.
Beautiful Rasha, right? Rasha. Oh, I love that name.

Figure out once I actually got into the homeless encampment. Like, I could not believe that I had brought this puppy here.
Like, yeah, you were 13. That's 13-year-old thinking.
I'm like, whoa,

what's the plan for the baby, man? Like, how, this is going to be hard enough to navigate on your own. But fortunately, because he was purebred and beautiful,

he went for a great price. And that price sustained me for a nice little period of

time. So I understood why God had let me bring him.
But yeah, he went to a great home and he supplied me a great income. Wow.
And yeah. so then parents, then they pick you up.
Right. They pick what I

want to know. Shoulder the road.
Do you get in the car? Is it like mom, dad? Right. I really get Micah.
I really don't want to get in the spin. Like, yeah.
Are they like, get it, boy? Is it like that?

No. Are there tears? Are they like, oh, we've been looking for you? I'm the tallest person in the house.
So you like that. Understand, like

I'm a big guy, you know, five, five. All right.
Okay.

So, no, there's none of that dynamic. It's just,

I'm sure as parents, they didn't think I would do that. And

by the same token, they had crossed the line, you know? Like,

they were

they were behaving as if I was a bad child and I was a great kid who hadn't engaged in.

yeah so there were mistakes made i i i was already smoking cigarettes at this point so i'm using this as the reason why i can't come with you guys like i'm grown now yeah i got stuff i do and i smoke bad things right yeah

yeah

they were like no you're fine uh-huh

we'll see yeah but really i was just trying to see where they were at and i couldn't figure out how they had located me so haiti right? Did they have the plane ticket? Did you

hop on the plane? And what was Haiti like? And how long were you all there?

Uh, we were there for

uh two years until the Americans had to leave because of um the Papa Doc, yeah, baby doc transition.

Um,

so

it was magnificent. It was, it was magnificent.
It was um

one of the best experiences of my life. I was able to really be in an adventure.
And

my parents,

when we got over there, Haiti is a different country because

all of the writings at that time are all in French. So you have to read French.
But then they don't speak French. They speak Creole.
And Creole wasn't in any books.

So you had to learn Creole and French.

So for

the first year and a half that we're there, I'm the only person in the family that reads French and speaks Creole. So I'm

doing it. You just were able to pick that up quickly.
Yes.

Wow. Yes, ma'am.
Fortunate. Yeah.

But yeah, that experience changed everything for me.

I was eating sugar cane and mangoes and filling my pockets full of salt because I found out that Haiti had the highest mortality rate for babies dying of dehydration.

And so I knew the salt and the water trick. And so I would just go out and walk village to village.
And if they had sick babies, I would

give them this information about the salt water. And because I was from Ohio,

they weren't.

I was able to bring like a different irrigation style to the part of Haiti Santo that we were at.

Just because it was such a big trek from where the village is to where the water source is.

And so, yeah, I filled my days full of adventure. It was

magnificent

during this period.

I suppose I'm 14, 14, 15. Wow.
Wow.

As our listeners know, we've partnered with Airbnb on this show, and I've been staying in Airbnb's while traveling both for my family trips and while traveling for IMO.

In partnership with Airbnb, we wanted to share an opportunity to give back during this holiday season.

Airbnb.org is a nonprofit organization founded by Airbnb that connects people to emergency housing in times of crisis.

Since Airbnb.org was founded in 2020, they have housed more than 250,000 people, including those affected by the Los Angeles wildfires, the Central Texas floods, and earthquakes in Turkey and Japan.

When a crisis takes away the comfort of home, even the simplest evening moments like a bedtime story or a shared meal feel out of reach. Nights are special, for many, sacred.

Nights often represent dinner time, a warm shower, a show on the couch, reading kids a book, followed by getting into bed.

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You can visit Airbnb.org and donate a night for a family who has unexpectedly lost their home due to a disaster. Airbnb will be matching every donation until the end of the year.

Together, we can restore sacred time at home and give back the nights that matter. Hey, everybody, Craig Robinson here.
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It's now that we're back because you have to get out of Haiti. So now we're back in Florida and I realize I'm not going to be able to stay with these nice people.
And so I'm off again.

