Be a Dumb Genius with Kevin Hart

up and moved to Los Angeles. - And at no point during that process, did you get any kind of professional development? - Dom Genius, Dom Genius. - I moved to Los Angeles without a plan. - No acting classes. - I moved to Los Angeles. - To Los Angeles. With 25,000, I had about $25,000 left of the development. - About 60 grand to the IRS, 'cause I didn't pay taxes. - Well, there they are. - So totally in debt. - And I moved to Hollywood, and I remember, I remember moving and walking down, walking down like sunset boulevard, and I was like, okay. - Here we go. - This is it, what now? (upbeat music) - This episode is brought to you by Chase Home Linden. - Hey, little girl. - Hi, Craig Robinson. How are you? - You know what I'm doing? I'm doing pretty good, you know? Everything is in one piece, I believe. I feel healthy. - Good. - How you feeling? - I feel great. - Well, our next guest, you know, his latest standup, which correct me. I mean, he's rolling down my face. He's talking about us getting old, you know? - And the funny thing is, he's still so young. - I know. - He's talking about getting old. - He's just true. - He's like, you know, we got to say hello. We're talking about Kevin Hart, who is here with us today. Got to say hello. And it's like, yeah, he's all in shape. He looks like he's about, I know. Right, talking about not being able to run and pull and stuff. - Pull him in. - And what are you pulling? You know, maybe he's stretching more now. - You know, you know, we love all of our guests. But, you know, I haven't met Kevin Hart. - And I haven't had a chance to sit down and talk to Kevin. I mean, we've met on some photo line or something. We're just like, hey, how you doing? But, yeah, so I'm excited. - Yeah, well, let me get his introduction going. Kevin Hart has made a name for himself as the hardest working comedian, entrepreneur, producer and actor. He is a global box office powerhouse and has earned both Emmy and Grammy nominations. He's a phoenix approach to sharing life's everyday moments like we talked about with humor and, and Hart has earned him a devoted global audience and social media fan base. - Yes, indeed. - Without further ado, let's bring out the former varsity basketball player, Kevin Hart. (audience applauding) You knew I did my research. Beautiful, beautiful introduction. - This is great ballers gotta stay together. You know how that is. - This is so great. - So, how are you talking about feeling old? - What do you mean? - I'm getting older. What do you mean, it happens? - You don't look it. - What you look and feel the two different things. - I guess you right. - Look. Okay, the perception is amazing. - I expected you to come in here and look at it. - You're like, do a cartwheel or something like that or twist an ankle or something. No, it's a lot going on under the hood. I'm in pain. I am in pain. The maintenance to keep this up is extremely high. - I find that men though, just don't stretch. - It's true, I can't touch my toes. - See, now that's the thing. I've been talking to Barack about this, right? 'Cause I have no ego about it. You see how fast I said it, I can't touch my toes. - But you can. - You could be able to do it. I mean, you could if you were doing your yoga once a week, you could touch your toes. I challenge you. - Well, I don't want the challenge. - Okay. - But there's a challenge. Like you just get me a challenge. - Challenge accepted. - Yeah, Kevin, I challenge you to do it. - Try to do it. - And touch your toes. - Kevin. - I don't want to touch my toes. - Kevin, so you know how some people become famous? - And what? - And become bullies. - Yes. - They just bully you into doing stuff like you. - A bully? - Yes. - A bully. - She just comes bust them in. - No, it didn't work. - No, what you just did is the clear definition of bullies. Like if we're just going to be honest about it, that is exactly what bullying is. - And then act like she's not. - No, she said it and slammed her hand. - Yeah, wait a minute, I'll never ask for the challenge. This is unwarranted, so I won't try it though. My flexibility is in dire need of help. - But that's why you ripped up here. What did you take? - Yeah, I tore my abductor. - That's like C and yoga, that abductor is stretched out. - It will be prepared for that. - It will be prepared for you to kind of run. You just said it now, I'm a ratio. You'll see when I get up, the problem here is like I jump up. See, I needed a minute to just let this leg get out. - Get a little dizzy, you jump up too fast. - You know, they'll start to happen. - Yeah, start to happen. - I'm sorry about that. - Right, you know, that's how people fall, break a hip. - Is that ever happen? - That, oh. - Right there, when you get a quiet dizzy spell and you don't want to alert anybody, but you're like, oh, this is it, this is it, this is it. - This is about to happen. - Oh, this is it. - And when they're up, you go, you know, it's just like you just keep going. And your blood is like, we can't go that fast. - I think that I have to do a better job of alerting people when these things happen. Like I've had things that I deemed to be scarce. Like, you know, if you're eating and you swallow too fast for something that's stuck in your chest, there's something, this is a heart attack. 1,000% is happening right now. And I'm just quiet about this. - I can. - If one of my girlfriends, the Heimlich, at dinner. - What? - I didn't tell you all this. - Yeah, well, friend of mine was visiting me and it was funny because-- - Funny. - Well, that's right. We're back to bullying. - Thank you. - No, this is a full circle. - Well, we're the same age and you know, you start having, you know, swallowing problems. Things just stop, you know? Yeah, so she-- - How about you and your food? - But she had chewed her food, but she had told me that she had this a soft, gilt issue where things will get stuck, right? So I knew that about her. Now, we're there with Malia and two of her friends. They're in their 20s, right? But they're still babies, right? She stands up, finished eating. She stands up and coughs. And I think she coughed up something and it got stuck in her throat. And she was like, and I said, are you okay? And she said, now the three children, they just pushed away from the table. - Left. They started laughing. - No, they didn't laugh. They were like, oh, that's what I was thinking. - It was, it was girls. - Yeah, it started. - We didn't be cracking up. - They were, they were moving away. And I got up and I said, I went behind her and I just pulled up, like they, I've never done the hiding before and it dislodged it. - Did they pop out of my mouth? - It just popped up. Right away, one-- - One, one good. - Got it. - That's pretty one. - And I was looking at the kids and I was like, what were you all doing? You know, I mean, my question, and they were like, you're right. You're like, we were useless. They realized that that was a matter of only-- - That's actually a story. - Yeah. - That's the one that you got to pull out at some dinners. Like, that's not a casual story. - We're just scaring about this. - Yeah, that's the big one. - We talked about it. - No, we didn't have it. - No, we didn't, but in our family orbit, we talked about it. - How good is your life to throw out a casual hero story of, yeah, I saved the life. - She's trying to make up for the bullet. - I only gave one, I only knew it. - But I only say that because that's kind of stuff that happens when we get older. - And the reason why I knew she wasn't faking, 'cause she told me that had happened to her before, where she something got caught in her throat and she was home alone. - And it didn't pop out of her mouth? - It didn't pop out, but it dislodged, and then she could swallow it. - And then it went back down. Oh, no. - Yeah. - She, she, that's the reason it could happen again. - She gave her a re-eat. - A re-eat. - You can't re-eat, you can't do a re-eat. You can't do a re-eat over the problem piece. You gotta get that out. - But she's alive when it's a hazard of aging, you know? - It's the things that break down. - You're right. - And the definitions form the words, you know, I think that's the funniest thing that I found about getting older is that you have a word and reason for everything, you know? 'Cause right now I'm losing mobility in my elbow. So what they said to me is like you just, you look for so much information. Yeah, so apparently I don't have the same recoil that I did. So I have to basically extend my elbow but overextend to get the full variation of use. But other than that, I'm fine. Yeah, other than that, I'm okay. But when it rains, it tightens up like that. You turn as if that's what you're saying. - And what did you say you can't eat anything? - No, you know. - You get to the point where you're just-- - You put lemon in water, it's like, ooh, wow. Lemon's gonna mess up my system. I cracked up because it filled that way. - You're much more regular than older you do. - You know, and sometimes it's like not now. - It's too much. - Not now. - Yeah, I'm not eating if I have a drive ahead of me. - But you know, yeah. - You wind up like 20 minutes to get there? - I'll wait, I'll eat when we get there. I'll eat once we're there. - I don't think I've eaten a day. (laughing) - Listen, that is so true. I mean, oh, I got a flight. Let me, let me, let me. - Let me just like, I'm in a train and I'm in a train. - You say we going over somebody's house? (laughing) - No, I'm a, I'm a wait. I'm a wait till after we, 'cause I don't know these people. I don't want to, I don't want to eat over there. - And don't give me anything, no cheese. - Yeah, please, please, no cheese. - I'm sorry, I'm sorry, what's in that wall nuts? Yeah, I can't, I can't, I'm gonna push this back and just wait, can you, do you just have dry lettuce that I can, I'll just, I'll just never want that. - Don't put it in the house. - No, no, no boss, I've been just in place. Please. Please don't know none of that. Thank you. Oh my god. See we got young people here. You all don't even know Which is strong that just systems it's coming for you I mean they literally eat like a tank. There's nothing they don't worry about anything spicy Really and you just look and go oh Jesus I would never make it to the car it was February you know the language I won't I'll curve my language, but it's it's like Having no fear for consequence. Yeah, is it is a unbelievable Childlike eating an ass by lack of a better work like it's gonna. It's gonna. It's gonna blow You're not afraid of when that's gonna detonate. Yeah, but they can still control it. They can hold it Yeah, like They're like Seagulls The birds that could just hold on for so long. Like I've never seen anything like it and fly it Oh, well, we we're supposed to be talking about you. Yes, I'm ready. My mother. That was a that was a great conversation Related ability You Have good to know them all the same man. We're all in the same boat But please before we talk about me. I just want to say congrats guys. This is a this is amazing. Thank you for having me Amazing team that you have amazing energy here and excited so excited to get in all things of course Kevin and and be a Open book of dialogue Conversation and to help out with that we have a special guest in studio. Yes Daughter my oldest. Are you the oldest heaven? Are you the the oldest or the I am yeah the oldest grown child? That's crazy Yeah, that's my look I my first mistake She is your she is your greatest treasure. I could tell that that's my best friend. That is my I am Unbelievably proud of the woman as she has become and is becoming but I can say as a father your Awards come in a proof of concept. Yeah, right like I mean and and parenting are you do is give your best and you hope That your efforts didn't fall on deaf ears really and half the time aren't you thinking oh God? I don't know what I'm doing. I just I mean don't but you don't right? Yeah, you're figuring out Like we know what we're doing you're figuring it out But I think for me the biggest reward has been seeing her actively put the things that I've like Beat in her head over the years to use And she's just a responsible driven person like she she truly is a little mold of The world of what her parents have put in front of her and I think that's just it's a plus She's the best example in the world for her brothers. Oh, that's great This episode of IMO is brought to you by United Airlines You know, I fly a lot both with my family and for work and the airline that's earned my trust is United I've been a loyal mileage plus member since 1990 and yes, I know how old that makes me sound Right now United is rolling out the world's fastest most reliable high-speed in flight Wi-Fi from Starlink Across their entire fleet free from mileage plus members like me Recently I was flying United while watching a live game and the connection was perfect just like my setup back home 35,000 feet in the air and I didn't miss a single play I also love the virtual gate feature the luggage tracker and all the changes and adjustments I can make through their award-winning app Even better they've got new planes with screens and power outlets at every seat Bluetooth so I can connect my own headphones and bigger overhead bins But my favorite part has always been their service which is stellar All of the flight crews are so friendly and I feel welcome the second I set foot on the plane So book your next flight on the United app or at united.com Today's show is sponsored by incogni Now whenever I get those scam calls or text it's always infuriating to not know how they got my number or email I'm quite careful in giving those out But having my info exposed to scammers still felt unavoidable Our sponsor incogni is a must for the digital age They go out and contact data brokers on your behalf and request that your personal information gets removed from these databases You could do it manually but it would take you years The setup was really easy. 