Kevin Hart announces Netflix standup special following Oscars controversy

Washington: American comedian and actor Kevin Hart is returning to showbiz with a new standup comedy special. The 39-year-old comedian’s first original Netflix standup special titled ‘Kevin Hart: Irresponsible’ is releasing globally on April 2.

The comedian, who sounded excited about his upcoming stand-up special, posted a short clip on Instagram featuring him standing in a red spotlight that later zooms out and then forms Netflix’s signature ‘N’.

“Mark your calendars damn it. My Comedy special will be dropping on April 2nd on Netflix. I can’t wait....Let’s gooooooo #Irresponsible#ComedicRockStarShit #Netflix,” he wrote alongside the brief clip. The hour-long comedy special was shot in front of a 15,000-person crowd at the O2 Arena in London as part of Hart’s tour of the same name, reported People.

“Hart touches upon his friends, family, travel and a year filled with Irresponsible behaviour,” a press release read.‘Kevin Hart: Irresponsible’ marks Hart’s first original comedy special on the streaming service, however, he has earlier worked on content for the platform including ‘Kevin Hart’s Guide to Black History’ which came out in February.

The upcoming special standup follows a few controversial months for the comedian, in which he was hired to host this year’s Oscars but later stepped down from the gig on account of his homophobic tweets from the past. Despite a lot of reports doing the rounds that he might return to host the Oscars, Hart in January said he would not be hosting the show, which aired on February 24 without a host. 

“I don’t want people to think there’s a thing between me and the Academy, because there isn’t. The Academy, they’re amazing people, the offer was made, it was received, I was excited, things happened, it didn’t work out the way that it should’ve. Right now, from a time perspective, I don’t have the time [to return as host]… It’s not going to happen. In the future, if it does, it does,” he had said during an appearance on ‘Good Morning America’.

Some other comedians too have appeared on the online streaming service with their comedy specials like Amy Schumer, whose next special will come out on March 19 and Ellen DeGeneres, whose first standup special in 15 years released on Netflix in December 2018.