I know, I know, I know—-Katt Williams has been a loose cannon as of late. I cannot explain or justify his erratic behavior these days, but I CAN vouch for the time that I saw him perform and the time that we spoke, and he was mad, mad, MAD cool. This interview was published in Spring of 2007 (DMN)—-I’m still a fan, I’m pulling for him and I hope that he gets back in the spotlight for simply his talents and not just the turmoil: stay up brother, love and respect….

When hip-hop’s Three Six Mafia composed the Oscar-winning song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” they probably didn’t use the life of comedian Katt Williams for inspiration, but they could have.

The 31-year-old Ohio native first gained national recognition for his role in 2002’s Friday After Next as the cheerfully chauvinistic yet uproariously funny pimp Money Mike, but Mr. Williams has been on the grind for more than a decade, honing his stand-up skills in clubs across the country.

Cameos in television shows (NYPD Blue, My Wife and Kids and Cuts) and music videos (with Ludacris, E-40 and OutKast) led to guest appearances on MTV’s Wildin’ Out with Nick Cannon and his first solo HBO special, The Pimp Chronicles Pt. 1.

Before his stop at Grand Prairie’s Nokia Theatre, the amiable rapper, comedian and single father of eight (seven are adopted) discusses his success, his most challenging role yet and why folks have it twisted when they take offense to his use of the word “pimp.”

You just appeared with Eddie Murphy in the film Norbit – what was it like to work with him?

You can’t watch Eddie Murphy for any extended period of time and not understand how far beneath his level of excellence you are, so that was kind of sobering. He was doing Norbit and Dreamgirls at the same time, playing four roles and doing another film. Just to see the way he could sit in a chair and let them put that fat suit on him for eight hours after leaving Dreamgirls yesterday and then come in the day after that to play the Chinese guy … it’s unheard of what Eddie was managing to pull off. To have that kind of commitment 25 years in … it gave me an awakening as to how difficult it is day in and day out and how that doesn’t change, no matter how many $20 million checks you get. And then to see him not walk off with the Oscar after all of that … it sobers you further.

Is this Pimp Chronicles Pt. 2 show you’re doing getting aired on HBO as well? Are you debuting segments from Pt. 3?

First of all, thank you for asking me that, because no one’s ever had a right or reason to expect that from a comedian before. There are comics right now who are performing the same material they’ve been using for the last five years. And their fans keep coming out to see it. I’m already working on Pt. 3, and it’s only because I did Pt. 1 and then Pt. 2 30 days later that people even say that, so who knows what folks in Dallas will see. I’m a firm believer that when you got it down, you should step on its neck, too, so that was the reasoning for putting Pt. 2 out so quickly, just to solidify my place.

What do you say to folks having issues with your use of the word “pimp”?

In general, I could care less. Obviously, those people have never seen my show because I rarely even say it at all. That’s what, only 4 percent of the hour that you’re going to hear that from me? If that was my occupation, maybe I would talk about it more, but it’s a frame of mind. You could talk about it until you’re blue in the face, but it’s very hard to explain a mind-set, so I don’t waste my time.

Who were your main comedic influences, and what message do you have for beginners?

There isn’t a comic dead or alive that hasn’t influenced me. I learned as much from Don Knotts and George Carlin as I did from Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby. I was trying to find out how this thing works. There’s a formula to everything, comedy is no different … I really hesitate to put all of my inspiration on a couple of people when I’ve been inspired by the whole thing.

I’ve been doing comedy longer than a decade. It didn’t just happen that they were looking for a pimp so they found me in the ‘hood, made me a movie star and then by some freak of nature, I just happened to have an hour’s worth of material, so HBO let me get onstage and then Nick Cannon invited me to do Wildin’ Out as a favor – that’s not how the real world works.

If you’re trying to be a comedian, then understand that comedy is a business; you have to put your work in and you have to be funny. Don’t people think that being a journalist is easy and ask you: ‘You just write for a living? I know how to write!’ It looks simple because people are good at it, but making 6,000 people laugh at the same time is both work and an art form.

I’m an overnight success, but it’s been a long night.