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It's become a kind of therapy for me But just to be clear, I am a firm believer in actual therapy as well Therapy isn't only for moments of crisis It's for anyone who wants more support clarity or tools for navigating whatever life throws at them Growth therapy can connect you with thousands of licensed therapists across the US Offering both virtual and in-person sessions including nights and weekends You can search for what matters to you like insurance, specialty, identity or availability And get started in as little as two days One thing I really like is that there are no subscriptions or long-term commitments You simply pay per session making it easier to find care that fits your life If there's something in your life you'd like to change Growth therapy can help you start. The therapist you want takes your insurance on grow Grow accepts over 125 insurance plans Sessions average $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 Depending on their plan Visit growtherapy.com/IMO today to get started That's growtherapy.com/IMO Growtherapy.com/IMO. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan Can you talk more about your mom? Oh my goodness Because look she's she's she's badass, you know single mother. I want to know Where she got it from You know, that's a that's a good question. I mean No disrespect to this amazing woman that I'm sitting across from at the table But I'll argue anybody down and say pound for pound the best woman to walk the earth. Yeah, right Oh my mom I don't think she's on by her Oh, I know what she would do And then he's gonna argue That's that's what her brother does. My big brother. It's like Well, it's a hard no not even My mom Okay, you know what's crazy. It's like I got a As I got older, I got a different version of my mom. Yeah, so the The bad version of my mom. I never got to see because my mom flipped flipped her life and went in the direction of spiritual You know godfaring and energy towards self and self-improvement and From the age like for on there was no relationship with my dad. There was no I never saw Another man with my mom like all I saw was my mom go to work Come home tend to me my brother and whatever my needs or our needs were I never saw anything else so the commitment to To doing whatever had to be done Was bar none We didn't have money But we also never saw that we didn't have money. Mm-hmm. We didn't have a life or lifestyle that allowed us to Do the most or have the most But we had the things that we needed it wasn't until my mom passed away That me and my brother got to see how much my mom Did and what she prepared for like you know, I remember she she passed away And there was insurance and and and you know money that was given to me and my brother and account that was set up and She had college funds just in case and like literally with without having any this crazy salary or Money coming in have a financial advisor. Yeah. My mom was a she was hungry for information. She felt that it was free and and she said that you can obtain as much of it as you can keep. So she was in college. I mean, for the duration of her adulthood, chasing masters, after masters, after masters, always just further extending the opportunity to educate and to do. So in my younger years, it was like she does too much and it's annoying and like it's always something. You always want me to read. You always want me to like look up something. You always want me to study these things and like, I'm not a good student. I don't want to do this. I don't want to finish or complete these things. I don't want to prepare or study. But when the adulthood kicked in, something happened and those lessons, all of a sudden it was second nature. If I could tell my mom anything, if I could have a conversation with Nancy, it would just be, you are right. And I think like parents-- - How were you when she passed? - I get a little-- - I looked-- - It gets me-- - So just give me a little-- - We cannot talk about our parents. - No, it gets out, sorry. - Yeah, no. - No need to apologize. - With Nancy. - Yes. - That's my one regret. I never got to say you were right. And that's what-- - How were you when she passed? - 26? - Yeah. - 26, 27. - Yeah. - And it's not like my, my tear isn't like a-- - No, I know. - It's not an angriot. It's like-- - Yeah. - It's the appreciation for the energy. - Yes. - And love and real time that a parent is giving. - Yeah. - As a child, you overlook it. You don't value it at the level that you should. So it's not until kids get older. It's not until kids get older that you go damn, right? - Yeah. - I actually had the-- - Yeah. - I had the makeup around me. I had it. I had the machine around me. - Yeah. - And because it wasn't glamorous, because it wasn't the bells, the whistles, the cars, the big houses, the front yards, it was like, oh man, we're gonna look at us, we're struggling, rapport with this or that. - Yeah. - I also had the flip side of this as well, right? So like, my dad was the opposite. - Yes. - And it's not glamorous. It's actually really bad. Like my dad's, my dad was really like, there was some, a lot of shit with my dad. - Yeah, yeah. - But if I didn't see it firsthand, and I didn't see my dad battle with addiction, with, you know, the law. I mean-- - Say he checked all the box. - He checked, name it, name it, name it. My dad, man. I mean, arguably the humor, the ability to have dark humor, light humor, it's my dad, like an example of my dad. Like, I remember my mom's sister had passed away. And we're going to the funeral. And you know, it's my mom's side, right? But, you know, a couple of people were passed. Like, this is like another sister of my mom's. Like, her mom, her dad, like, you know, the funerals are, they're happening. - They're coming. - They're coming fast. - My dad is there. We get there, we're like standing with the family. And my dad goes, they drop in like flies. (laughing) - It's like two soon. - It's like that. - Just soon. - Yeah, it looked around. I mean, come on, man. - Okay. - Is that what it's said to you? - By the way, by the way, the worst health. My dad had the worst cancer. - You're right, you're right. - My dad took his lung out and battled with every level of COPD. I mean, you name it. Like, my dad was supposed to be going years ago. Yes, go, but he was show up. - He's there counting on me. - He kept sobbing. I don't know how y'all are not kicking this stuff. (laughing) You can't say this. Not beating, that's it. (laughing) I'll beat that. (laughing) He's wearing it like badges. - Like beat that. That