Kevin Hart: Growing up, being "the funny guy" kept me out of fights, but hurt with women
Being funny helped keep comedian Kevin Hart out of fights when he was growing up in a tough Philadelphia neighborhood, but it also kept him out of the dating world, he tells Tracy Smith in an interview for CBS' "Sunday Morning," to be broadcast May 28.
"Nobody wants to fight the funny guy," Hart tells Smith. "Nobody wants to mess with the funny guy. Everybody wants to be around the funny guy. And that's what I was."
Women in those early days, however, had a different reaction to being around the "funny guy," Hart recalled:
"Not gonna, not even going to lie to you. This would have been a perfect place to put that lie. It would have been a perfect place to put that lie. 'Yes, women were all over…' No, not the case. Not the case at all.
"Women bring out a different side out of you. So it's, like, you can be cool and you can be funny. But to women, you can be goofy when it's time to not be funny. I didn't know how to shut the funny off with women. That was my problem when I was younger."
Hart has put those days behind him, and is now married to model Eniko Parrish. The couple is expecting their first child together. Hart also has two children from a previous marriage.
In a wide-ranging interview, Hart (who has just written a new book, "I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons," published by Atria, a division of Simon & Schuster) talks with Smith about his childhood in Philadelphia, what he learned from his parents about life, and fatherhood.
He says the most important part about being a father is simply being there for the kids. "Be there. Be present. Hands down. Hands down. Nothing else matters," Hart tells Smith. "All the money in the world does not add up to time to a child."
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS Sunday Morning," hosted by Jane Pauley, is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.
Follow the program on Twitter (@CBSSunday), Facebook, Instagram (#CBSSundayMorning) and at cbssundaymorning.com. "Sunday Morning" also streams on CBSN beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET, and is available on cbs.com, CBS All Access, and On Demand. You can also listen to "Sunday Morning" audio podcasts at Play.it.
For more info:
- "I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons" by Kevin Hart (Atria); also available in eBook format
- kevinhartnation.com (Official site)
- Follow @KevinHart4real on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube