Speaker 1: You're listening to playback a Variety I Heart Radio podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Variety Awards editor Chris Tapley. Today I'm
Speaker 1: talking to comedian Kevin Hart, whose new film The Upside
Speaker 1: with Brian Craston and Nicole Kidman his theaters January eleven.
Speaker 1: Kevin is fresh off an Australian stand up tour that
Speaker 1: broke records, but you probably haven't heard a lot about that.
Speaker 1: About a month ago, a number of years old homophobic
Speaker 1: tweets and jokes were brought back to bear against Kevin
Speaker 1: after it was announced he would be hosting the Oscars
Speaker 1: this year. There was a considerable outcry from the LGBTQ community,
Speaker 1: and Kevin initially refused to apologize, stating that he had
Speaker 1: already addressed these missteps, but ultimately he did apologize while
Speaker 1: stepping down from the hosting gig. Uh. You know, by
Speaker 1: now you are probably aware you've seen that Kevin appeared
Speaker 1: on Ellen DeGeneres show to discuss all of this. That's
Speaker 1: why we're getting this episode out to you quite early,
Speaker 1: because a major chunk of it is pretty timely. Ellen
Speaker 1: revealed she had called the Academy and endorsed Kevin's return
Speaker 1: to the hosting job. But just before that appearance, Kevin
Speaker 1: sat down with me to talk about all this, and
Speaker 1: he said unequivocally, as you'll hear, that he was not
Speaker 1: interested in hosting the Oscars because of the cloud hovering
Speaker 1: over the whole situation. Now, so you know, if indeed
Speaker 1: he's reconsidering or evaluating that possibility now, you know, I
Speaker 1: guess a lot can change in a short period of time,
Speaker 1: and we'll see. But for now, here's my chat with
Speaker 1: Kevin Hart. While we're getting settled, I gotta ask you,
Speaker 1: what's it like to kind of promo with mean Jean?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, the legend. I was obvious, honestly a
Speaker 1: little sad when I heard man, yeah, man, because he
Speaker 1: was older, so you could, uh, you could tell like
Speaker 1: that he was, um, you know, he was still there,
Speaker 1: but he was he he couldn't hear, and you know,
Speaker 1: he had to do things a bunch of times, so
Speaker 1: you could definitely tell that the other side of age
Speaker 1: was getting to him. It was definitely sad when he
Speaker 1: heard that he passed away. Though. Yeah, he was the
Speaker 1: man that was cool. I never got to meet him, nicest,
Speaker 1: very nice, but literally, I mean, wrestling was on me
Speaker 1: and jeans back for quite some time. He's one of
Speaker 1: the most consistent personalities, totally voice of the childhood man.
Speaker 1: I thank you man appreciation. Did you ever see uh
Speaker 1: the Macho Man promo where he uh was talking about
Speaker 1: being about the cream rising to the top and he
Speaker 1: keeps bringing out this coffee creamerulous but hilarious. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was a it was a big loss. But alright, here
Speaker 1: we are this back in front of you. We're up
Speaker 1: and rolling up the rolling Thank you so much. Got
Speaker 1: the Starbucks God necessary necessary man said, keep this machine running.
Speaker 1: Here you all right, let's dive in. Man. Okay, everyone,
Speaker 1: I'm here today with Kevin Hart. Kevin's got a new
Speaker 1: movie called The Upside coming out January eleventh. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about. First of all, happy New Year, and thanks
Speaker 1: for coming on the show. Appreciate. How was your New Year?
Speaker 1: What you do? You were in Vegas? Right? I was
Speaker 1: in Vegas? Um, you know, I uh we we basically
Speaker 1: went up there for the thirty of the thirty first
Speaker 1: wife wanted to get out, she wanted to have a
Speaker 1: good time, so I said, let's just go to Vegas,
Speaker 1: and um, I think my nights were we had big showing,
Speaker 1: we had future. Little Wayne was there to night before
Speaker 1: and it was good. It was good on the thirty
Speaker 1: of thirty first, I don't remember too much. I don't
Speaker 1: remember too much from that. From that night, I'm mixed
Speaker 1: champagne with tequila, which is which is a big mistake.
Speaker 1: You know, it's all fun when you're doing it. It's
Speaker 1: all fun when everything's happening until to that moment where
Speaker 1: you black out. That that's that's when everything gets real bad.
Speaker 1: Wake up like two days later when you black out
Speaker 1: and everybody's telling you what happened. You don't remember going
Speaker 1: to the to the breakfast spot. No, no, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't remember eating anything at all. What about the
Speaker 1: pizza place? You don't want to want to go to
Speaker 1: the pizza places? No, I have no idea about the
Speaker 1: pizza place at all. That was me the next morning, awesome.
Speaker 1: I was just here not doing much looking over my
Speaker 1: two and a half year old that get it. But anyway,
Speaker 1: we're gonna I want to talk about your movie. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about your career. I'm a big fan.
Speaker 1: I'd love to talk about how you built yourself up.
Speaker 1: Before we get into all that, I want to talk
Speaker 1: about this oscar stuff and get out of the way
Speaker 1: to talk about it, talk about whatever you want. We're
Speaker 1: gonna knocked this out first. You know. So it's been
Speaker 1: about a month now. You dropped out of hosting the
Speaker 1: Oscars in the midst of this outcry over some previous
Speaker 1: tweets and jokes that some people found offensive. Uh. Initially
Speaker 1: the Academy had asked you to apologize, and you had
Speaker 1: said you weren't gonna apologize, and then eventually you did. So.
Speaker 1: First of all, imagine you've had time to think about
Speaker 1: what's happened. Been three or four weeks. Now, how do
Speaker 1: you feel about how everything went down? I'm fine. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: you're you're in you're living in the times where words
Speaker 1: in point of views can be misconstrued because of how
Speaker 1: strong the internet is. You know, the the manipulation of
Speaker 1: headlines is what was amazing when this whole thing hit.
Speaker 1: You know, it was Kevin Hart steps down because he
Speaker 1: refuses to apologize for homophobic tweets. This is what was said,
Speaker 1: and it was blasted all over the internet, and the
Speaker 1: word again somehow got lost, which was a major word.
Speaker 1: The word again it was I've addressed this several times.
Speaker 1: I don't do that. I address it, I apologize, and
Speaker 1: after apologizing, I said, I understand why people will be
Speaker 1: upset from these tweets. It's why people would be hurt,
Speaker 1: why people would be damaged, and you know what, I
Speaker 1: get it, so not I do only am I sorry.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make it a point to never joke like
Speaker 1: this again because I understand. So within a ten year
Speaker 1: spaying of my career, you don't see any blemishes. You
Speaker 1: don't see any any signs of me going back to
Speaker 1: that young comedian that I was then. I was looking
Speaker 1: for an ignorant laugh. So for me to take the
Speaker 1: moment of hosting the Oscars and turn the moment of
Speaker 1: hosting the Oscars into an an apology tour, because that's
Speaker 1: what it would become, that didn't make sense to me.
Speaker 1: You know. Me doing the Oscars was to take the
Speaker 1: tension off of the Oscars. It's been so uptight for
Speaker 1: the last I don't know how many years. Kevin. We
Speaker 1: want you to host because we want you to lighten
Speaker 1: the mood up and bring you, in your essence to
Speaker 1: this night. That was immediately taken away because any promo
Speaker 1: that I do. Leading up to it, I'm still talking
Speaker 1: about past tweets that I've addressed years ago. Me touching
Speaker 1: the stage of the oscars, I would have to then
Speaker 1: address the tweets that I talked about from years ago.
Speaker 1: And it just made me say to myself, like, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to play the game that society kind of
Speaker 1: wants people to play right now. You know, your passage
Speaker 1: your pass for a reason. When you apologize for something,
Speaker 1: it's either your apology is accepted, but it's not. If
Speaker 1: it is and we say we move forward, then we're
Speaker 1: moving forward. And what you do when you move forward
Speaker 1: is become better. So when there's signs of an individual
Speaker 1: becoming better, when there's signs of an individual doing better,
Speaker 1: then what else is really needed? I will say, I look,
Speaker 1: I looked back. You have addressed that in the past.
Speaker 1: Was a rolling stone interview, particularly where you you specifically
Speaker 1: addressed thoughtfully. A particular bit that you explained was more
Speaker 1: about your own fears and your own insecurities, and that
Speaker 1: was what it was a joke about. You know how
Speaker 1: you handled quote your first your son's first game moment,
Speaker 1: and you you you dealt with that thoughtfully. I will
Speaker 1: say Did you apologize to someone and it didn't get
Speaker 1: published because you said you've apologized and I couldn't find that. Well,
Speaker 1: it's easy, it's easy not to find the good. Well no,
Speaker 1: I mean I was looking, man, because I was like
Speaker 1: he he says he's apologized, and I can't. I don't
Speaker 1: see it. Did you apologize to a to a journalist
Speaker 1: who didn't publish that. Here's here's a good example. Okay,
Speaker 1: all of this stuff hit, and three days after hit,
Speaker 1: Variety put up a little piece from an interview that
Speaker 1: I did in Variety, and it was me saying, I
Speaker 1: don't joke in a homophone matter at all. I don't
Speaker 1: partake in that kind of humor. Whatever it was, it
Speaker 1: was just me saying something about it, just a little
Speaker 1: tidbit that they found. Wait, this is Kevin saying something
Speaker 1: else about it. But in the context of what it
Speaker 1: was said, you can tell her was something that I've
Speaker 1: said over and over again. That was found three days after.
Speaker 1: If somebody chose to put the energy and effort in,
Speaker 1: they can easily find Because when me and Will Farrow
Speaker 1: did Get Hard and we did the promo tour for
Speaker 1: Get Hard, that's where we were hit with so much stuff.
Speaker 1: That's what Kevin Hart was hit, was so much stuff.
Speaker 1: My old joke that were talking about and seriously funny
Speaker 1: that didn't just happen. That special has been out for years.
Speaker 1: I've addressed that several times. Those tweets did not just
Speaker 1: come out. Those tweets from two thousand, two thousand nine
Speaker 1: were there. You can't you can't make up because I've
Speaker 1: talked about this. I do. I do promo tourism. We
Speaker 1: sit inside the room and journalists come in and journalists
Speaker 1: ask you questions. Oh, over and over and over and
Speaker 1: over and over again. I remember this span in two
Speaker 1: thousand and eleven where this came up. My tweets came up,
Speaker 1: and I had to say to a person that was
Speaker 1: in the LGBTQ community, Hey, I understand, and you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm wrong, But I can't do nothing about that joke
Speaker 1: because it was done. I can't do nothing about the
Speaker 1: tweets because they're out there. I was wrong. It will
Speaker 1: never happen again. I'm sorry. Please accept my apology. You
Speaker 1: go on other interviews and it comes up. Now the
Speaker 1: conversation starts to change. If you know that, the response
Speaker 1: got more professional because now it's I don't joke in
Speaker 1: that manner anymore because now I'm in the mindset of
Speaker 1: I left that moment behind me. I've addressed it. So
Speaker 1: when people say, yo, man, I can't find it, well,
Speaker 1: then ask the individual that went and dug up the
Speaker 1: stuff from two thousand nine to go do the same.
Speaker 1: I can't put that energy into something that's in my past.
Speaker 1: I can't put that energy into negativity. What we're what
Speaker 1: we're what we're doing is allowing trolling to get you
Speaker 1: an all time high. You know where was this at
Speaker 1: when the premier Foo Jamanji came? What about Central Intelligence?
Speaker 1: What about the large am irresponsible tour with why did this? Why?
Speaker 1: The day after Kevin Hart it's now hosting the oscar
Speaker 1: I think you're talking about the show that has a
Speaker 1: very large homosexual audience. I think that could be the case.
Speaker 1: But if somebody were to call you racists right and
Speaker 1: dig up something that you may have said from your
Speaker 1: past history that could have been a racial slur, you
Speaker 1: could have said it and a joking manner. You could
Speaker 1: have said it amongst a group of people that may
Speaker 1: or may not have the knowledge of how bad this
Speaker 1: slur could be. You only know your environment. It's not
Speaker 1: until you get exposure to you get experienced, to you
Speaker 1: understand the world, that you start to understand things from
Speaker 1: a different point of view. Everybody doesn't have that opportunity.
Speaker 1: Everybody doesn't have that chance. So when you do, you grow.
Speaker 1: So I can't judge you from something that you said
Speaker 1: back then if now you're in a position to understand
Speaker 1: the world from a different lens. But if you did
Speaker 1: get judged, are you going to be the guy to
Speaker 1: go Wait a minute, I got black friends. What about
Speaker 1: my friend Rob, Well, Malcolm, I'm gonna call him right now.
Speaker 1: They can tell you that I love black people. No,
Speaker 1: because there's no win. What do we do? So what
Speaker 1: am I gonna do? Do I Do I start going
Speaker 1: down the list of gay people that earned my life?
Speaker 1: Do I start going down the list of gay people
Speaker 1: that work for me and my company? No? I don't
Speaker 1: have to play that game with the world, because that's
Speaker 1: what the world wants. What who are we searching for?
Speaker 1: Tell me the perfect individual that we're searching for. Because
Speaker 1: the way I see it, I can't be a good
Speaker 1: parent if I don't have lessons to give my children.
Speaker 1: If I don't have life experiences that I lived through,
Speaker 1: that I've made it through, that I can talk to
Speaker 1: my kids about and make them understand why what I'm
Speaker 1: saying is right, why this is wrong? What am I
Speaker 1: parenting off of? What am I parenting off of? The
Speaker 1: word perfection does not exist. If you have not experienced imperfection,
Speaker 1: you don't know what perfection is. If you don't know
Speaker 1: what imperfection is, Somewhere along the lines, we've lost sight
Speaker 1: of reality and this person that we're searching for. I
Speaker 1: pray to God that they're out there. I hope we
Speaker 1: find a perfect individual that the world is somehow seeking
Speaker 1: to find. It's not me. It's not me, And the
Speaker 1: beautiful thing about me is that I wear I wear
Speaker 1: all of my flaws or my sleeve. I'm an open book.
Speaker 1: I'm not a I'm not I'm not a secret. I'm
Speaker 1: a walking open book. Well, I think what you ultimately
Speaker 1: said was perfect. You ultimately apologize. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day, what happened between saying I'm not going to
Speaker 1: apologize and you apologizing, giving me an ultimatum, give me
Speaker 1: an ultimatum, giving me an ultimatum, and nobody looking at
Speaker 1: the past ten years of my life. Not only that,
Speaker 1: also saying in the world of comedy, comedians are some
Speaker 1: of the biggest risk takers. Comedians are the people that
Speaker 1: are gonna say what you may think, but you never say.
Speaker 1: It's our job to put humor in the world. That
Speaker 1: job can be done dis tastefully, it can't be tacky.
Speaker 1: Someone's approach to that job can be a little, a
Speaker 1: little edgy and rub people wrong. But that's where the
Speaker 1: art of comedy comes in, and that's where the individual
Speaker 1: that's performing said jokes has to maneuver the way that
Speaker 1: they feel its best for them. Where I was at
Speaker 1: that point a mature comic two thousand, two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: I'm figuring it out. I'm just now getting there. Me
Speaker 1: my son, whoa, No, Hey, that's gay. You gotta laugh,
Speaker 1: that's what you I'm doing things for the laugh. The
Speaker 1: laugh is with fueling me. Man, I killed tonight, me killing.
Speaker 1: I don't know that I'm literally killing. I don't have that.
Speaker 1: I don't have that comprehension. Oh my god. But now
Speaker 1: I move out to l A. Now I'm around a
Speaker 1: world that I haven't been around. Now I'm I'm introducing
Speaker 1: myself to people and people are sharing their stories and
Speaker 1: now I'm seeing things through a different lens. That's where
Speaker 1: I don't I don't stand how people lose out of
Speaker 1: that reality. You don't know until you know. I think
Speaker 1: what happened that day, and I'll just this is what
Speaker 1: I think is because that rubbed you wrong, giving you
Speaker 1: an ultimatum, it read as defiance to people at a
Speaker 1: time when they just wanted you to say what you
Speaker 1: ultimately said. And you know, maybe had you said that,
Speaker 1: you'd still be the host and maybe we'd be past everything.
Speaker 1: But I think I think that's what happened. I think
Speaker 1: people were just like, why is he not just apologizing
Speaker 1: even if you say you have before. And I think
Speaker 1: that was what really ratcheted it up. You know, people,
Speaker 1: you know what someone said to me and and this
Speaker 1: is where you know, I got a little confused because
Speaker 1: it said, Kevin, you know, I know who you are.
Speaker 1: There's so many people that know who you are, so
Speaker 1: many people know your heart. But there's a younger there's
Speaker 1: a younger world. There's a younger world that has a
Speaker 1: younger generation within the gay community, within the lgbt Q community,
Speaker 1: and they don't know that you've addressed is they don't
Speaker 1: know that you've apologized, so you should just say it
Speaker 1: to them. And I said, if that's the case, then
Speaker 1: I'm apologizing forever because it never stops. There's always gonna
Speaker 1: be younger people, There's always gonna be new members. When
Speaker 1: when is the apology accepted? And do I have to
Speaker 1: always go back ten years? I gotta keep doing that
Speaker 1: for the rest of my life. Guys, I don't think
Speaker 1: I'm I don't think I'm gonna do that because the
Speaker 1: same way that there's younger people, there's older people that
Speaker 1: know who I am, that are in this community that
Speaker 1: can speak on my behalf. Where the older people that
Speaker 1: that know me that they can't educate the younger generation.
Speaker 1: Why do we only think on one side? Well, the
Speaker 1: point you make about comedy and where where we're at
Speaker 1: with comedy is interesting. I mean, just this week Louis
Speaker 1: c k is through the ringer with some tasteless jokes
Speaker 1: that he was recorded, Uh you know, giving I forgot
Speaker 1: where that was. But uh, is comedy so beyond reproach,
Speaker 1: beyond being interrogated, not for me. I think I think
Speaker 1: the world is trying to We're we're trying to create
Speaker 1: a space like I said, this this perfect space, it
Speaker 1: doesn't exist. We're we're living just in a false reality
Speaker 1: with what we're looking for. But comedy, m there's so
Speaker 1: much that you can't say now and this is a
Speaker 1: this is a world where everybody, you know, we're looking
Speaker 1: to get rid of so much negativity. We're looking for
Speaker 1: an escape. Oh my god, there's so much to be
Speaker 1: sad about. Uh what I want to let go for
Speaker 1: a second. Where can I go to let go and
Speaker 1: and step away? Comedy is that comedy is your release.
Speaker 1: That's what comedy is. Comedy was a space where you know,
Speaker 1: you could poke and at races, ethnicities, men, women, kids,
Speaker 1: we're laughing at one another. That that was the beauty
Speaker 1: of comedy, to joke at each other and point out
Speaker 1: our flaws and make those flaws become laughs. If you
Speaker 1: have a Asian comic and this Asian comic is doing
Speaker 1: jokes and all these jokes are based off of the
Speaker 1: Asian community, guess what, as a black man in that audience,
Speaker 1: I'm getting educated on the Asian prop If there's a
Speaker 1: member of the l g B t Q and they
Speaker 1: are comic and they're doing jokes and it's all about
Speaker 1: things that happened in the gay community. Guess what, I'm
Speaker 1: now laughing at the world that you created that you're painting.
Speaker 1: There's something through your lens, through your eyes as a
Speaker 1: black man. If I want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: black people and the way we go and when I
Speaker 1: first traveled to India and I got to sit with
Speaker 1: Indian people and I didn't know that you're laughing at
Speaker 1: me and my experiences. You can't put comedy in a
Speaker 1: place to where the individuals that have chosen to do
Speaker 1: that craft can't share their experiences. My experience with a
Speaker 1: gay man, a gay women, maybe a funny experience I
Speaker 1: don't want to talk about. But right now I'm in
Speaker 1: a place where I don't I would never talk about
Speaker 1: it because what can I say? And what can I say?
Speaker 1: And when when is the constructive criticism of opinion not
Speaker 1: malicious intent? Once again? Opinion? When is that taken away?
Speaker 1: When can I just have an opinion? Why? Why is
Speaker 1: everybody so happy at the fact that they can have
Speaker 1: an opinion and they can get their opinion seeing publicly
Speaker 1: right now, that's the exciting thing that people love. I
Speaker 1: got a Oh, I'm gonna tweet it and somebody gonna
Speaker 1: see it. I'm gonna tweet it. I'm a post it.
Speaker 1: Everybody can do it. Everybody has access to be heard.
Speaker 1: When everybody has access to be heard, ultimately, is gonna
Speaker 1: be too many cooks in the kitchen? Yeah, that many
Speaker 1: cooks in the kitchen. The food ain't never gonna get done.
Speaker 1: It's never gonna get done. So in this case with me,
Speaker 1: with comedy, I'm going to continue to talk about me
Speaker 1: in my life and my experiences. I don't need to
Speaker 1: joke in a malicious manner. I don't need to attack.
