1 out of 5 Globes

Genre- Stand-Up Comedy Special

Streaming Service- Netflix

1 hour 9 minutes

Coronavirus has caused cancellations in so many different ways, but specifically cancellations of live events such as concerts and shows. However, comedian Kevin Hart has decided to go against the grain and invited a small audience into his own home for a rather poor-taste comedy show.

Netflix released ‘Kevin Hart: Zero F**ks Given’ on Nov. 16. What was meant to be a funny, unfiltered, true look at the current ways of life, ending up being filled with jokes that didn’t land and poor remarks. Hart opens the floor up by talking about these guests that he’s invited to his house for a stand-up show to get “back to his roots.” Granted, all couples are wearing masks and are all spaced at least six feet away from each other. Though at the end of the show, Hart brings out brick oven pizza for all of his guests to enjoy. So there’s the question of if all these people watching took off their masks to enjoy the pizza which the special never shows.

Hart reveals to the audience that he’s going to be straight up with everything he says. While that may be true, it might have been better off for him to stay quiet on some parts. For one, he literally calls his 15-year-old daughter a “hoe” in one of his jokes. He’s talking about how his daughter is boy crazy right now and essentially likes a new boy every week. He proceeds to say, “Instantly, in my mind, I said, ‘my daughter [is] a hoe. This is hoe shit.’” While it’s understandable that it’s for comedic purposes, it’s not very progressive nor loving to call his own daughter.

He continues to bring up more poor joke subjects such as looking down on younger generations for filming everything and blaming that activity for getting him in trouble for saying homophobic slurs, cheating on his wife, lying about eating plant-based foods, and more. He even calls his son dumb, says women’s problem is that they “give too many f**ks,” and goes as far as to say that he calls coronavirus ‘the VID’ because it makes it sound as dangerous as AIDS.

The audience even jeers in shock at one of Hart’s jokes about being canceled. He brings up a joke about ‘one-armed people’ and then after he tells the joke he says that they may cancel him next for it. He then says how one-armed people can’t cancel him though because the rally wouldn’t last long since they can’t hold up signs with one arm for a long time. Hart quickly realizes he maybe shouldn’t have said that and jokes about wanting to take it out before exclaiming, “Fuck it, I’m in my house. I’m gonna say what the fuck I want.”

It’s not just his subject of jokes that ruin this special, he seems to constantly rely on profanity for humor. Half of the time the jokes get overshadowed by him dropping a swear word every other word. The placement doesn’t even make sense part of the time. It also makes the jokes sound very repetitive.

The good part of the show was that Hart does have some good physical comedy throughout and delivery. His transitions flowed from one subject to the next, but it isn’t enough to bring the comedy to where it needs to be. 

While there are a few good chuckles throughout, overall, this stand-up falls down flat. Not only does Hart make jokes in poor taste, but it’s hard to pay attention to the show as it gets pretty boring. While he truly did “give no f**ks” for this comedy show, maybe it would’ve benefited him more to actually care about the material he picked, unless he wants to get canceled again.