Katt Williams Has Ice Cube and Mike Epps Crying Laughing Retelling the “Friday After Next” Christmas Tree Scene
Twenty-three years later, the Christmas tree scene still runs the room.
Katt Williams pulled up to “Listen & Laugh,” Ice Cube and Mike Epps’ new iHeart podcast, and within minutes had both hosts crying laughing. Cube had just finished giving Katt his flowers — naming him among the “cream of the crop,” the one and only — when Katt walked in, sat down, and took the conversation straight to 2002.
“I was there when y’all were beating Ricky Smiley with that tree,” Katt said, and the whole set lost it.
The scene he’s talking about is the centerpiece of “Friday After Next” (2002): Craig (Cube) catches the neighborhood’s burglar Santa Claus — played by Rickey Smiley — and beats him with a Christmas tree while Day-Day (Epps) holds him down. Katt, who played Money Mike in the film, watched it happen from inside the scene.
The part that had the hosts doubled over is what happened when the cameras stopped. By Katt and Epps’ retelling, Smiley was genuinely heated after filming it — take after take of getting swung on with a tree will do that — and the three of them could barely retell it without cracking up all over again, imitating his reaction on the porch-style set, complete with copies of Katt’s new memoir sitting on the table.
“Listen & Laugh” is Cube and Epps’ new Friday show — Dr. Dre guested on the premiere episode November 6, and the full Katt episode (72 minutes) landed November 13 on iHeart and YouTube. If this clip is the temperature, the show is about to become a story factory: two franchise legends, a porch, and guests who were actually in the rooms where the classics got made.
So settle it: “Friday After Next” — underrated Christmas classic that belongs in the holiday rotation every year, or the third-best “Friday” and it’s not close?
Sources: “Listen & Laugh” with Ice Cube and Mike Epps (iHeart), Katt Williams episode, November 13, 2026; clip via the show’s official Instagram, @listenandlaughshow.
