Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain

We're rolling.

Rolling what? What are we--

We're shooting this?

Dude, we just shot that?

Why wouldn't you say "action"?

Leslie, Tim, one of y'all gotta say "action."

I'm sitting here, looking stupid.

That's not the look I'm going for.

Come on, this is the start of my movie.

I'm trying to give off pain and laughter... Laugh at my pain.

Laughter and pain, that's what I'm going for.

That's why we're doing this shot.

Just start the movie!

- -

This tour has been unbelievable.

We're 90-cities deep right now

and each show has been a success.

We're now in our last city of Los Angeles.

Let's end it with a bang.

We're looking at 15,000 people tonight.

Put smiles on those people's faces,

give everybody the strength and ability to do what they do best,

and that's make people laugh.

Everybody want to be famous!

Nobody want to put the work in.

Everybody want to be famous!

Nobody want to put the work in.

Everybody want to be famous!

Nobody want to put the work in.

I'll say it one more time. Everybody want to be famous!

But nobody want to put the work in.

-Let's go, y'all. -Gonna put the work in.

I've been on stages all over the world,

but a different stage prepared me for this moment.

Philadelphia.

Come home with me.

Walk with me, see what I saw

and live what I've already lived.

My life, baby. We're in the streets. Philadelphia.

I told y'all it's real, okay?

Y'all don't think it's real. I'ma show you how real it was.

Harry, duh, you didn't believe I was a thug.

I'm about to show you, okay?

Watch how much shit-- Watch this.

Look over there. Watch, these kids know me right now.

What up, yo? What up, kids?

All right.

Everybody know me. Just turn the camera back.

What up, baby? I'm home.

Dude, I know everybody. Follow me.

Oh, that's my man. Charlie!

Oh--

So see this area here? See where it says "Ontario Street"?

This was like a big street for me.

When I was a kid, our school bus

used to drop us off right here on this corner.

What up, boy? I'm home, man.

Hey, Jerry!

That's Jeremy.

-Who? -Jeremy.

-You said Jerry. -No.

-I thought you said Jerry. -No, I didn't.

I definitely said Jeremy. I said Jeremy.

He repping the block. That's what he doing.

He's on a cell phone.

No, he's repping-- A matter of fact, I'm about to rep this corner.

Move, because y'all gonna mess up my rep right now.

This is how you rep a corner hard in Philly.

I was like 15.

I was watching Eddie Murphy come out on the stage.

And I remember the leather, the response

to him being on stage and the crowd...

I remember seeing so many people laugh at this one person.

I said, "I want that response.

I want that attention. I want that love.

I wanna make people laugh the way that this man made people laugh."

My best friend, right here...

Adam. This is Robbie.

When I say my days were spent with these guys

on the basketball court...

Now y'all don't believe all the shit that I say about basketball,

that I used to be good... These are two men that can confirm it.

Adam, was I good or not?

No.

Robbie, was I good in basketball?

You was okay, but you wasn't better than me.

-No, you used to swim good though. - Yeah.

They don't never talk about you could swim.

No, no, no, no. Guys,

I don't wanna talk about that right now.

You used to swim at Marcus Foster's.

I get that. I don't wanna--

You was fast.

I'm not trying to-- I don't want people to know that side.

I'm talking about me playing basketball right now.

You know, my swim team was so huge,

they actually made a movie about it.

The movie Pride was based off of PDR,

which is called the Philadelphia Department of Recreation.

My swim team, you know.

Young African-American kids all from the inner city,

we got together and formed

what I like to call something special.

We made history back then.

Terrence Howard's character

was actually based off of my swim coach Jim Ellis.

Uh, it's a team,

and so everybody gives up their individual goals,

commits to one goal,

and that's how we achieve.

If you had to say the type of swimmer that I was,

what would you say as a coach?

What effort did I put forth in swimming?

You put 100% effort out. You put 100% effort out.

-Get the fuck out of here. -No!

I used to work Thursday nights at the Laff House,

which was pretty much-- It was a standard show,

but I always allowed for open opportunities for new comics.

So later that night, this little short guy walks up to me.

He's like, "Yeah, I'm Kevin. Buck sent me."

And I'm like, "All right. You know, what you want me to say?"

"Just introduce me as Little Kev The Bastard."

And I said, "That's what you want me to say?"

Like, "That's the name you want me to use?"

He's like, "Yeah, yeah."

His open-mike night was basically amateur night,

where they held competitions.

He won it like six weeks straight,

just with his energy, with his ambition, with his aggression.

And just coming in there week to week

for a young comic with new material like Kev did,

it was something to see.

This is where I started doing comedy,

at the world-famous Laff House Comedy Club

in Philadelphia, P.A.

That's me at the age... That's 2002.

Uh, I feel like there should be a bigger wall here

with my face on it now.

So if I can have a wall built possibly here

that people kind of have to walk around, maybe.

Back at the Laff House in Philadelphia,

I once went past there from New York or whatever

to see who was young, on the scene, who was coming through.

And I seen Little Kev.

And I'm like, "Wow, this kid is pretty talented."

So I said, "Yeah, you're pretty good, man. You're pretty good.

You can come hang out with me, young fella.

I'm gonna take you to New York,

you know, to understand how things work."

We had a lot of adventures

driving from Philly to New York,

night after night.

Seven days out of the week, nonstop.

Back and forth, back and forth.

Put a lot of miles on my sweet Ford Focus.

We left Philly at about five o'clock in the afternoon.

And sometimes we'd leave New York

like at about 4:00 in the morning, 5:00 in the morning,

drive back there to Philly.

Keith Robinson was the guy that basically said,

"Hey, you're funny,

but you're not talking about nothin'."

He said, "You know, you're on stage and you're just--

You're doing what you think people want to see.

You know? But you don't have any substance."

He said, "Who are you?"

I'll never forget that when he asked me that.

He said, "Who are you?

When people leave, do they know you?"

Start with what it is that you know about yourself,

that's your strength.

You can't be afraid of the truth.

You know, if it happened, talk about it.

That is when he started to really piece together a great set,

because he started bringing in his personal life

and not being afraid to use it onstage.

People, this is where I used to live, right here.

West Erie Avenue. In here it was just, uh...

It was me, my brother and my mom.

So my mom kind of made that space work for her,

put us in this environment and did what she could.

You know, she made the best of our living situation.

She wanted me to stay away from the streets.

She didn't want me in the streets.

So, you know, I was kind of the guy with the mom...

I was a mama's boy coming up.

My dad didn't live here with me.

My dad was kicked out.

My mom kicked my dad out when I was like four, four and a half.

My dad was not allowed

to go past that step right there.

Coming up in Philly, he had to be thick-skinned,

'cause he's short.

And when you're short and, you know, a target,

he had to have quick response.

So a lot of his initial comedy