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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 6 June 2017
Kevin Hart’s ‘Life Lessons’ largely come from his youth

SAMANTHA CRITCHELL context of those afore- “My humor was in my
Associated Press mentioned life lessons. uniqueness, my personal-
Kevin Hart’s rags-to-riches Not that he always prac- ity — not the way I saw
life story, told candidly in ticed what he now is life, but the way I did life.
his new autobiography, “I preaching. That was the payoff; that’s
Can’t Make This Up: Life But the moments when where I struck gold,” Hart
Lessons,” makes a con- he lied to his mom about writes.
vincing case for simple reading the Bible, crash- That epiphany got him the
values that seem much ing his then-girlfriend’s car, laughs that first got the at-
more closely connected ruining her mother’s good tention of Damon Dash,
to his roots in North Phila- credit and allowing anger who founded Roc-A-Fella
delphia than his success to bubble up to the point Records with Jay Z, and
in Hollywood. He gives full when police had to break Hart’s big break.
credit to persistence, hu- up domestic disputes Since then he’s told his sto-
manity and a conscience serve as a reminder about ries on college campuses,
— mixed with a generally the man he never wants sold-out comedy clubs
likable demeanor — as to be again. That guy was and a fair share of block-
the cornerstones of his suc- poor. busters.
cess. He could be a jerk, he was He carries the truth-is-fun-
He devotes many very irresponsible and, prob- nier-than-fiction style over
personal chapters to his ably worst of all, he wasn’t into this book, although the
childhood and gives thor- funny. poignant moments out-
ough introductions to all Rising above that turned weigh the humorous ones
of his family members and Hart into one of the world’s here.q
friends. highest-paid comedians.
Clearly memories from his The way he did it was to This cover image re-
youth were impactful, as stop telling jokes and to leased by Atria shows,
he can recount those sto- show the vulnerability that “I Can’t Make This Up:
ries — maybe too many? comes from his own story, Life Lessons,” by Kevin
— down to the last de- punctuated with quick Hart. Associated Press
tail and put them into the punch lines.