Kevin Hart has always worked through his wins and losses on stage, and now he wants to use when he was chosen to host then Oscars and then urged to step down as part of his new stand-up comedy special.
While promoting the premiere of his sixth comedy special, Irresponsible on Netflix, The Upside star shared his intentions to create art from the scandal.
Hart decided not to host the Oscars after resurfaced homophobic tweets angered many of his fans. And while the comedian initially refused to apologize for his past actions — saying he had already done so — he later turned course yet still stepped down, tweeting that he didn’t want “to be a distraction.”
“This is a pivotal moment in my life and in my career, so it will be onstage,” said Hart on Vulture’s Good One podcast.
The father of three added that the material will be about telling the story, and not attacking the Academy.
“But, once again, there won’t be anything malicious behind it. It’ll be about me. It’ll be about my take on what happened, my opinion, and my realization. There’s going to be funny in it. I’m going to make people laugh at it no matter what. That’s what I do,” he explained.
Hart said he’s had success in turning his past trials into comedy gold.
“I’ve done it with everything — my mom’s funeral. I’ve done it with my dad and his drug addiction. I’ve done it with my kids and my ex-wife and how we split up,” he said. “And one of the most toughest times ever was me and my kids, when I f*cking left the house and I had them there! But I talked about it. That’s my therapy. If I don’t talk about it, I don’t fix it.”
Hart said he might even name drop during the comedy special, describing how Lee Daniels forced him to take accountability.
“The conversation that me and Lee Daniels had was a serious one, but I can find funny in everything,” the comedian said. “You know, the craziest part of the conversation was Lee not snapping on me, but Lee popped me. He popped my hand. You know, ‘cause he felt like I … he said, ’Just shut up and listen to me.’ Because I kept saying ‘Lee, I’m asking just what —’ and he’s like, ‘Shut up, I’m trying to tell you.’”
It was Daniels physical expression of frustration that finally got through to Hart.
“He popped me. I said, ‘Alright, I’m not going to say nothing else, Lee.’ The conversation, the realization, and the conclusion: It’s just like a joke,” he added.
Irresponsible is available for streaming on Netflix now.