well it was a star stud at night right here in the nation's capital as Hollywood and the DMV pay tribute to the one the only Kevin Harts that's right the comedian and actor the latest recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American humor and before the ceremony some of the biggest names in comedy hit the red carpet sat uh there all at the Kennedy Center Kevin was right there with them you got a Fox 5 exclusive and this is just crazy uh because you have such a great person uh person relationship w
ith him yes so I do want to say coming up at 1040 I'm talking to an amazing actor named David doin um and that's why I was in the middle of an edit just now with our editor talking about that so I apologize for that's okay I I saw a video from the red carpet and I saw that you were the only one to get a one-on-one with Kevin Hart well there were other people who did get one-on ones but like in that moment yes yeah so this was an incredible honor Kevin Hart was being honored last night for the Ma
rk Twain Prize for American humor and uh this is a legendary award uh there's been many many amazing artists who have gotten this award over the years including Richard prior George Carlin Carol Bernett I'm out of breath sorry Adam Sandler Adam Sandler work over Julie Lou dfus and more yeah and so last night I had the chance to catch up with Kevin Hart to talk all about the incredible honor of the Mark Twain Prize I've known Kevin Hart for many years through interviews and it's been I've been lu
cky to uh have talked to him many times over the years so this was a really fun uh thing to celebrate him last night so here's Kevin Hart and also some of his incredible guest honors uh we had Wallace we had the incredible uh the incredible Linda Carter and JB smoo and more take a look please welcome the recipient of the 25th PR for American humor my boy [Applause] Kevin good to see you man how you been it's so good to see you in 1988 Richard PRI was the first recipient of this award now 2024 is
here you're getting it what does that mean to you I mean you can't write it you can't foresee something like this happening um and when it does it's just it's something that you have to really process but over time right like you know I feel like this is a delay bomb that'll go off and I'll go wow like that's insane that I'm a part of said group and on said list and in the building that has such history in it I now sit in the Raptors of or on the walls of um you know I'm 44 so I'm getting older
not old yet but I'm getting older and this is when you start to look back at the things that you've done and uh the things that really matter add up and I think that's where the emotions come into play because you didn't waste your time spending it doing the thing you loved take me back to your childhood real quick and I want to know the first time you realized that comedy could be a special thing a communal thing a cathartic thing for people do you remember a joke or a movie that you saw my ba
nquet for my swim team PDR um I was a below subpar swimmer uh at PDR so I wasn't getting the scholarships I had no accolades and I was graduating my senior year so when everybody else got up there and celebrated and gave amazing speeches about the program I chose comedy and I made fun of myself and the coaches and how they received me and the other parents and I killed I destroyed that banquet Standing Ovation without a standing ovation uh and laughter was laughter but a lot of people was like d
ag what school are you going to and I wasn't I had no school but that was the day where comedy became a thing so sometimes uh things happen the way they're not supposed to but the thing that wasn't supposed to be ends up being the thing that was so uh there's messages and everything if you choose to see it that way Kev always good to see you man always good to see you congratulations since we're celebrating comedy tonight I want to take you back to maybe your childhood or the first time you reme
mber seeing a joke or a comedy movie that made you laugh that made you realize the importance of the communal nature of Comedy do you remember the first time you really discovered comedy but of course it was uh on television it was a man you don't remember but it was a man named Red Skelton and that's why I'm in the business Red Skelton red buttons red fox and pink and Lee that's all people of color and when you make people happy that's what life is all about honoring your essence and loving to
laugh and making other people happy I think we we start with TV you know I was a big Peter cers fan so I'm a I was a fan of standup comedy and comedic actors you know Richard Pryor red fox and George Carlin all that all those things I remember I rented the same George Carin video tape over and over again the same VHS tape I just kept wrting the whole I know I kept watching it cuz I he was just so amazing to me and that was the one comic I think that gave me the big turn and gave me the gut to go
on stage and grab a microphone that the character of Wonder Woman and obviously her being who she is there was so comedy baked into those as well and how did you balance that of being like a a bad superhero but at the same time there's there's some comic aspects to it as well did you find the comedy was fun with her as well well I never laughed at her I I I only laughed with her she always had a kind of a an idea it's like not again really you really think you could do a are you serious it was
more about that not again it's it it's more about that and not taking yourself too seriously but I took the role very seriously I played it a th% real so did galado and Patty we played it for real because if you don't believe no one else will believe yeah that was an honor to be there last night that was the Kennedy Center for the Mark Twain Prize for American humor as I mentioned to Kevin Hart the first recipient of that prize was Mr Richard prior back in 1988 and I would imagine that that's a
pretty wild full circle for someone like Kevin hard you know in the comedic field of standup uh to be uh acknowledged in that grouping and as we mentioned Adam Sandler last year Carol brunette Julie Louie drus George Carlin Eddie Murphy Eddie Murphy I remember covering the Eddie Murphy one I'll never forget it because I I still have my ticket for the Nutty Professor and I remember seeing it uh in theaters and I remember showing it to him and he was freaking out he turned the ticket around he sho
wed it to the camera and he was reading it and I remember Chappelle was there that night and Chappelle didn't walk down to where I was in the carpet but I saw Chappelle sneaking out so I turned around and put my mic in Chappelle's face and said dude that standup bit you do in Nutty Professor when you when he has like the teeth and everything and then Eddie goes up there he gave me the greatest answer about that uh I love the Mark Twain Prize uh over the years because it's just been really cool t
o talk to a bunch of comedians stff thank you so much Kevin Kevin Hart is so deserving even at 44 know very I also appreciate those hugs Kev if you're watching I really appreciated those hugs last night man Cat full salute to Kevin Hart streaming on Netflix May 11th
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