Another MTV News report.
It's "Buh-de" versus "It's Pimpin' Pimpin'." Some comedy fans were recently outraged at a joke Pauly Shore made while promoting his video "Natural Born Komics." Footage hit the Net of a deadpan Shore claiming that black comedians such as Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, Mo'Nique, Martin Lawrence and Charlie Murphy are blowing up simply because of their race.
"I need to be black. 'Cause if I was black, I'd be doing good. All the black comedians are doing good," Shore said. "First of all, Katt Williams, him and me — when it comes to the funny-meter — are probably the same. But because he's black . Katt Williams, he's got all the specials. And 'Oh, Katt Williams is so funny and he's such a genius comedian. Oh my God, you gotta see Katt Williams.' It's 'cause he's black. D.L. Hughley, Mo'Nique, Charlie Murphy ."
Williams talked about the incident this week while visiting the MTV News office.
"What you say his name was?" Williams asked with a straight face. "Was he a comedian? Oh, he was? Then what happened, he became white? Then that couldn't be the answer to the problem. He was playing."
Williams knows Shore was making a joke. He was in on it. A follow-up Internet short to Shore's racial rant featuring Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Ice-T and Murphy has surfaced as well. At first the celebs appear to take exception to the former MTV personality's remarks, but then Shore pops up on camera to tell the world it's been had.
"I didn't know he was playing when I [first] heard it," Williams said. "I just dismissed it, because why would I be talking about Pauly Shore? I'm all across the country. I haven't seen Pauly Shore in any stand-up clubs at all. I do know him as being a funny guy, he [ran] the Comedy Store. I don't think he really feels that way. I think it was all a joke. I think he just wanted to have something to talk about. But he's a comic. I have to give him his just due and let it be what it is. But if I'm where I'm at because I'm black, then thank God for being black. I don't think I had an option. With the haters I got, I don't think Pauly Shore will make the list for that. I think it's a comic being funny."
Williams has mastered the art of being funny. He's at the top of his craft, having done three major tours in three years, not to mention releasing two platinum DVDs of his routines. Now he's in the midst of bringing new material to more than 100 cities with his new It's Pimpin' Pimpin' tour.
"If you've been grinding to get to the point, you can't turn it off once you get there," he explained of his tireless schedule. "Just the opportunity to get to the point to do 100 cities and do all those places across the country and get that love back and sell out across the country, that's why you was doing it in the beginning. That's what you was telling yourself when it was 10 people [you were performing for] — that it would get to this point. I've been very fortunate."
Williams promises that he has new material on every tour and that jokes don't get recycled.
"Every time the show comes, it's gotta be new. In this time of recessions, everything has to be new and fresh. That's part of the work ethic," he said.
In addition to his current tour, which runs through the end of June, Williams has titled his debut rap album It's Pimpin' Pimpin' as well. It will be released sometime this spring.