Other comics aspire to the comedy legacy. He aspires to generational wealth.
He hopes to be a millionaire by the time he is 45. That's him in July.
“For me, it's about being a mogul and owning your own projects and establishing yourself as a financing producer,” Hart told Collider in 2013.
“For me, it's about history,” he said on a 2016 episode of “Hot Ones.” “It's about making sure that when it's all said and done, the last name Hart means something.”
“For me, it's about building an empire,” he told Marc Maron in 2017.
CAlthough comedy is apparently just the cornerstone of empire, some other comedians think comedy is a little weak.
Donnell Rawlings said on the My Expert Opinion podcast in February, “I've heard a lot of cartoonists say, “Kevin Hart isn't funny.'' Do you agree with that statement? I didn't say clearly.
“I still don't think it's weird,” Mike Epps wrote to Hart on Instagram in 2018.
In January, on Shannon Sharpe's YouTube show, Katt Williams suggested that Hart was a humorless, valueless commodity — what he called a “plant” in the industry. Williams' comments went viral. Hart pushed back, telling FOX 5 DC that Williams takes entertainment too seriously. At the circus, Ms. Hart says, “If a lion comes out and rides a bike, don't think too hard about it. You just think, “Okay, that's crazy.'' ”
heart We built something huge. But does the last name Hart mean anything in comedy? Does he think his comedy is influential or is he a lion on a bicycle?
We'd like to ask Hart himself about all this. We spent months planning his schedule. The Kennedy Center, which will host and present the award on March 24, tried to help. The interview will likely take place in Qatar, where he was performing a show. Or maybe a movie set in Atlanta? And right on top of Zoom?
But Kevin Hart had other things to do. So we bought him $135 tickets for bad seats at a concert hall in North Charleston, South Carolina, to see his “Brand New His Material” tour and hear the answer.
HArt's petite, athletic build (5 feet 4 inches tall) prowls the stage like an NBA player on the court. All 2,300 people in the audience locked their phones in secure pouches. Everyone's attention is focused on the heart.
It's clear what he means when he says he doesn't write jokes.instead he screams His path through a winding story.
Laugh lines usually end with laugh lines, which he repeats several times – each time louder – for example, an explosive bowel movement after eating a spicy Chick-fil-A sandwich, or his nephew. Pantomime the way the family rolls their eyes when it appears. As a gay man.
“I think I speak for the whole family when I say, 'We know,'” he says. “We know! We know!”
The audience devours it and laughs out loud with every repetition.
HMr. e was born in North Philadelphia in 1979. His father, a mostly absent drug addict, had pulled stunts such as gifting a stolen dog to his son, only to have the enraged owner knock on the door 15 minutes later. His mother was so strict that she did not allow the bedroom to have a door. Determined to keep her son off the streets, she kept Hart busy with extracurricular activities. He writes about all this in his 2017 memoir, “I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons.”
He credits his ultimate success to his parents, his father, who taught him how to do it. do not have My mother taught me to behave and be disciplined. However, this last lesson took some time to sink in.
After dropping out of community college in Philadelphia before the end of his first semester, Hart worked as a shoe salesman at a local sporting goods store and found himself hooked on selling. It was a skill that came naturally to him. He blames it on his charm.
A colleague suggested he try stand-up at an amateur night at the Roughhouse comedy club in Philadelphia. His first set was enthusiastic but drew only a few cheers, he wrote. The second time it worked. He began winning stand-up contests.
His addiction to selling shoes turned into a winning laugh. He quit his sales job to pursue comedy. His mother said she would support him for a year. If he doesn't pass, he will go back to university.
He writes: “I was able to do what I did best, which was to be a fun and loud guy.”
FEven after walking for nearly an hour in North Charleston, Hart is a fun and boisterous guy. He tells stories of human trafficking that cover a wide range of well-covered topics, such as aging. He's injured now, but I don't know how. He's scared to go down the stairs! For a moment, I pretend to pull his crotch.
He spends countless hours mocking Michael Jordan's children.
He says he takes penis enlargement pills at a gas station. He works so well in bed that his wife screams out his name and even his social security number. Then, as his erection wanes, she murmurs the same number, not overjoyed but disappointed.
Hart was delighted to be crossing the line, repeatedly shouting, “That's why I took your phones away tonight!”
He asks about a medical emergency that occurred during the opening set. The punchline is that he's just pretending to care. He tells the story of his diabetic amputee and his family trying to coax him into eating sweets, ending with him hobbling around the stage like his one-legged uncle.
The audience roars.
Cartoonists like Keith Robinson, Patrice O'Neal, and Dave Attell thought so too. They helped him get his start in a well-regarded New York stand-up club. Media mogul Damon Dash thought so. He co-starred with Jay-Z, Charlie Murphy, and Michael Rapaport in the Rock-A-Fella-produced film Paper Soldiers (2002). Judd Apatow thought so. He appeared in several episodes of the Fox sitcom “Undeclared” 23 years ago with Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel.
Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle are scheduled to give a toast at the Kennedy Center.
The fish-out-of-water persona he honed in films such as Ride Along, Get Hard, and several films with Dwayne Johnson brought him huge box office success.
