PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 09: Kevin Hart of 'Dave' speaks during the FX segment of the 2020 Winter TCA Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 09, 2020 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Johannesburg, it’s your turn! American comedian and actor Kevin Hart has landed in South Africa for his Reality Show Tour, which kicked off on Wednesday at Grand Arena in Cape Town.
The first leg of his South African tour left fans who attended in stitches as Hart returned to local stages for the first time since his 2016 show What Now?.
During a press event in Johannesburg in March 2016, the comedian expressed his gratitude for the love he had received from local supporters and his excitement about his first South African shows.
“To be travelling around the world telling jokes is one thing but for your craft to be received by the masses is another. This is something that was long overdue; it was on my to-do list and it didn’t happen for quite some time because I felt the timing wasn’t right.
“So, I’m glad that I was patient about it and waited until now because it paid off and turned out to be something really special,” Hart said.
According to Forbes, the What Now tour, which also went to other countries around the world including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, contributed to him bagging $87.5 million in 2016, making him the highest paid comedian that year.
His return to the rainbow nation has been highly anticipated since it was announced by entertainment company Big Concerts in November.
Hart started his career doing stand-up comedy. His 2011 set Laugh at my Pain drew a lot of attention to the entertainer, whose breakout year was in 2014 after he had featured in movies Ride Along, About Last Night and Think Like a Man Too. He’s gone on to expand his acting and comedy career appearing in films such as Central Intelligence and Fatherhood on Netflix and more recently, Die Hart.
Hart made a stop at the Joburg premiere of Die Hart on Thursday evening at Montecasino. It will be released in local theatres on 22 February and on streaming platform Prime Video two days later.
Initially, the sold-out Gauteng stop of the show was scheduled as a one-night-only performance to take place on 17 February at the Sun Arena in Pretoria. However an additional date, February 18, was added to accommodate fans who failed to get tickets. The Cape Town leg was only announced on 12 January.
Earlier this week, the award-winning entertainer shared a humorous video of himself “training” for the local shows which included the popular song Mmapula by amapiano star Mfana Thupa.