While humor is often employed at bars, parties and workplace settings as a relief from life’s more mundane moments and playing “the dozens” is an age old pastime in urban neighborhoods amongst friends and acquaintances, stand up comedy is its own separate beast. Performing on stage requires much brevity and a greatly honed skill engaging an audience, commanding attention, and most of all developing a routine that will universally go over well. Kevin Hart represents Philly as a part of today’s highly esteemed class of up and coming professional comedians, and with the success of acclaimed stand up specials I’m A Grown Little Man and Seriously Funny, he’s set to follow in the footsteps of legends to come before him. With an ongoing grind that extends to movie and television roles, Kevin took time to briefly speak with 215mag.com about how far he’s come in such a short time [no pun intended] and how far he still has to go. 
You are a Philly native that has relocated to L.A., what do you miss from over here?
My father and my brother still make Philly home so I always try to get back there to visit them. The thing that I love most about Philly is the way the city shows love to their own.  I have traveled the world and haven’t found any fans that are like Philadelphia fans.

You seem very grounded, you’ve mentioned that you still keep a lot of the same circle around you that was there before your celebrity. Why was that important to you?
My circle of friends definitely play a huge part in keeping me grounded. Most of them have known me for years and they treat me just like one of the guys. It’s important to have friends that will be brutally honest and won’t sugarcoat the truth. 

Your children and family life have been the center of a lot of your stand up routine. Are these stories true to life, slightly embellished or utterly made up?
Most of them are true, like any good story you can make it sound better with a little embellishment, they all start off true, though.

As a stand up comedian, I’m sure you look up to others that came before you. Who is your favorite stand up comedian?
I pattern my stand up after Bill Cosby, but I admire others such as Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Sinbad. My stand up centers around storytelling, and the subject matter is usually my family or everyday family experiences, so that is why Bill Cosby can be considered one of my favorites. His display of family comedy and the way he makes everyday life, the good and bad, just seem plain funny, made me want to pattern myself after him.?

Okay, so who would you say is the funniest person you actually know personally?
It would have to be one of my friends, J.T. Jackson.  Hands down, the funniest human being I know. The thing that makes me laugh about J.T. is the ridiculous situations that he can get his self into and the incredibly stupid solutions he comes up with to solve them.
 
What has been the personal highlight and the biggest accomplishment of your career to date?
I guess you could say the Seriously Funny DVD. I mean to date, I think its my best work. I pride myself on creating new quality material for my stand-up, From Grown Little Man to Seriously Funny, and now I’m working on my third hour that I’m calling Laugh at My Pain. I hope this one will put me at level of some of my comedic idols.

If you had to choose between acting and stand up, which would you choose?
Stand up because, stand up is my love, and acting only came around because of my stand up.