And so now when we pick back up,

now I'm in the situation where I'm at a comedy club and I don't mean to be there. But how did that happen? Well, because some of the Carneys are going to this club.
Look at it. You went back to your

group now, and we go there. And

they're asking for ID at the door. And I'm not old enough to even be in there.
So this is going to be a very embarrassing situation for me, which I'm not interested in. And then.

God comes as he always does. And somebody walks past.
And they walk all the way past the line. They say, I'm a comedian.
And the guy goes, yep, you're number four.

And he walks in, and I'm like, Oh,

there you are. He always delivers me this pathway.
And so, bam, I'm comedian number five, right? So, I don't know what that means.

I don't know now that we're inside of there, I don't know what goes on. So, there, they just explain, Yeah, yeah, we're having a comedy competition.
And uh,

but don't you look for

five minutes?

No, ma'am, I literally

had this mustache since I was 12. No, you did not.
A full mustache. Like, that's

where we get 5'5.

I already didn't get the growth spurt. I got the hair.
I would have been suicidal if the Lord did not provide other provisions, but he did, right?

And so he gave me a great outlook and a full mustache. And a full mustache.
And remember, remind yourself what I'm wearing. Well, I don't know.
I have this on. You got it.

Okay, so you got a cool dressing. I got a white shirt.
And this is all of my clothes. I don't have tennis shoes or shoes.

So, you always dress like a grown man.

Uh-huh.

Right. I've been grown.

Okay. All right.
So, you get in the comedy club and they say, All right, you got five minutes. Right, right.
So, I just get up there and I talk about being the

black community for this entire city.

Like, there's nobody but me. i'm the only black guy yes

nobody else and i talk about what that experience is like

yeah and that was my five minutes and did anybody laugh

oh they loved it they thought it was hilarious because again

What I didn't understand is I didn't understand why it connected, but it connected because it was all true. Like there was no black community there.
It was just me.

And everybody was looking at at me like, what are you doing here?

And, you know, you want to hear what that guy feels

like about his surroundings. What did it feel like to make people laugh? Did that, was that new? I mean, because you were all, you had been used to public speaking.
Right. Because

I'm in front of crowds of 10,000

converting folks.

Well, that wasn't my job. Yeah.
Everybody that was in the arena was already converted. I'm reading Bible scripture and giving a talk about this particular

ripe. So,

um, I just kept asking God to show me a glimpse of where I'm gonna be. I just kept hearing applause, but I didn't know what they were applauding or what it was that I had done or said.

So, it was

really frustrating for me

before comedy came along. But as soon as

I did it that first time, I was like,

that's crazy. I think I got something from that.
How could I have got something from that?

Was that the vision?

So it's probably not another,

it's probably

if I'm 16 then, then

it's almost another eight years before i do stand-up but i just had that in my head that this is a thing i could do

so then i go into door-to-door sales i join this organization that travels around the country selling books and magazines and you know all i'm thinking is i see all this is a movie And we have to do it at a higher ground.

I mean, we're going to finish this story, but I'm just like, dude, I'm just, I'm watching this movie yes ma'am as you were telling it right anyway and i've done my best to try to live uh accordingly knowing that it's going to get looked back on you know yeah yeah

so i i did interrupt you because you know it was later on you know so you realize that uh comedy was a thing

uh but then you were doing the door-to-door salesman work right to still Which again, I'm in another experience that is shaping me for everything that follows because now I'm every door.

I don't know who is going to answer this Hispanic, Asian, white, black, monetary love. I don't know anything.
And I need to connect with this person.

I need to ease their fears about a stranger at the door. I then need to be funny and engaging so that they smile.

And then I need them to make this purchase that we both know they don't need. What were you selling?

It started with books and magazines, and then it was

cleaning product at the end.

All right. So

door-to-door salesman.

Comedy next, or was there something else? I'm doing the door-to-door sales sales and I knock on the door of

five ladies of the night.

And they are in a traumatic situation because their pimp was murdered, and they all witnessed it, and they didn't know what they were going to do.

And

this is another like,

what?

I know everybody here is just like, So I

volunteered for the pimp position on the auspices. Well, you were already dressed for the how to do it.
Okay.

You were already dressed for it. Forget part.
Yeah.

Okay. Okay.
So they trained me how to do this job. Right.

And they taught me so much.

