Kevin Hart’s comedy adventures

Kevin Hart thinks all shots to his pride have been taken during his career.

The 36-year-old is now a big star thanks to roles in hit comedy movies including Ride Along and Think Like a Man as well as his sell-out stand-up shows. But his success is a world away from his humble beginnings as a wannabe comic plying his trade.

“I performed at family dinners, family functions, like where you get there and you're the entertainment for a household. You name it: All shots to my pride have been taken,” he told Rolling Stone. “I've been to some of the damnedest places for comedy. I performed in a place in Atlantic City called Sweet Cheeks. It was a male strip night, and some nights a female strip night, and in the middle they would stop the stripper show and have intermission, where as comedians it was our job to go up and make the people laugh.”

After graduating community college, Kevin found work as a shoe salesman. But after being encouraged by a colleague to attend an open mic evening, he told his mother Nancy that he was going to be a comedian. Nancy agreed to pay his $550 a month rent but it came with a string attached.

“She said, 'I'll help you out for a year.'She was putting the rent checks in my Bible, and there was a point where I was back on my rent for, like, two months and I was like, 'Mom, I need the checks,’” he recalled. “And she was like, 'Have you been reading your Bible' I would just keep lying: 'Yes, Mom, it's not about that right now.' She said, 'When you read your Bible, I'll know.'"

Kevin made his dream come true and his mother lived long enough to see it happen before sadly passing away from ovarian cancer in 2007. But the star will always be thankful for the support she gave him throughout his life.
“She was a strong woman, dude," he said. "Didn't take no sh*t."