His movie characters are an extension of his stand-up action, even though he only really has one. Enthusiastic, self-deprecating but overconfident, fast-talking and, most importantly, loud.
Whether it's funny or not is up to the listener's ears, but perhaps the proof is in Empire, which is outrageous. Hart has worked as an underwear model for Macy's. He has played in major poker tournaments. He co-produced his 2013 TV show called “Real Husbands of Hollywood.” He started a production company that would produce boring comedies in which he appeared. He founded a venture capital firm that invests in companies that make beds, energy drinks, snacks and cleaning products.
Stand-up historian Kliph Nesteroff, author of “Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy,'' says this “fusion of comedy and business, comedy and capitalism'' is a modern phenomenon. Masu. “These are things that George Burns and Jack Benny never did, or that his mother Mabry or Eddie Murphy never did.”
Hart's career with X focuses on that effort. “My name is Kevin Hart and I work hard!!!” That pretty much sums me up!!! Everyone wants to be famous, but no one wants to do the work . ”
His mentor, Mr. Robinson, confirmed this over the phone. “He's the hardest-working man in show business,” Robinson says. “The James Brown of Comedy”
HThe empire of art appears to be immune to threat. He cheated on his pregnant wife in 2017, but he didn't seem to care about anyone. In 2015, he said he would never play a gay character. He wasn't one to really blink.
In 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that he would host the 2019 Oscars. Almost immediately, Twitter users and journalists began sharing tons of his old homophobic tweets and stand-up comments. The Academy asked him to apologize. He refused, resigned from the gig, and later issued an unapologetic apology on Twitter.
However, he never fully admits wrongdoing, which sparks controversy. I never really apologize. Instead, he talks about personal growth. Evolve and grow up – And complain about cancel culture.
Part of his 2013 special “Let Me Explain,” about how his infidelity destroyed his first marriage, captures that cycle. Are you embarrassed? No, it's not. Would it be nice if I could get it back? No, it's not. Let me tell you why. Without making mistakes, we cannot evolve as humans. ”
“It's been canceled three or four times?” he told the Sunday Times in 2021, matter-of-factly. In the same interview, he suggests that anyone who wants to cancel someone should “shut up!”
In high school, Hart grabbed a bully's mask, dragged him across the football field, ripped off his helmet and began punching him in the face, according to Hart's memoir. Shortly thereafter, he viciously punched another bully. “I thought a fight would escalate the situation,” he wrote. “But the fact that the bullying stopped taught me a lesson: always protect yourself.”
On a 2022 episode of the podcast “SmartLess,” after Hart boasted about being sober, co-host Jason Bateman asked him about appearing on the entrepreneurial reality show “Shark Tank.” Bateman wanted to know if Hart was pitching or umpiring.
“What is that-?” Hart yelled. Bateman asked again, and Hart yelled even louder, “I'm Kevin Hart, because-!”
“He has a certain soft spot,” Charleston resident Georgette “Cookie” Palasis said when asked her opinion of Hart before the show. “He touches your heartstrings.”
One phrase repeatedly surfaced among Charleston fans. he is friendly. Who among us hasn't taken penis enlargement pills at a gas station and ordered her spouse to recite her social security number during sex?
But maybe we're being too literal. What I can empathize with is not the taking of the medication, but the anxiety it causes. At the heart of Hart's jokes is a deep, universal anxiety. And there's a universal deep insecurity in the way he talks about himself.
“I'm as talented as—,” he felt the need to tell the Sunday Times.
he especially likes to explain how He is talented and often defends his own fun.
“The ‘he’s not funny’ slur is the best,” the tweet storm began in 2021. Director Hart highlighted that his own films have grossed $4 billion at the box office and three of his stand-up specials are in the top 10 at the box office. everytime.
“I have also turned my comedy talent into a source of income in business venues, branding, radio, etc.,” he tweeted. “The hate and slander is what motivates me to do more.”
IIs the Twain Award about being funny? Are “fun” and “loud” close enough?
According to the proclamation, the award honors “artists whose humor has influenced American society like its namesake, Mark Twain.” Humor is subjective, but impact is a little more measurable. 2004 winner Lorne Michaels has nurtured generations of comedic talent through 'Saturday Night Live,' or his 2012 winner Ellen DeGeneres for changing perceptions of gay people Some may argue that he used humor in
Deborah F. Rutter, director of the Kennedy Center, praised Hart's “iconic characters, unparalleled physical comedy, and relatable stories” (again, there's “relatable” here), and his He praised his “lasting contribution to the world of comedy.”
But Nesterov, the stand-up historian, points out that Hart and last year's winner Adam Sandler are technically mid-tier, making it difficult to put them into context.
“Kevin Hart truly belongs to a generation of show business,” Nesteroff says. “I don't know if there are certain comedians or performers who have been influenced by Kevin Hart that haven't come up yet.”
Nesteroff said the Twain Award is not just for heart comedies; empire He built on that.
“It feels like a celebration of fame,” Nesteroff says.
Of course, that's exactly what Hart is proud of.
The Mark Twain Award for American Humor Award Ceremony will be streamed on Netflix on May 11th.