I wasn't there very long, but those ladies really,

along with my sainted mother,

those ladies really showed me what it was like to be a man.

And they, because they, every night for hours, they would just talk about everything wrong with men. Like men of all nationalities, shapes, sizes, and colors.
What's wrong with them?

Why are they horrible creatures?

And I was able to, at a still impressionable age, learn things and learn

what bothers women and realizing that

I was in charge of so much of that.

Welcome back to IMO. We made it, folks.
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Yeah, yeah. You know,

we have questions that we get from our listeners, but before we get to that,

what advice would you give

a young Cat Williams coming along? And maybe not even a Cat Williams, because you're so uh

one of one, you're so unique. What would you give to a young up-and-coming artist who sees you as a role model?

How what advice would you give them on how to navigate this

industry, this career,

these processes.

I would say

if you believe in God, take as much pressure off of yourself as you can and apply that pressure to him.

If you believe in God, then you know that in his books, he's got certain contractual obligations as well. It's certain things he has to do in certain situations.

And it's okay if you put him in those situations. It's okay for you to say,

I believe there's a God and

I believe that if there is, he loves me and he would help me in this situation. It is impossible for you to do that and then watch something happen and not know

where that comes from. And so, any artist, I would just say,

make sure that your relationship with God is one of the relationships that you're also working on, whether it's spouse, kids, everything else.

Make sure to pay attention to your relationship with God because it really.

It really is the difference maker in how things turn out. Everybody doesn't serve God.
Some people serve the devil and

they put him in positions and

it's terrible to say, but

if that person has a better relationship with Satan than you do with God, that's your fault too.

And so

I think that's the only advice that I would give to an artist is

to

find your higher power and connect. Because until you do that, you're just a rudderless ship out here.

And I know from my own personal experience that it doesn't matter how young you get that relationship,

it's never too early.

Speaking of relationships,

what's your take on relationships? Have you ever been married? I love relationships. Have you ever been married? No, never married.
Would you, do you believe in marriage? Do you believe in marriage?

Yeah, my parents are still married. Yeah, well, what about you?

What about you?

Yeah,

what about me?

You've never been married. Where do you want to be? Have you found the right person? Is it not something that you're interested in settling down with a single person?

Do you envision what your parents have for yourself ever? Is that even a goal?

is it that's exhausting?

No, not really.

It's not that. It's

yeah, I think marriage is great. It's just that at the point in my life when that would have been the next thing that I was going towards, that's when I had this instant huge family.
And then I

was just so reticent to bring a person into this dynamic just because of how unfair that would be to this lady to have all of these kids that are not hers. And

so I was trying to make myself

a better version of me in advance for this wife, right?

But in the meantime of that, I'm the one doing the cooking and the laundry and the cleaning and the school wake ups. And

so it got to the point where I I was the wife. Yeah.
And

yeah. So where I am now, I finally have something I could offer a lady, I suppose.

Monogamy has not been

a part of my journey.

I've tried to share this gift with whoever needed it. Why, why limit it? Why limit just?

Why limit? Why limit the world? This gift for whoever

my man okay cat and you and you're you you love i love it i do because why that's that's that's the ultimate he is all of our hero uh-huh

but you you have a farm that not to that you there's so much there's there's so many kind of little surprising layers right

yes yeah lovely farm a lovely farm is it like a full working farm i mean are you we have um

100 ducks, 100 geese,

cows, pigs,

goats, sheep.

We have animals that you never see.

It's just a wonderful

100 and some acre property in Americana that's just magical.

And it's the thing that I am creating, which is heaven on earth, the name of the tour, but it's a whole philosophy of whatever you think the afterlife is going to be for you.

You can start making that for yourself here

somewhere. Do you tour every year?

Or how is your tour? How do you think about that?

Is it like training? Like you want to be on tour

every couple of years just to, or how do you think about?

I'm an athlete. I have the same season as my athlete counterparts.
So in the NBA, they play 82 games. I'm not sure what it is in baseball, but I have

100 shows.

I do 100 shows and then I tape a special. And that's been

the routine that I've

had since I think 2001 was my first one. So

is this that work ethic that the lawnmower kid that got you that $1,200, the feeling like if I'm doing it,

I got to do my best. I got to put it in.
I got to, you know.

Well,

I met Prince when I was 12

and he shouted that out. He had that trajectory of

belief for me. Like I knew.

I didn't have to make any changes. This was a guy who was shorter than me.
He was already rich and famous.

and he had a purpose in life. And

yeah, so a relative of his was my first girlfriend. She was a little older than I was.
So if I was 12, she was 16. She had a family member that was coming into town.
He was a musical artist.

Because of my background, I wasn't really up on all of the musical artists as you would think that I would be.

But you had wooed her with all the candy that you supplied.

I don't know if you can tell this, but I make really good conversation. And,

you know,

money's not enough.

And I only care what you like. So it makes me

have a mustache. Right.
I got a mustache and candy. What more you got?

But

yeah, so

she's like, yeah, he's just going to be here after his show at the UD Arena. And

you should meet him. So So

I ride my bike over there and I go in the house and I meet this guy, Prince, right?

And

you ever meet somebody and go, whoo,

this person's way smarter than me. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. Right.
So it was really my

first time being in the vicinity of real brilliance, like when it's not for show.

And so we're having this super deep conversation.

And you're 12. Right.
And

we are connecting and we have decided at the end of this conversation, we're friends. Right.

So

I get ready to walk out. Say bye to my girl.
He says, you'll walk down.

So, me and Prince are walking down these steps, but he's thinking, We're going to my car when we get down to the bottom of the steps. My bicycle is right there.
And he's like, What's that?

I was like, What do you mean? What's that?

That's that's my. I'm thinking, I'm thinking he likes it.
I'm thinking he's noticed I've got the tricked-out manga.

He knows I'm full of cash, full of cash. Yeah, you're looking at it.

That's when he lets me know that he's 18, a grown man, and I'm 12. Wow.
But because of our sizes, we just assumed that each other was the same.

I don't know what I was saying. Salads and mustaches.

So he gave me the confidence to know, because up until that point in my life, I thought that there were some things I was going to need to

do in order to be good enough. Like, I got to get taller.
I don't know. This might be the first mistake God has ever made.

Like, there, I can't find evidence that anyone in the world missed a growth spurt. Like, you have to understand, ma'am, third grade.
I'm 5'5.

A giant among

big man on campus.

Truly.

Like, man. And that was it.
So Prince helped me see immediately I didn't have to get taller. Yeah.

He already had just signed his movie. I mean, his music deal.
He had just produced his album by himself. He played 26 instruments on it.
He did all of the jobs. Yeah.

And it had worked.

And so I knew that I didn't have to make any changes. I just had to be in the right

position and be right myself when it transpires. So super helpful that guy.

Yeah, no, that would be that's that's pretty powerful. Yeah.

Well, let's help some folks. Let's help one of our listeners.
Yes. Okay.
All right. So we've got a listener from San Antonio, Texas.
Okay.

And her name's Amber. And I think her question is going to resonate with you.
So. Hi, Michelle and Craig.
I love the podcast. My name is Amber.
I'm 32 years old and I'm from San Antonio, Texas.

I opened my own salon at 22, and since then, I've navigated both personal and professional challenges.

After a difficult relationship and some time living independently, I believed I had found healing and stability.

But due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to move back home, which has brought its own emotional complexities.

Over the past two years, I've been seriously considering relocating to New York City or Boston, not only to pursue greater opportunities in my industry, but also in hopes of building a life that breaks generational cycles.

I've been taking small, intentional steps, investing in my business, putting myself out there, and making growth a priority when i listened to your conversation with kiki palmer i was struck by the part where you shared how you began seeking new paths and meeting people after realizing law wasn't your true calling so my question is

when you were stepping into unfamiliar spaces and pursuing something new did you feel overwhelmed or afraid if so how did you move through that fear without letting it stop you

all right that's a big one that's a doozy. That's a college level essay question.

So any thoughts for Amber just off the top of your head?

I'm ready. Yeah.
Okay.

Amber, you're doing the work. And

when you do the work, an answer comes out. So I don't think that you're confused in any way.
I don't think you're wondering what it is

you need to do next. I think you already know.
I think you know that there isn't anything for you at the Riverwalk.

San Antonio is a wonderful place, but it's not going to get you to where you see yourself being.

I think very specifically you picked New York and Boston.

If the fear is what you're dodging, The fear is necessary. The fear is there for a reason.

The fear is to make sure that you don't take this for granted this time and end up in San Antonio for the third time.

The fear is useful. On the other hand,

you're only going to look back and go, I should have left earlier. Why didn't I go earlier? Not anything else.
You're not ever going to regret this decision.

You're going to regret the time it took you to get to this decision.

All of the new relationships, your whole new life is there.

And you deserve at 30, whatever you are, to be able to pull that parachute and do a new life. And if you mess that one up, go from New York to Boston now.

Never stop being in search of your calling and your purpose. It is there.
You are going to find it. You're right on schedule.
You're not behind.

There's nobody to blame. And there's only upside.
So I think you're doing great, Amber. I think you know you're doing great.

I think you just wanted us to reaffirm that you're making the right decisions, you're not crazy, and

yeah, good luck.

I love that. I love that cat.

Wise cat, all the layers of cat. I like it.
I like it.

Um, I would address the fear part of it because I talk about fear a lot. Um, you know, I agree, you know, um,

fear is there for a reason,

and is just interpreting the fear that you have. There is an element of fear and caution and everything.
And that's a good thing.

I always say there's the good fear that keeps you safe, but you just don't want to

overindulge the fear that keeps you stuck because fear can keep you stuck. I mean, there are a lot of people who

don't experience, don't try, don't don't grow

because they're afraid of the unknown.

And that can leave you in a small place because all the good stuff happens on the other side of fear.

When you

lean into it, get comfortable with it, know it's a part of the ride.

If you can bear with that initial sort of the anxiety that comes with anything new and say that's normal. It's normal that I'm starting something new.
I don't don't know anyone.

I feel a little anxious about it. Ride that wave of anxiety, but don't let it stop you.

Because when you do, you miss the growth that comes from taking a risk and pushing beyond the thing that makes you uncomfortable.

If you practice moving away from that fear, you just practice always feeling safe.

But you'll look around and realize that you might feel safe, but you won't be happy. And you probably have missed out on a lot of really amazing stuff.

And you're not safe.

Where you are.

There is no bubble of safety because this is where you're from.

You might as well have that experience. Because she said in her industry, right? So,

yeah, she's not going to make it out there in Texas doing hair for celebrities.

She's got to get to it. She's got to go where the work is.
New York and Boston. Yeah.
Yeah. So that's great.
Yeah, that's great.

Both of you have hit on some really good points.

Fear is healthy.

And

you can't let fear paralyze you so that you don't do anything. And the only thing that I would add just to contextualize this for Amber is that

you're always going to be nervous about the next step. So

take it so you learn what that feels like. And each time it will be less fearful.
That's what I found. You know, the first hard pivot is the hardest.

And then after that, you build that muscle and you're less afraid to try new things.

Or at least they will remain consistent. So

I'm the other part of the extreme.

So every time that I have to do stand-up, I'm as nervous and direct as I was the very first time that I ever did it and got like every single, yeah, so even though we're

almost at 10,000 shows in my 23rd, 100 city tour, like

that nervousness and the butterflies and

it never has gone away. It's what allows me to realize something's counting on this.

There's something on this.

You must do well.

You're passionate about it. Right.
And

you need that in your life as a barometer so that you don't take things for granted. And

it's in no way should stop you. It should further.
Why would you be getting nervous for something that wasn't going to matter? That's right. If you're nervous and fearful, there's a good reason.

That's true. Still do it.
Yeah.

Yeah.

We like that. Well, hopefully, Amber, we wish you good luck.

Keep going.

I think Kat said it right. You know you're on the right track, and we are all confirming that you are.

So keep going. And we hope to see you in New York.
Yeah, and let us know, you know, how it goes when you make that move.

Kat, this,

you know,

you were a layered little dude. Right.

The layers of Petwig.

Pethwig. I know.
Yeah, I know. Kat, thank you.

This was a real privilege thank you thank you for putting us on your your list uh yeah making the time a very short list

most of my things are like that

i would say you set them up for that one that was the king of the short list

point guard right

yeah no i really i really appreciate the opportunity that you both

are making for yourselves and for others. Like, this is really a big deal.
This has been a treat. You are truly a gift in more ways than one.
So, uh, thank you, Cat Williams. Thank you so much.

Thanks, man. Everybody, give it up.