Kevin Hart: I'm A Grown Little Man (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #9 extract: Kevin Hart: I'm A Grown Little Man (2009)

Truly phenomenal. In my opinion, this is the special that makes it obvious why Kevin Hart is the most successful stand-up comedian ever. With I'm A Grown Little Man, Hart transcends simple notions of stage presence, essentially assuming a position much like Andrew Dice Clay did whereby he's clearly acting out a character, but in a subtly complex way so that it blends into his personality to the point that it's not clear where the divide resides. The level at which Hart manages to do this can be recognised once you consider the fact he's done this routine hundreds, maybe thousands, of times. However, he still laughs with the crowd. We can confidently assume that he doesn't find his own jokes funny, especially after doing them so many times. But, he blends this into his character so that we believe that he's telling these jokes in the moment and for the first time, as if there's not hundreds of hours of work behind each of these bits. 

With that layered onto the insanely hilarious quality of bits like the "ostrich" one, it's impossible to dispute that Hart is one of the greatest comedians to go near a mic.