Speaker 1: I don't need to offend. That's not who I am,
Speaker 1: It's not who I've been. And in that tweeting rant
Speaker 1: where these things came up, that was young, and I
Speaker 1: thought it was fun and funny to do on social media.
Speaker 1: Who knew that social media would live for ten years
Speaker 1: and somebody could go back and dig up stuff? Who
Speaker 1: knew it wasn't in the blueprint when they broke down
Speaker 1: how to use social media. Nobody said all the stuff
Speaker 1: you do now is going to come up. It's a
Speaker 1: little unnatural to be living in public that way. I
Speaker 1: guess for for so long, nothing I'll say, you can't
Speaker 1: you can't fake genuine. You can't. You can't fake good person.
Speaker 1: If you are, you aren't. Look at the way that
Speaker 1: I live, look at who I am, looking at my
Speaker 1: voice on a daily basis. I am motivation, I am inspiration,
Speaker 1: I am get up, go after it, I am love,
Speaker 1: I am laugh. The only other person who I can
Speaker 1: say matches my energy on a daily basis publicly as
Speaker 1: a close friend of mine, and that's Dayne Rock Johnson. Publicly,
Speaker 1: we make it our business to share positivity at all
Speaker 1: time high, to bring people together. My comedy shows are
Speaker 1: driven on bringing people together. Yeah, globally. Well, I just
Speaker 1: want to say that ultimately, the apology you that you
Speaker 1: made on Twitter, I think that was a very positive
Speaker 1: thing to do. So I'm glad you did. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I did it, and I felt that I did it
Speaker 1: in the fashion that was true to me. And I
Speaker 1: stepped down because I'm not going to allow us to
Speaker 1: tarnish uh an amazing night for the other actors and
Speaker 1: actresses that are going to be on that stage at night.
Speaker 1: It shouldn't be about Kevin Hart and his tweets from
Speaker 1: old And I stated again to anybody that I've hurt,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna partake and you know,
Speaker 1: hosting the Oscars. At this point, what's that relationship with
Speaker 1: the Academy, Like, I mean, it's do it will? No,
Speaker 1: will it will towards the Academy. Will I do it? No,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. I wouldn't. Now it's done. It's done. At
Speaker 1: the moment came and it was a it was a
Speaker 1: blessing and I was excited at the opportunity, and I
Speaker 1: still am. In my mind it happened. I got the job. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was a dream job, and you know, things came
Speaker 1: up that simply prohibited it from happening. But I'm not
Speaker 1: I don't believe in going backwards. This is what I've
Speaker 1: been telling you. When I when I go on that stage,
Speaker 1: it will be because I've somehow figured out the way
Speaker 1: to win an Oscar. Somehow I'll get to the stage.
Speaker 1: But it's just not it's not going to be in
Speaker 1: this way because is it just comes with such a
Speaker 1: weird cloud at this point. That's the only reason why.
Speaker 1: But there's no ill will towards the Academy at all.
Speaker 1: No good. Let's talk about your new movie. The Upside
Speaker 1: comes out January eleven, this movie. Actually, it's it's it
Speaker 1: was finished a long time ago. This was part of
Speaker 1: the Weinstein Company and and it's going out through STX finally.
Speaker 1: Now have you been anxious for this movie to come out?
Speaker 1: I mean Premier to Toronto like two thousand and seventeen,
Speaker 1: So you know, it's just a it's a big movie.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a it's the first movie that I've
Speaker 1: stepped in, um, you know, a more serious tone of acting,
Speaker 1: and that was my reason for choosing the movie. Getting
Speaker 1: a team up with Brian Krantz and Nicole Kidman was
Speaker 1: an unbelievable opportunity as well. And the energy that was
Speaker 1: on that set was was mind blowing. You know, from
Speaker 1: my crew, um all all around. You know where you
Speaker 1: gonna shoot shot in the Philadelphia front So there's a lot,
Speaker 1: there's a lot that goes into this. You know, the
Speaker 1: first movie that shot in Philadelphia where I was born.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the potential of this movie was
Speaker 1: a huge. Thank you, thank you. The potential the potential
Speaker 1: of this movie was just huge. So you know when
Speaker 1: all of that stuff happened, you know, it's uh, it
Speaker 1: was one of those things where you kind of just
Speaker 1: had to step step back and and understand that what
Speaker 1: was taking place was bigger than us in our movie
Speaker 1: and if it was meant to be, then will be.
Speaker 1: And st X is an amazing company that wanted to
Speaker 1: get this piece of property out and they felt that
Speaker 1: it was strong enough for the world to see. They
Speaker 1: felt it was a movie that people should see. It's
Speaker 1: a feel good movie, is a good spirit movie. Um.
Speaker 1: And of course it's a remake from the French version
Speaker 1: and that that was a big that was just a
Speaker 1: big bonus. You know, it was unexpected. Um. And we
Speaker 1: got a call just saying that, guys, this movie is
Speaker 1: going to get had seen. There's people that work very
Speaker 1: hard and you know, uh that shouldn't have to suffer
Speaker 1: from the experiences and doings of one other. Um, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna see to it that, you know, those people
Speaker 1: get the right credit and stuff that they deserve for
Speaker 1: doing this film and put all the bloss one tears
Speaker 1: into it. So I can't wait. I can't wait people
Speaker 1: to see. You mentioned the cast, great cast, and you
Speaker 1: spend most of the movie with Brian Creston's this kind
Speaker 1: of movie where the chemistry between you and Brian needed
Speaker 1: to be perfect. What was it like when you guys
Speaker 1: first met? I actually had Brian on the show just
Speaker 1: before I think the Toronto premier that year. Um, But
Speaker 1: what was the chemistry like when you guys first met?
