Kevin Hart: The Joke’s On You

There was a booming knock on the door of our W Hotel suite, and immediately the entire room grew silent. For all in attendance, there was a unique understanding of what stood on the other side of that door. Just beyond it, was a man who could easily lay claim to being one of the funniest people in comedy: Kevin Hart — the undisputed welterweight champion of comedy. In many ways, Hart is a long way from Soul Plane. Though he’ll never make fun of the movie that has become the butt of many bad movie jokes, Hart’s visibility has risen to levels that far surpass his past appearances in low-budget, lowbrow comedies. From sold out comedy shows, to Jordan shoe endorsements, Hart has pushed his way to the top of the comedy heap, and is reaping the benefits as a result of it. As he prepared for his latest mainstream venture — the Dec. 22 release of Little Fockers — Hart spent time with rolling out detailing the path that brought him to his current station in life. While deftly moving between serious moments, and side-splitting punch lines, Hart revealed himself to be a man who’s not only humbled by his rising popularity, but also determined to never let it wane. Well, if this conversation was any indication of his commitment, then we’d say that he has nothing to be concerned about. Here is Kevin Hart unfiltered … just the way you like it. How do you view your entrance into the world of comedy? When you enter the world of comedy, you can either be a student of it, or you can just be someone that does it. I look at myself as a student. When you look at everyone that’s been successful and has achieved great things — Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac — all of those guys put their personal [lives] out there. But they did it in such a unique way that you can’t copy it. They all had a style of their own. Like Bill Cosby was a storyteller, but he was harmless within his storytelling. Richard Pryor was honest … now he was vulgar honest, but it got to the point where you couldn’t judge him because that’s who he was, and you accepted him for being himself. I think that I’ve found a lane for myself that can’t be copied either. What do you think you contribute to comedy? Coming up in this day and time, you don’t really have comedians that are talking about the family issues — the good and the bad — or talking about themselves, and their fears. I kind of make myself the butt of my jokes because only I know what I’ve done and what I can do. So I don’t like talking about other topics that I’m not educated on. I’m only educated on my life and where it’s going and what it’s doing. So whether it’s funny when it happens, or I find the funny within the pain of the situation, it’s what I do … this is my job. And through my studying comedy, I’ve really learned how to tell a joke. All a joke really is, is being honest and drawing people into your world. That’s all I do.

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So you make yourself the butt of the joke?

Yes, it’s much easier for someone to laugh at me and my situation, than to convince them to laugh at something totally unrelated to me or them. It’s called self-deprecation. People relate more to that, and it’s something that I discovered early on in my career.

You mentioned that you are a student of comedy. Why should one study it?

You study something that you’re going to take seriously. I don’t do this just because it’s a good time. I don’t do this just to be good for a second. When I’m no longer doing comedy, or I’m no longer living, I want to be remembered as someone who was serious about their craft and great at what they did. I don’t half-a** it at all. To me, that’s just a waste of time. The past greats opened up doors for myself and other comedians to walk through, and it’s my goal to open up more doors for other people. So I made the choice to study, because I decided to take control of my life. I realized that I didn’t have an option B … this had to work.

So describe the routine of studying other comedians.

You’ve got to watch footage. If you’re a comedian, you would be a fool not to know Eddie Murphy’s “Raw” set and not know his delivery. You would be a fool not to know Richard Pryor’s “Live on Sunset Strip” or Bill Cosby’s “Himself.” You would be a fool not to know the history of Bernie Mac. People think Bernie Mac just came out [of] the blue … I’ve got underground footage of Bernie Mac for years. Bernie Mac was around for a long time before he popped. Jerry Seinfeld, Tommy Davidson, George Carlin … I’m just well-versed in my profession. The way I see it, you don’t know where to go, if you don’t know the people who are already there and already successful at what it is that you’re striving to do. These people have already been to the top, and you need to understand what they were doing, and why people loved them so much. You’ve got to learn about their successes and failures, so you can learn and have it help you in your career. Education is key.

Education is key, but so is one’s appearance. How has the way that you carry yourself contributed to your success?

You’ve got to appeal to all people. And even though I love my people, I understand that we are not the only people on the earth. There are tons of people out there, and I want to make everybody laugh. That’s why you make yourself universal. Your appearance is key to that, and a lot of people don’t realize that. When you look harmless, people will feel safer and more comfortable with you. I could easily go up there with a ski mask [on] and tell the same jokes, but I’d probably scare half of the audience. So you make sure that you are representing yourself in a way that appeals to your wide-ranging audience, to give yourself commercial appeal. There are so many other things that I want to do with this.

Like what?

Well, I just want to become a brand. Like for instance, I have a Jordan campaign that I’m currently doing. I would have never thought that I’d be doing a Jordan campaign … I’m actually the first comedian to get one. But it’s because they like my appeal. Not just because they think I’m funny or they like my stage presence … it’s because of the whole package that I’m bringing to the table.

Let’s talk about the power of laughter.

Laughter is incredibly healing. It’s the only thing that can take the stress of life away. I look at laughter as an unbelievable way to enforce positive things on people, and I’m just grateful that I’ve been given an opportunity to do that.