LESS THAN A WEEK into 2024, Katt Williams went on a podcast and laid waste to the world. Speaking on Club Shay Shay, the entertainment show hosted by pro-football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, the comedian aired grievances and let loose on his long career while taking shots at an expansive list of targets, from Kevin Hart ("No one in Hollywood has a memory of a sold-out Kevin Hart show") to Cedric the Entertainer (whom he accused of stealing jokes) to Harvey Weinstein (the disgraced producer "offered to suck my penis in front of all my people at my agency").
Lasting almost three hours, the episode has been viewed more than 70 million times on YouTube; Saturday Night Live built a whole sketch around the appearance; and some of Williams's strays are still rippling through the atmosphere, as his Diddy comments ("All lies will be exposed") did when video evidence of the mogul physically assaulting his then-girlfriend, the singer Cassie, publicly emerged in May. The episode was such a cultural supernova that when Williams's comedy special Woke Foke dropped on Netflix a few months later, it felt like an anticlimax. He left it all on Club Shay Shay.
If the public face of podcasting was once thinky narrative shows vying for high-art legitimacy, these days it's chat and interview programs that hustle their way into your life. It's podcasts like Call Her Daddy, where Alex Cooper hunts for notoriety and headlines with buzzy bookings. It's Huberman Lab, where the pop scientist Andrew Huberman advises the masses to spend more time in the sun. It's the SmartLess trio (Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes) palling around with three presidents (Clinton, Obama, Biden) in a bid to keep the dream of American neoliberalism alive.
This story is from the June 17 - 30, 2024 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 17 - 30, 2024 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Here's Looking at You
An uneven directorial debut tries to capture the horror of being watched.
Word Salad
In the extended Trump era, an artist's truisms ring false.
An Anticlimactic Finish
Bridgerton's latest season has a fatally underdeveloped leading man but is still a ton of fun.
Yorgos Lanthimos's Fantasies of Control
The director's latest, Kinds of Kindness, which premiered at Cannes, is a return to his primary interest― what makes people submit.
Annie Baker Goes to Hollywood
The renowned playwright switches mediums with her sneakily expansive debut film about a possessive mother-daughter relationship.
Return of the Mic
How chat podcasts have taken over the medium and dominated the cultural discourse (again).
Is This Your King?
On House of the Dragon's second season, Tom Glynn-Carney is so good at playing pathetically bad you almost forget you're supposed to hate him.
Summer EATING - One of Everything, To Go
72 onion-soaked smashburgers, crispy-cutlet subs, cold noodles, and sizzling spicy skewers to eat on the street this summer.
In the Pink
After Anne Hanavan found her 350-square-foot \"freedom pad,\" her friends helped her get the vibe right.
Aaron Bushnell's Agonies
Burning himself to death outside the Israeli Embassy turned him into an antiwar martyr. What upbringing could have led to such an extreme act?