Speaker 1: And how did you guys hit it off? Oh? My god, man,
Speaker 1: Brian is amazing the most talented actor I've ever worked with,
Speaker 1: you know, Um. I mean when I say seeing a
Speaker 1: man come from comedy and being able to take on
Speaker 1: the dramatic roles that he takes on as the lovely does,
Speaker 1: it's inspiring because it's you know, it's something that I
Speaker 1: can only hope to do. You know, Can I get there?
Speaker 1: Can I get to that level? And if so? How?
Speaker 1: You know? So I was. I was a sponge, soaking
Speaker 1: up as much information as I possibly could, just picking
Speaker 1: his brain all day every day, just talking to him. Man,
Speaker 1: And what you realize is that he's just a good guy.
Speaker 1: Brian is just a good guy. And that's something that
Speaker 1: isn't celebrated enough in the in the business. We have
Speaker 1: so many not good guys, you know, so many not
Speaker 1: cool guys. To have a grounded, humble individual that you
Speaker 1: can be around for two and a half months, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a bonus. And I can say the same
Speaker 1: about In the Cold, and I've been I've been fortunate
Speaker 1: enough and my career to work with those people, you know,
Speaker 1: from Cube to Dwayne to Will Ferrell. I mean, I
Speaker 1: can go down the list of the bigger stars that
Speaker 1: I've worked with that that have just been some grounded,
Speaker 1: really cool people that have shown me that there's no
Speaker 1: reason for you to ever forget who you are. If
Speaker 1: who you are it's good, there's no reason. Yeah, Brian's great.
Speaker 1: He had like a box full of his books and
Speaker 1: he pulled them out and signed it for me. You know,
Speaker 1: he drove himself as I'm saying, I'm saying, humble Brown,
Speaker 1: like he's got a box full of his books driving
Speaker 1: around passing about definitely makes me a hypocrite. No, I
Speaker 1: just mean, you know, it's just like he's not showing
Speaker 1: up with like an entourage or anything. He's just he's
Speaker 1: really cool. But but again, the chemistry was going to
Speaker 1: be key for a movie like this. Amazing you guys
Speaker 1: are it's a little bit of h I don't know
Speaker 1: what what what would be a comparison, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: just just an odd couple situation, is what it is
Speaker 1: so you know, you know what man, I mean you
Speaker 1: it just made me think of like the prior and
Speaker 1: wilder than you know, when you start to look at
Speaker 1: those comparisons and what they could be. You know, if
Speaker 1: if Brian and I were two partake and a different
Speaker 1: type of movie, what could that be? If there was
Speaker 1: a another layer too, to another dramatic what could it be?
Speaker 1: Because I mean Brian talked about definitely working together again.
Speaker 1: You know, he's just he's he's he's that good. And
Speaker 1: he also elevated my acting game. I was able to
Speaker 1: reach new levels by feeding off of him. You know,
Speaker 1: the same thing when the coal it's I couldn't ask
Speaker 1: to be in a better position. You know, you're interested
Speaker 1: in doing more drama roles? You want to keep pursuing that,
Speaker 1: of course, you know, I think this is going to
Speaker 1: open up a door to do more. Um it's long career.
Speaker 1: I'm almost forty years old, so I'm not gonna stop
Speaker 1: no time soon. The comedies, damn sure, I'm gonna stop.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm going to continue to do those and
Speaker 1: do them at a very high level. But to dabble
Speaker 1: in the dramatic field, you know, it's it's something that
Speaker 1: I'm definitely going to do. It's it's I make sure
Speaker 1: that I stand in the lane to where my fan
Speaker 1: base can see it and believe it. You know, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna see me in the next version of three hundred. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's not my that's not my cup of tea or
Speaker 1: Romeo and Juliet um Off. Yeah, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: think you don't see me in that. But there's there's
Speaker 1: things that I know that I can do, UM, that
Speaker 1: I can do at a at a very high level.
Speaker 1: It's just about knowing your ability. That's all. Well, I
Speaker 1: want to talk about your career a little bit. Very
Speaker 1: impressed by what you've done with your career. You built
Speaker 1: yourself into a global brand. You're just back from Australia
Speaker 1: recently where you had a big tour going on there.
Speaker 1: That's no small feat. I think that should be underscored. UM,
Speaker 1: what's been like the biggest hurdle in your path? To
Speaker 1: hear you think the biggest hurdle, Um, I wouldn't wouldn't
Speaker 1: really call it a hurdle, you know, I think, Um,
Speaker 1: the progression has has has been steady and what seems
Speaker 1: like an amazing rocket ship that shout out the air
Speaker 1: real fast. You know, it's twenty years, twenty years into
Speaker 1: the game. And out of those twenty years, my knowledge,
Speaker 1: my understanding, and and ability to to take on so
Speaker 1: much UM has increased the machine that I now am
Speaker 1: as a machine that was developed by watching others and
Speaker 1: putting pieces together from so many of the successful people
Speaker 1: you know UM me as a businessman, as a CEO,
Speaker 1: as an as an owner, you know, investor, ambassador. UM.
