Stavros Halkias sat down with CBS Mornings recently and during the conversation, Halkias was asked about an unwritten rule in comedy: that comedians shouldn’t publicly criticize each other. Halkias made clear he doesn’t buy into it.
Halkias was asked about making headlines for being critical of fellow comedians. The host pointed to Katt Williams’ viral podcast appearance as an example of the conversation around comedians speaking frankly about their peers.
The host asked, “You know, Katt Williams was on the Shannon Sharpe podcast and lit the world on fire. Where do you see the space for comedians being critical of other comedians?”
Halkias explained why he thinks honesty matters more than protecting the club.
“I definitely struggle with that a little bit too because at the end of the day, I also think these are conversations that we should be having more like as a community,” he said. “I do think standup isn’t as united or like people don’t hang out as much maybe as they used to.”
He continued, tying it back to authenticity as a core value of his work.
“If somebody asks you your opinion, as a stand-up, I think again, first and foremost, be funny. But truth and authenticity for me is right up there. You can’t be a phony.”
Halkias said staying grounded matters more to him than shielding colleagues from criticism.
He stated, “Another thing that goes hand in hand with making is, you don’t want to turn into some phony who’s trying to protect everything he has. You have to stay the same guy as you got here. So to me, it’s important to just… it’s okay if your friends make mistakes. It’s okay to criticize them.”
He framed disagreement as part of what makes comedy worth watching.
“It’s good if people within an art form have disagreements. I think it’s that means people are making different things. They’re making interesting art. Everything is not homogenized, whatever. They’re being real.”
In January 2024, Katt Williams appeared on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast and took aim at several comedians, including Joe Rogan.
Williams claimed that Rogan was promoting “six comedians that never been funny” while suggesting that he himself had been kept away from The Joe Rogan Experience.
Katt stated, “If you were a comedian that cussed, you were ridiculed by the mainstream comedy-geist. That would be like me being on Joe Rogan. Joe don’t want me on there, I need to be on Shannon. Joe got six comedians that never been funny he wanna push out, but that’s really how it is.”
Rogan didn’t respond by shutting Williams out. Instead, he took to X and said Williams was one of his favorite comedians before publicly inviting him onto the podcast.
Williams eventually accepted the invitation and appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience.
