Hart’s memoir surprisingly poignant
Funnyman’s ‘Life Lessons’ were hard earned
I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons Kevin Hart Atria
Kevin Hart’s rags-to-riches life story, told candidly in his new autobiography, I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons, makes a convincing case for simple values that seem much more closely connected to his roots in North Philadelphia than his success in Hollywood.
The actor, comedian and writer gives full credit to persistence, humanity and a conscience — mixed with a generally likable demeanour — as the cornerstones of his success.
He devotes many personal chapters to his childhood and gives thorough introductions to all of his family members and friends. Clearly memories from his youth were impactful as he can recount those stories — maybe too many? — down to the last detail and put them into the context of those aforementioned life lessons.
Not that he always practised what he now is preaching.
But the moments when he lied to his mom about reading the Bible, crashing his then girlfriend’s car, ruining her mother’s good credit and allowing anger to bubble up to the point that police had to break up domestic disputes serve as a reminder about the man he never wants to be again.
That guy was poor. He could be a jerk, he was irresponsible and, probably worst of all, he wasn’t funny.
Rising above that turned Hart into one of the world’s highestpaid comedians. The way he did it was to stop telling jokes and to show the vulnerability that comes from his own story, punctuated with quick punch lines.
That epiphany got him the laughs that first got the attention of Damon Dash, who founded RocA-Fella Records with Jay Z, and Hart’s big break.
Since then he’s told his stories on college campuses, at sold-out comedy clubs and in a fair share of blockbusters.
He carries the truth-is-funnier-than-fiction style over into this book, although the poignant moments outweigh the humorous ones here.