Speaker 1: I understood the word brand and how powerful of a
Speaker 1: word it could be if if you realize correctly and
Speaker 1: assemble myself with amazing people that could invest in my
Speaker 1: vision and help me achieve the goals that I set
Speaker 1: out to do. And ultimately you end up realizing that
Speaker 1: the real talent is putting people around you and seeing
Speaker 1: those people elevating evolved. That's the real talent. You know,
Speaker 1: I can make money, I can go out and I
Speaker 1: can figure it out. But when you start to create
Speaker 1: livelihoods for others and you start to turn other people
Speaker 1: into successful business minds, um creators acts, when you go
Speaker 1: oh wow, this is the other side, This is the
Speaker 1: other side, This is what CEO is, This is what
Speaker 1: the CEO, does people believe in that individual and people
Speaker 1: work hard to help that individual. Achieving in that individual
Speaker 1: in return takes these people and pulls them up. The
Speaker 1: biggest hurdle was in me making sure that I understood
Speaker 1: how to make the people around me better and make
Speaker 1: them feel like they're a part of something and not
Speaker 1: just working for me. You have you modeled yourself fun
Speaker 1: Anyone is there you know who have been some inspirations
Speaker 1: about crafting herns? I got tons. I mean when I
Speaker 1: when I look at when I look at Tyler Perry,
Speaker 1: what he's done, When I look at Open went for You,
Speaker 1: When I look at uh jay Z Beyonce, when I
Speaker 1: look at Ellen, I look at Steve Harvey. Um. I
Speaker 1: mean literally, the list, the list is so long, seinfeld
Speaker 1: Um of of people that have that have truly taken
Speaker 1: an opportunity and made that opportunity a a lifelong lasting position.
Speaker 1: You know, the goal isn't to be a work for hire.
Speaker 1: The goal is to be a partner. So when you're
Speaker 1: in the conversations of partnership, when you're in the conversations
Speaker 1: of your catalog full of your I P s, you know, UM,
Speaker 1: my company and the evaluation of Heartbeat Productions after said date,
Speaker 1: you know, having the option to go partner with various
Speaker 1: different studios and do various different content, and whether it's TV,
Speaker 1: whether it's film, I can I can do it. Um.
Speaker 1: I've surrounded myself with some of the most amazing people
Speaker 1: in a business, my head of development for TV film,
Speaker 1: my exacts, my digital component to my company. Like, there's
Speaker 1: a lot that I've that I've done in engineering and
Speaker 1: putting pieces to this puzzle together. So at this point,
Speaker 1: it's just about navigating it correctly. And the toughest thing
Speaker 1: about today's time is just that every everything is under
Speaker 1: a microscope. So that's hurdle number two. Hurdle number two
Speaker 1: is understanding how to handle today. And I know how
Speaker 1: I know how to handle today. So the fear of
Speaker 1: me altering myself from my vision based on others or
Speaker 1: based on perception isn't a fear. And that's what I
Speaker 1: think is a big hurdle for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: So many other people fear what others think about them.
Speaker 1: Please God, don't, Oh my God, don't please, don't say
Speaker 1: nothing bad. Please don't hate my company and my business.
Speaker 1: Don't hate me. Wait a minute, don't say, so many
Speaker 1: people fear that that's something that you can't control. It's
Speaker 1: gonna exist whether you like it or not. You know,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna be liked or loved by everyone, but
Speaker 1: that shouldn't stop your You shouldn't stop your drive. So
Speaker 1: the understanding of that acted as a as a small
Speaker 1: hurdle of just me processing that to go, Okay, you're
Speaker 1: not here to please everyone because you can't. You can't.
Speaker 1: It's just impossible. Do your best, to do what you
Speaker 1: feel is is is taking you in the direction to
Speaker 1: leaving a major imprint in the world of who you were,
Speaker 1: what your company stands for, and why you bust your
Speaker 1: ass and the love you did. That's that's my take
Speaker 1: on so much. I think when you when you can,
Speaker 1: when you can just beat that positive and have that
Speaker 1: type of insight, it helps so much. So what's next.
Speaker 1: What's what's the next big goal for you? Next big goal?
Speaker 1: M Well, I want to become a billionaire just because
Speaker 1: of where I'm from, um, because of the odds home.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're not only able to mean something, just
Speaker 1: the effect that you can just this is what you
Speaker 1: can do, just what you can do. It's not about
Speaker 1: just saying you got being just to take the begon
Speaker 1: and now I got it, and it's time to go
Speaker 1: buy some jewelry. No, it's it's what can be done
Speaker 1: with the power that you now have, you know, the
Speaker 1: changes that you can immediately make. I'm in a position
Speaker 1: right now to do so much, and I do you know,
Speaker 1: from going back and sending kids to college left and right,
Speaker 1: you know, putting up my own money, not even going
Speaker 1: after other people's money, and then getting other people to
Speaker 1: team up and matching my money, and we send more
Speaker 1: kids to college from Philadelphia, PA. And me going back
Speaker 1: and doing stuff for the school system, the public school
Speaker 1: system Philadelphia, PA. Put in computers and schools, you know,
Speaker 1: putting books and needed materials, and uh, a place that's dying.
Speaker 1: You know, the education system, especially in public schools, is
Speaker 1: just dying. It's the teachers are underpaid, the cities can't
Speaker 1: afford to keep them running half the time for said amounts.
