Kevin Hart tells two stories about his mother on The Diary Of A CEO, and the Short puts them side by side. The first is the deal they made when he chose comedy. The second is the lesson she taught him when he couldn't pay his rent, and it involves a Bible he says he wasn't reading.
Clip: Viral Podcast Shorts YouTube Short from the full source linked below.
They come from two different points in the conversation. This article follows the Short's order and keeps each one in his own words.
The agreement
"We had an agreement," Hart begins. He says he had "a certain amount of time to make comedy make sense and figure out a way to support myself." If it didn't work, he would have to go with his mom's idea: education, and getting a job while he got that education.
His own plan, he says, did not involve college. He remembers how certain he felt. "I'm out. I'm done," he says, describing how he saw it then. "This is what I want to do." He adds that he had "never been more excited about my future." In his telling, there was no hedging at all: "This is it for me."
"I'm going figure it out"
The clip plays out the doubts as a quick back-and-forth. "How you going to make your money, Kevin?" The answer was simple: "I'm going figure it out." Pressed on how, he doubles down: "I'mma figure it out though."
He says his plan was to go down to the comedy clubs, where he had been winning amateur nights. He won a bunch of them in a row, he says, and he thinks winning those nights helped him pay his rent.
He did not see it as hard, because there was no backup. "All my eggs were in this basket," he says, "and I was very happy with that choice." He calls it putting "every last egg in this thing," and ends that part of the clip with a promise: "I will figure it out."
When the rent came due
The second story comes from a different part of the interview. Hart says there was a time he could not pay his rent and needed help, so he asked his mom.
Her answer, as he tells it, was that she wasn't helping until he started reading the Bible. "Mom, I'm reading the Bible," he remembers telling her. Then he admits, "I was lying."
He says he kept pleading. "Come on, Mom. This is real," he remembers saying. He told her he was about to be kicked out. She would ask whether he was reading his Bible, he would say yes, and she would tell him to talk to her once he had read it. He says this went on "for like a while."
Multiple months of rent checks
Eventually, alone and out of ideas, he decided to pick up the Bible. When he opened it, he says, "multiple months of rent checks" fell out.
"It's pretty amazing," he says, more than once. He adds that he then had to actually open the Bible and start reading it.
Looking back, Hart sees two things in what his mom did. It was her way of knowing he was lying, he says, and it gave him "one of the best lessons ever."
The clip does not say how many months were in there, or what the amounts were. He doesn't spell out the lesson in a single sentence, either. He lets the image do the work: by his account, the help he had been begging for was inside the book, waiting for him to open it.
Related reading
- Kevin Hart's real name
- Kevin Hart bio
- Matthew McConaughey on turning down $14.5 million, from The Diary Of A CEO
- Mark Cuban on The Diary Of A CEO
FAQ
What deal did Kevin Hart make with his mom about comedy?
He says he had a certain amount of time to make comedy work and support himself. If it didn't work, he would follow her plan of education and a job.
How did Kevin Hart pay rent early on?
He says he thinks winning amateur nights at comedy clubs helped him pay his rent.
What was in Kevin Hart's Bible?
By his account, multiple months of rent checks fell out when he finally opened it.
What does Kevin Hart say the rent checks in the Bible meant?
He says it was his mom's way of knowing he was lying about reading it, and that it gave him one of the best lessons ever.