one didn't get me. - Can't say that again. - Can't say that again today, try it. Had me in there with the chemo. I told him, "Kiss my ass." I got out of there. I beat it. Y'all didn't knock that? I mean, it was bad. (laughing) - So you got, your mom has this shining example on the other one side. And your dad has a different kind of example on the other side. - The worst of it, yes. (laughing) - So what people talk about a lot today is raising young men to be good men. - Yeah. - My dad was very adamant about the stance of men. So bullying and things like that when I was a kid. Like, "Yo, they messing with me." Are they getting messed? Or I don't like that. They're picking on me down the street. My dad was the, "Come on, what are we going?" We going down the street. You want to go down there and whoever it was, you're going to handle your situation. I'm a stand there. And when I lose, it doesn't matter. What matters to me is that you understand that you're not supposed to allow these things to happen. Whether I'm there or not, you have to respect yourself enough to want to see the best for yourself. So, you know, I can go to several street fights when I was younger. By the way, this is a different time of parenting. A much different time where some of these things are frowned upon, but I can say the character that was built because of the things that my dad made necessary. And it was so out of the, so far out of the loop of what should be done. Everything my dad did, I was standing in argue. I think it was wrong. I can say, I think it was wrong. - That was looking bad. - No, looking bad at it, my dad. My dad threw me off a cliff in the lake. I was scared to jump. He grabbed me, threw me off. - It's like, nope, nope, that wasn't it. - I'm in the lake, I'm in the lake, tried to yell down, see you fine. No, I'm not, you just scared to shot me. Like, I'm not comfortable in here, but his approach, the shock factor that it came with, it gave me a level of comfort with like, things that will be, will be. Like, it is what it is, I don't care like my dad, we in car, the car break down. All right, leave the park, we gonna walk, walk where? Home. - We're in another state. - We gonna walk? - We gonna walk. We in a boat, boat break down. All right, we're just okay. We wait for somebody to come by, flag them down, get them, they boat, take us in. Who do we know out here? We just wait. Here you go, hey. Let that one go by, they ain't stopping to get next one. Whatever, things that were bad, were never that bad to him. So, my, my, I have such a simplistic like stance to problems, like I don't talk about the problem, like there's got to be a solution. - When did you come to appreciate the wisdom that you were getting from your father? I mean, what you got from your mother was evident, right? But, you know, and I'm sure there's some tension to his approach, who he was, what he wasn't, who he wasn't to your mother. - There were a lot of reasons to not not see his wisdom. When did it start to, when did this clarity? - When I realized that my dad wasn't afraid to be honest about any of his flaws. He was a very, my dad was very accountable. Yeah, I did it. Yeah, I wasn't there. - Yeah. - Your mother should've done what she'd done. I was a piece of shit, I did this, I did that. I was on drugs, yeah. I wasn't in the right frame of mine. He'd be the, this story defines, "Have I no more if I told you this story?" 'Cause, 'cause-- - We gonna hear it now. - You wanna hear it? This is a-- - I didn't know about the cliff. - The cliff? - No, no, no, no, no, no. - The cliff. - The heavens sitting there going, Jesus. - This is gonna mess you up, though, have about grandfather. (laughing) - Here we go. - It's not gonna mess you up, just like a real real moment. - Yeah, this is the thing. - So my dad, through like his craziest bout with drugs, my dad disappeared from him. And how old were you when I was just in place? - I was 14, 15. - Okay, so-- - Okay, so he's, dad's gone. - Important time. - Yes, like I, this is the time when my brother was military, coming home, 'cause my brother was having problems. And it's just me and my mom, right? Like me and my mom, my mom's figuring it out. My mom's got me in every extracurricular activity. She's doing anything to keep me off the streets. My brother was an example of what can happen. If you're on the streets, I'm not gonna let that happen with you. I got the iron fist. It's about two years since I've seen my dad. - Oh, right? - Yeah. - So you don't know-- - We don't know. - We don't know. - We don't know if it's alive or dead or what? - Well, you hear, because he, at the time, he was battling with drugs. So you hear stories about your dad's been up on X, Y, and Z. That's where the addicts are. Like my brother was hearing things. I'm on a train subway, public transportation in Philadelphia. And I'm sitting on a train. And no way. That my dad-- - No way. - On a train. - Dad? 15 years old, I'm coming home from school. Dores open on a train. My dad looks at me dead in the eye. He looks bad, horrible. My dad ran off the train. About, Seven months after, man, my brother, finding checks him in the rehab, my brother found out where he was. His reason for getting in the rehab and doing everything, because he was so hurt at what he looked like when I saw him at his worst. And he said, he would rather go through life. And I'll see him again, then me seeing him at his worst. So his road to getting back was such a crazy road to experience, because it was just, it was unapologetic and authentic and real. So, whether than frowning upon the years that I missed or the moments that my dad was there, I kinda like, I rushed in the fact that like, oh, he's changing, he's aware and he wants to be better and do the right thing. And when he got on the other side of it, he said, look, I can't change anything of what I've done with you or your brother. I could say sorry, but now y'all got grandkids. Like, I got grandkids. I can be the best version of myself to them because they don't know everything. Give me the opportunity to create that with them and seeing him repair his years of bad father by great, grandparent energy. Oh shit, this is four seconds. I'll take that out, I'll take it every day of the week. And that's bigger than an apology to me. Yes. It's much bigger, you don't need to say anything, right? I've dealt with it, I'm okay. We're okay, I still love you and my dad. But oh, your road to repair and how you're going about it, I can't find a level of more respect. So seeing him do that, it was when I started to really like really peel back the layers and go, I mean, this is a man's man. Mm-hm. This is a, you're talking about falling to the bottom and climbing your back up and finding a reason to smile every day after finding solace and then the blessings of your son becoming and you being able to see it. Yeah. Whether, like who's to say who deserve to or who didn't? Like my mom didn't get to see any of it. Mm-hm. My dad was able to be on my, my dad was on jets with me and here's a house, dad, here's a car. Get what you need, what do you want? My dad was able to reap the benefits of his son becoming because somehow he managed to make it through. I don't know why it plays out the way that it does. I think everything happens for a reason. Sure. But I love the fact that my dad got a world of blessings after his world of term. And in some ways, you got extra blessings from that. Well, I won't touch drugs 'cause my dad. Yeah. And, and I've only met heaven. I haven't met your other kids, but I suspect that it's affected you in the way you parents. 1000%. Yeah. 1000%. Oh, you might, they've never spent, they've never spent the night like over their grandpa's house. Well, yeah. And I was, hey, look. It's like, we, you're not going to be there. You're right, say, that can we? You want to go to kids, like, that can we talk to my, everybody's gonna be there. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. You're not going over there. Yeah, you're going grandpa. He's going to come over here and sleep over there. Grandpa, my dad was on time. Send the kids down and we're just, absolutely not. Absolutely not, dad. And you know what? And we all have, if you're black and you know, didn't grow up rich, we all have that, that wasn't my father, but there were cousins and uncles and, you know, not going over there. Yeah, and it's, it's a, the other thing you got from all that was the power of forgiveness. 1000% right, because there's so many young men, so many grown men who are walking around with the pain from that loss without any clarity, without any context, without any reconciliation, and they are living with those holes. 1000% and you, your father helped you close those. It's, it's weird because my brother, my brother struggles with that. Okay. My brother can't let go of the times of all. He's very like stubborn in the idea of repair. You do something wrong to my brother. My brother is more than for life. Yeah. You and I got a problem for life. Every time I see you, I'm going to tell you that me and you are no good. Like, that's like, that takes a lot of energy. Do you know the, do you know the amount of energy that it takes to keep a grip really? Like, to do that. Do you know like every day, you wake up and go, no, no, no, no. It's making me wrong. I'm so, the fact that they think I'm that guy. Like, like, that it takes so much. And he, he, he can't. I've never been the, I'm not a grudge person. This episode of IMO is brought to you by Chase Home Lending. Buying a home isn't just a financial decision. It's a step into a new chapter. And you shouldn't have to take that step alone. With Chase, you're supported by real people. Your neighbors, folks you see around town. People who know your community and understand what matters to you. Chase's home lending advisors are there to listen, guide, and help you understand what's possible and help you get into your new home. With smart digital tools like Chase My Home, you can plan your next steps and explore your options whenever it works for you. You know, in my early days, as I was transitioning from my corporate job to coaching, I had a few people in my corner that made all the difference in helping me succeed. I remember working in the corporate world and trying to navigate how to climb the ranks to vice president. I had a mentor that I relied on to help me learn the rules of the game. I specifically recall asking him what it took to be a vice president. His advice still stands out in my mind today. If you wanna be a vice president, act like a vice president. Those words stayed with me my whole career. Behave like the position you want, not the position you're in. So if you're thinking about your own next chapter, remember having someone you trust by your side can make all the difference. Explore your savings, opportunities, and let Chase support your journey. Visit chase.com/IMO to get started. Remember FDIC, equal housing opportunity. - This is a great way to segue into kids make me angry. - Yes, yes. - Can you talk a little bit about your private? - It's a project with Audible and it's more of what we're doing now, right? Like the lessons and intel, information and stories of my roadmap to better parenting, from start to where I am now. It's a very, very authentic transparent dive into like kid one through four. And the lessons that I was able to learn from, take on, understand, improve upon, and grow with after each child, right? Like from starting out and not really being as useful as you would want to be, right? Like when a newborn baby's there, it's not much as a father that you can do. You're there for-- - You could change a dive? - I mean, it's vocal, maybe. But when I start changing the dive, but you snatched the baby 'cause I did it wrong. - 'Cause I did it wrong. - Yeah, that's not it. You got it too tight, that's why I did it. Give me the baby. - 'Cause I can't be shooting up the baby. - Yeah, there's a baby. Let me swallow, I can swallow. No, you don't do it right, the harm ain't locked it. You're there for moral support. - Looking over the shoulder. - And that's it. - And I think it's very valuable. - Especially men. I mean, I think it's really beautiful that you are sharing your skills, tools, lessons, wisdom, as a father, because fathers don't talk as much. - Well, I think there's a cloud over the concept of the black father, right? And the stereotypes attached to that. Bad, good, whatever they may be, the only way to redefine these stereotypes is to put better examples of fatherhood out there in the world that can be received, that can act as energy to energize this new generation of fathers. - For sure. - Right, we're better gift to give to fathers than the gift of moral support. more information, right? And and affirmation, right? I think sometimes we're looked over and quickly looked looked. There are there are a lot of good fathers. 1000%. We had one. I married to one. My brother is one. You know, I'm surrounded by by good fathers. And you're right. They get a bad rap, especially black fathers. Yeah. You know, but part of it is because there's not enough guys doing what you're doing. Yes. And who have the platform to go out and say and and champion fathers. So thanks for doing that. Thank you for most. Thank you. A heartbeat. Y'all are killing it. Please talk talk about that. I mean, all that you were doing heartbeat is my entertainment ecosystem. Oh, I like that. Ecosystem. One of many other plants and trees. Well, there's a lot. There's a lot of trees with tons of branches that are that are now presenting the opportunity for so much for this next generation. I think what I'm very adamant about at this point in my career is creating opportunities for the new. For example, funny AF is a comedy a comedy series that I did with Netflix where we're finding the next voice and comedy, right? And the winner of the competition gets an hour special on Netflix. So I was able to go to Netflix and say, look, I want to do something cool. But the hour special has to come with it. Well, Kevin, we don't know that's a lot to give. Was my partner. I need you guys to align with me because this has never been done. Are you guys, you're working with everybody? Are you working primarily with Netflix? I personally was doing am not was was doing a film deal with Netflix. Unbelievable partners. I believe in the relationship that we've had over the course like the last five years. The company still does business with all, right? It's free game and opportunity for so with all with all that's neat. So Mish, how does that compare to higher ground and what you guys are? It's it sounds really similar philosophy. You know, except you you're Kevin Hart, you've been doing this for a while, you know, which is a wonderful brand. But yeah, we are it's it's the same sort of thing. I mean, we've had a wonderful relationship with Netflix, but actively producing a lot. You guys are doing amazing. But you know, we moved from an exclusive deal to a first look with a goal always to be independent. Yes, right? Because our reason for getting into storytelling was to tell a broad base of stories, you know, and and get it out there. So our goal is to work with everyone. So we're now at the phase after that great foundational support from Netflix to be able to go independent. You know, it's all about mentoring. You are opening doors ecosystem. Yeah, you have the the same thing. But in order to do that, we've got to be working with everyone, right? Because not every story belongs on every platform. And Netflix was example of that. I mean, they they do certain things, but they don't do everything, you know, so having the freedom now to go and work with everyone, you know, we've got projects with HBO. There's a project that Barack is doing with Larry David on HBO that's coming out like right around the 4th of July, that is, you know, a sort of spoof on America, you know, so it's a comedy. They they there is no problem with working with everyone. Well, it was great to support you in fatherhood, you know, I mean, that was that was really one of my favorite movies of the year that year. I mean, the, you know, the depiction of real fatherhood. I mean, you've been on that's been a part of your brand and I think that is beautiful. That story was so absolutely touching. Kevin, when you started out in comedy and we've we've been talking about a lot of stuff here. We haven't even touched on your genesis in comedy because I'm trying to figure out where you better in comedy or basketball when you were growing up. I mean, if you really want to be honest, man, I feel like I chose comedy, but basketball chose me, right? You could who? Like it was one of these things. I think people, I people don't understand. No, nobody does. How good. How good you have to be to play varsity basketball in high school. Nobody understands that. Usually people's career before they get to varsity. Yeah, it's it's a tough thing that I struggle with more than anything because that's where I should be. I should I should be you carry yourself like a hoop. I should be on the court, right? But instead I chose the stage. Yeah, because I had to, right? Like the demand for laughter was it was so high. And I just had to put the basketball sneaks up. I had to put them up. But when you when you finally got in the comedy. Yeah. Did you envision what you're doing with heartbeat? Or did you think? All right. And no. No, let me just let me give you an honest answer. Like absolutely not. No, you're looking at a dumb genius and an accident on accident on accident. Like stand up comedy was an accident. I was working in city sports, a friend of mine at city sports that kept you funny. You should do one of those amateur nights because the comedy club was right up the street. They said, would you do it? I said, I don't care. I'll do it. They said, if you do it, we'll go. We'll all go. And it was like a joke. I did amateur night. I fell in love with it. Oh my God. This is this is amazing. I want a couple competitions being a dumb genius that I am. I quit my job because I got $75 from winning the competition. I was like, I'm gonna do this. I'm just gonna come here every week. Win this. They stopped the competition soon after. I have no job. No, no more access to this. $75 that was that was my plan of attack. So you weren't like right and jokes and prepared. No. You just know. I want to hear that. When did you start like treating it as a profession? When my mom laid down a hammer, my mom was like, you got a year. You got one year to figure it out your way. And if you do not figure it out, I'm still living with my mom. And you're held at this point. I'm 18. Okay. You do not figure it out your way. You have to do my way, which is college, college, back to community college, back to school trade jobs, everything. Keep mine. I'm out here with a dream. Mom, you don't know what you're talking about. I would be a comedian. What? I'm gonna be a comedian. I got it into her credit. She did not, she did not like, she did not, she didn't lessen my dream. She never was not aligned. She just, she put a time on it. And with that did credit to her or not, it made me go, oh my god, I got a year. I got a good series. One year. So I put the most pressure on myself and I figured it out. So in figuring it out, where the amateur night rooms were, where the comedians were that were getting work, doing work, how, who can I get access to? Who can I travel with? Who can show me more than what I know now? And I started to figure it out. So my mom, there's a, the Bible story of like, where she put checks in the Bible. She's asked me like, am I reading my Bible? I told the story several times and I was lying. Yeah, yeah, I'm reading the Bible. She was like, let me know when you read the Bible. I said, mom, I'm reading the Bible, but at the time, you know, the rent was getting crazy. I was getting notices. Like, they're about to kick me out, mom, I can't, like right now, I'm having a hard time covering the rent. And she was like, we'll read the Bible, you know, talk to God about it, mom, this ain't, okay, I don't know, this is not a game, all right? Like, I get, I get the, I get the spiritual side of the I believe, okay? But right now they put a notice on the door. I need to, you got to help me out, mom, this month. Until I do these open mics, the next month, reach the Bible. Damn it, mom, like I'm getting frustrated. So one night, I opened up the Bible. She had all the checks for the year. She had rent checks to cover me for the year and the Bible. They all fell out. And it's like the dopest thing