Speaker 1: Me trying to do what I can for where I'm from,
Speaker 1: then ultimately rolling it out and making it something that
Speaker 1: can potentially become global. You know, what, what do you
Speaker 1: want to do that can that can put you on
Speaker 1: the pedestal of change. What can I do? Money helps that, Uh,
Speaker 1: success helps that. Relationships helped that. So you know, right
Speaker 1: now the education thing is just big for me. UM,
Speaker 1: doing more of that, doing more films that I'm a
Speaker 1: part of the creative side from a company standpoint to
Speaker 1: where I'm partnering with these bigger studios as a priority now, UM,
Speaker 1: not just being the actor, you know, being a part
Speaker 1: of the development from start to finish. UM TV. What
Speaker 1: does TV look like? Through my eyes, through my world,
Speaker 1: through my lens? What does heartbeat productions mean? You know,
Speaker 1: ultimately we want to have a a heartbeat within our
Speaker 1: production pun intended. We want something that's heartfelt. We want
Speaker 1: underlying messages. I mean with Night School, that was my
Speaker 1: attempt to have an underlying message within the movies of
Speaker 1: second Chances and why it's okay to not get it
Speaker 1: right the first time, not supposed to get it right
Speaker 1: the first time, every time, it's okay to go back
Speaker 1: and do it again. I was our heartfelt message within
Speaker 1: that movie. With anything that we do, how can I
Speaker 1: continue to do that? You know? UM Animation me and
Speaker 1: my relationship with Illumination UH and Civic Life of Pets
Speaker 1: and Snowball, How much bigger can that get? What else
Speaker 1: can we do? UM? Stand up comedy, My ir Responsible Tour.
Speaker 1: Gonna put that special out probably and at February March time,
Speaker 1: maybe a little later. I'm trying to get a strong
Speaker 1: release date now. UM, working on documentary that highlights the
Speaker 1: people around me that helped make the engine go. Um,
Speaker 1: you've really see those people celebrated or those stories told.
Speaker 1: Because always about to start. But what about the ones
Speaker 1: around that once again invest that time energy into that individual. Um.
Speaker 1: That's something that I'm working on as well with Netflix.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be pretty huge. UM. What else right now?
Speaker 1: About to go start filming the next version of Jumanji.
Speaker 1: We start that end of January early February. UM. Another
Speaker 1: movie called Fatherhood developing uptown Tunday night right now with
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers. I mean, look, there's just there's so much,
Speaker 1: you know, There's there's so much that I have on
Speaker 1: the table right now, and I don't plan on taking
Speaker 1: anything off. There's no shot at anything coming off of
Speaker 1: this table anytime soon. I'm forty, I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: twenty six. I'm in the best shape of my life.
Speaker 1: Continue to help motivate inspired people to get healthy dropping
Speaker 1: a uh protein and a vitamin D vital hustle. Uh,
Speaker 1: something that I've worked on for years that can basically
Speaker 1: act the justification of how I get up and go.
Speaker 1: Um what else? Uh. I'm also owner and await company
Speaker 1: now x D, where we're creating UM weights and really
Speaker 1: cool materials that can go inside some of your favorite
Speaker 1: gems and build those relationships up. But the things that
Speaker 1: I really love, the things that I really do, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm very adamant about being hands on with radio. I
Speaker 1: mean radio now most serious serious XM straight from the
Speaker 1: Heart Channel ninety six, UM left all out radio playing
Speaker 1: on giving that some more time because I like it,
Speaker 1: because it's cool. I can do it from anywhere. Um.
Speaker 1: I think I said everything that sounds like it. Hand modeling,
Speaker 1: and do some hand modeling at some point. Also, uh,
Speaker 1: kids clothing, doing something where I'm just modeling kids clothing.
Speaker 1: I didn't make the cut. I'm gonna see if I
Speaker 1: can take it and do something big. Keeping man, good luck, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, keep growing and keep learning. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on the show. Really appreciate the
Speaker 1: played by the way Eagles played man. We play the
Speaker 1: Bears on Sunday. I believe good luck with them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that probably won't make it luck I will. I will
Speaker 1: say this though, in closing, man, my message to people
Speaker 1: in general. People, I'm gonna make sure that this is
Speaker 1: very clear. Man. I use the term to live, love
Speaker 1: and laugh so much and I mean it. I want
Speaker 1: you guys understand that we've got one life, and then
Speaker 1: this one life is our job to make sure that
Speaker 1: we live this life to the fullest, live it to
Speaker 1: the fullest, and living it to the fullest. Understand that
Speaker 1: it's okay to make a mistake, and it's okay to
Speaker 1: get better. It's okay to move forward. What you don't
Speaker 1: want to do is go backwards. Moving forward is what
Speaker 1: it's about. The reason why I say that because four
Speaker 1: progress means that you're always going towards something. So whether
Speaker 1: those goals are whatever, those things that you are working harder,
Speaker 1: that you inspired to be or what move forward. I'm
Speaker 1: gonta side to side. Don't go back and forth in
Speaker 1: a way to where you're never going towards the ultimate
Speaker 1: goal that's in front of you. Going backward. It's not
Speaker 1: where it's at, it never has been. Live your life
Speaker 1: for you, man, Thank you man, all right. The movie
Speaker 1: is called The Upside, comes out January eleven. Everyone go
Speaker 1: check it out. Kevin Heart, thanks again for coming on.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Appreciate it. Very cool. Appreciate you.