Two years ago, Kevin Hart’s stand-up movie, Laugh at Your Pain, suddenly arrived in movie theaters. It was kind of a blip on my radar — I don’t keep up with the stand-up comedy scene as much as many of our readers here, so I had no idea who Kevin Hart was. I just remember that his movie didn’t do very well. But then I caught Think Like a Man, a movie I’d have never watched unless it was for review, and the damn thing was surprisingly great. It’s probably impossible to convince anyone of that who hasn’t seen it of that, because it’s based on a silly, preposterous, and lame Steve Harvey self-help book (which I actually initially thought was fake) and it also featured Turtle from Entourage. The bright spot in an already solid movie featuring the soulful Michael Ealy and a knock-out Taraji P. Henson, however, was Kevin Hart, who stole that damn film. I liked him in it so much I went and checked out Laugh at Your Pain, and hell if that wasn’t solidly hilarious, too.
I don’t think Hart has broken through just yet, but with seven movies due out over the next two years, he’s certainly poised to. He’s funny. I have no idea if he’s going to be any damn good on Saturday Night Live, where he’s probably a more gifted comedian than everyone except for Bill Hader, but it should at least make for a interesting Saturday Night Live.
Check out his promos, with Jason Sudeikis.