ever, but okay, let me, let me, let me, let me just have you give me the check. By the way, no, she didn't have extremely childish, right? Extremely childish. I'm 18. Just give me the, just give me the damn checks, lady. I'm not going to get cut out. Okay. But when she knew you weren't going to read the Bible, she knew she knew I was lying the whole time, a month and a half of life. I read the Bible, a month. I'm on page 76. The Matthews talking to Peter about the stuff he did to David. I'm clearly reading it. I'm just clippin' up. I'm looking up, man. I'm looking up. Clip notes from the Bible. So, so when I, when I gave that year and figuring it out, I saw like the energy that you should have to like really being prepared for the craft. So I started treating like a real business. I don't know a ton about interior design, but I've picked up a few tricks along the way. For our house, Kelly and I love keeping things simple with little pops of character and color here and there. And when we do feel like we could freshen things up, we always turn to wafer first. We napped this really nice jute rug and ivory from their Martha Stewart collection. And for about a week, I was making constant big Lebowski references to how it tied the room together. But I stand by it. That's exactly what was happening. With Wayfair, I always know I'm going to get amazing bang for my buck. Their furniture, decor, and home essentials really last. And Wayfair rewards members give 5% back every day, helping you get even more value from your Wayfair purchases. Join Wayfair rewards today and get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home upgrade. Head to Wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's w-a-y-f-a-i-r.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. 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Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes, depression, or suicidal thoughts before schedule procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonolurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor call 1-800-545-5979 or visit Zepbound.lily.com. I did a deaf common jam competition and I won. I wanted a deaf common jam competition. When was this how? I want to say 1998. I was probably doing comedy for maybe two years, maybe a little over at the time. This was so big to me. I just wanted a deaf common jam competition. By the way, you were supposed to get so much. None of it happened. Everything was promised with the competition. None of it happened. I never even got the jacket. I never even got my leather jacket. I used bulls to get a deaf common jam jacket. It was the biggest thing to me. I'm a weirdest jacket. So people know, I look like I was funny. Do you see this on my back? It never gave me my jacket. And at the wedding, you were supposed to be on a deaf common jam tour. I did one date and then the tour disappeared. It was just, it was a very lackluster. Russell, listen. He's my guy. I've told Russell the story to his face. You owe me a jacket. I've said it several times. If nothing else, give me my damn jacket, Russell. But things were starting to happen. I did BT comic view. I started to find my way to TV and I ended up doing Montreal Comedy Festival. When I did the Montreal Comedy Festival was when everything changed. I did the festival with new faces and the Hollywood side of the business was like, you gotta see this guy, this Kevin Hart guy, you gotta see him. And I started to then move to a place of like auditions and things here and oh my god. Now I'm like, oh, how many get you to the, oh, we're never thought about. I can probably do movies and stuff. And I remember getting a deal. I got a deal for like $250,000. It was a development deal with, I want to say ABC, ABC or NBC, I got a development deal. And when I got that, you know, I got it. I'll give you a hug. Hold your hand. By the way, gotta get a car. I'm a whole dad. I know you want some. Don't worry. I got that. That money was going to two weeks. Okay. Two weeks. That money was going, but I up and moved to Los Angeles. And at no point during that process, did you get any kind of professional development? I moved to Los Angeles without a plant. No acting classes. I moved to Los Angeles with $25,000. I had about $25,000 left of the development deal. About 60 grand to the IRS because I didn't pay taxes. So totally in debt. I moved to Hollywood. And I remember, I remember moving and walking down, walking down like Sunset Boulevard. And I was like, okay, here we go. This is it. What now? So the, so the opportunities within TV and movie, they started to come. That was when the big house and soul plane, all this stuff happened early on. And I was supposed to be made from it. And those things fail. Yeah. None of it worked. So I kept, I kept, I kept getting hit with failure. But while failure was hitting me because I was such a road warrior, the next wave of opportunity came from Will Packer who saw me at a comedy show. And he wanted to develop think like a man, which was Steve Harvey's book. And he wanted me to star. I think like a man was a $12 million budget. We did 90 something million dollars in the box office. And that was that. I was like literally think like a man hit. I was the comedy relief. I can't think this cast enough. The cast of think like a man, Romani Malcolm, Megan Good, Gabrielle, Regina, La La. It's a beautiful thing. Gabrielle was very, I mean, um, Terrence, I'm Tim's, Tim's story director, like the, this movie was set up in such a way to where I was the funny. But without the cast, giving me the, the ammunition or the moments, none of it will work. And everybody was, was okay with it. And I was able to improv and I was able to do this thing that created like some movie magic. So this thing comes out. And then to Hollywood, this is the new guy. I mean, at this time, I've been doing comedy for 12 years. You know, I'm like, oh my God, this is, this is it. It's going to happen. I have, I have not taken my foot off the gas. I've done the same thing over the course of a 30-year career. And to most, it's, oh man, it's overnight. Yeah. No, no, not so much. Yeah. And the real hard work that it took to get here. And, you know, when I sit down for too long, I'm like, okay, I got to, I'm like, I'm working and working. But I'm, Kevin, he got to figure out the next wave of comedy. Like, what are we, what are we talking about? Where's the, where's the next comedic energy wave coming from? And what I do that I embrace, I go to a comedy club, I go to New York and I go to the, you know, the smallest places. And in these places, where, where I, or I'm to my wife, I'm still here. Tell her, hey, I'm still here. Say hi. Hey, we're, we're on, we're on the podcast. You on, hi, completely different smile. You see that, you see that, I did see that, you completely, what do you know? What do you know? What do you know? I'm still here, baby. She's so, hey, I mean, what just happened? I'll, I'll call you when I'm done. Have us here too. Any go. I got all here. All right. Love it. So, so like, oh, you got some points there, bro. I mean, you got his wife's call. Oh, no, that's that. I don't want in that one. You got to do. No, I do not in that one. Do not. Well done. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, you see Michelle? Hey, everybody's here. This, uh, you see everybody's, we still filming you said you, I know, I know, I know what you see. Yeah, that's a, that's a beaten man right here with stand-up comedy. So I go to these small places and I don't have a thought. I go on stage and I talk. I'm not afraid of silence. I'm not afraid of the joke not working. I embrace the idea of an order to get to get to the hour. I got a step on stage with nothing. And I gotta, I gotta go, okay. Here we are. And I got to figure it out. And real time, I got to figure it out. And as you start to figure it out, my energy starts to pick up. Oh, I got a joke. Oh, that joke connects to this. Oh, I got to go back up. I got to get on stage again. Oh, I'm so excited to do these things to see if they work. And then after eight to nine months, to 10 months of preparation and doing that, over and over again, five to seven days out the week, I have a skeleton of what I want to talk about. It's a brutal process, but I embrace it. Because without that, well, you can't celebrate the good. Heaven, we are going to take you off the hook because we have a listener question so he can lecture them. Oh, it's coming. It's coming. Here it comes. So we do this little question where we give back to our wisdom shares. We share some thoughts. So this one is from Carrie. I'm a parent to two amazing kids. For years, I was close to both of them, but with the teenage years and probably all the hormones, my oldest has become challenging for me to be around. I feel like she has a mean streak that's developed towards me and we're really not getting along these days. I love both my children, but I am close to my youngest right now. I feel horrible because my brother was always the favorite growing up and I'm extremely sensitive to how hurtful that can be. How do you think I could connect with my oldest? Do I just ignore what's going on or try to talk to her about it? And how do I make sure that my kids know I love them both equally? This is from Carrie and Madison, Wisconsin. - I think that when you're in that period of battle, as a parent, you create settings that are just better for your mold. I would recommend your oldest, take your oldest breakfast. Take your oldest for a hike. A walk, go to dinner, a bike ride, an activity that forces you guys to talk, that forces you to enjoy one another and a different man and then what you've been doing. Good always comes out of quality time, right? And not your version of quality time, but something that acts as a new version for the both of you, I would recommend. And I think in doing that, you get to see and remember why your parent is fun or why your parent is cool or a good energy. Does she like that? - You should do a book. - Well, yeah, yeah, a lot of the book. (laughing) - I think that'd be a great idea. - You know what, this is what I'm going to do. I want to focus on doing an audio version of it. - I think you should. - Apparenting and information. - We discovered that. - Yeah, that's glad I could be of help. - Thank you, thank you for that idea. But I do, I like that advice. I think we talked about this as well. I would encourage her to make sure she is taking each child as they come. - Mm-hmm. - So I would just say, make sure you see the child in front of you and try to, you know, just like you did with Heaven, you know? - I love that. I mean, I think that's too phenomenal breakdown. So hopefully that information is taken and not found upon. - If not, then get Kevin's audible book. - Yeah, yeah, which I just made the decision to do. - Yes, thanks to Michelle Obama. - Yeah, yeah. - Amazing, Jim. - I started negotiating a percentage now. - Well, you said it without that, right? We already, yeah, you gave the idea. - Yeah, you didn't have the first, you know, the first idea wasn't, it didn't come with a business. I can always say it's weird now. So I think that we kind of just have to, it's one of the things that we just have to leave it. Because it's weird. You don't want to make it weird, right? That's how it would state that. - Master Negotiator, fair point. - Crazy, you have anything to add. - I can't, I don't want to add too much to those both great answers. The Kevin's point, you know, sometimes you have to ask your kids what they are interested in and what they're doing to be better able to go find that new thing. Man, I can't tell you how wonderful this has been. - Thank you. - Really wonderful. - Thank you. - It was, it was amazingly uplifting, right? Like I just love the vulnerability, transparency. So I don't want to thank you guys for the time today. Like this was very, very much. - And thank you most of all for bringing Heaven. - Yeah, she is heaven. - Bullied, bullied my, bullied my, my energy. - I want to pack her up. - Yeah, I'm pleased. - The good side tickets, thank you. - Yeah, I have a bag, hold on. I'll be right back, I have a bag in the car. - You love William Sasha, you think they've got a meme. - Yeah, yeah. - That would be cool. - And be sure to tell Nico we said hi. - Yeah, well yeah, I'm gonna do it right now 'cause I'm, uh, I'm probably the way I'm about to do this. - She's way, way, way, way, way, way. - No, no, no, bye. - No, no, bye. - My day's a little bit, sorry. (upbeat music) - This episode of IMO is brought to you by Colleguard, a non-invasive colon cancer screening test. There are certain things in life you keep meaning to get around to. And for me, health screening's always ended up on that list. But I was surprised to learn that colon cancer is on the rise. It's now the number one cancer killer for people under 50 in the US. The good news is, it's also one of the things that we need to do in the US. The good news is, it's also one of the most preventable cancers, which is why getting screen matters. I've actually done the Colleguard test myself. And what surprised me most was how straightforward it was. The kit comes right to your house. There's no prep, nothing invasive. And I was able to complete it in about 15 minutes. Then I simply mailed it back and my results were provided 10 days later. I was impressed to learn that the Colleguard Plus test detects 95% of colon cancers. That's similar to a colonoscopy as seen in a separate study. I know a lot of people put off screening because they think it has to involve a colonoscopy. But if you're 45 or older and at average risk, don't keep waiting. There's a simple way to screen. 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