Kevin Hart brings soaring standup career to Edmonton

He didn’t get nominated for standup of the year at the Comedy Awards — much to the chagrin of Chris Rock — but Kevin Hart gets the last laugh: a Canadian extension to his hit tour, including a stop in Edmonton July 26.

The standup, whose Comedy Central concert videos on Netflix have helped vault him to national attention, brings his “Laugh At My Pain” tour to the Winspear Centre. Tickets are available this Friday at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster.

He was the number one comedian on Ticketmaster and in February 2011 Hart sold out the Nokia Theater two nights in a row to break a record previously set by Eddie Murphy. Hart’s DVD Seriously Funny is one of the fastest selling DVDs in recent years and has gone four times platinum. His comedy central special of the same name is the highest rated comedy special of 2010. Hart recently starred in lead roles in two new movies, Screen Gem’s Think Like A Man, a comedy based on Steve Harvey’s bestselling 2009 book Act Like A Lady, and the Nick Stoller comedy Five Year Engagement for producer Judd Apatow and Universal. Hart was also seen in Meet the Fockers Sequel aka Little Fockers, and Death at a Funeral, alongside Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan and Martin Lawrence. He also co-starred alongside Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson in Fool’s Gold, as well as opposite Steve Carell in The 40 Year Old Virgin.

Hart debuted on amateur night at a Philadelphia comedy club and was instantly hooked. He quit his job as a shoe salesman and began performing full time at such clubs as The Boston Comedy Club, Caroline’s, Stand-Up NY, The Laugh Factory and The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. However, it was his first appearance at the Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival (replayed semi-weekly, it seems, on the Comedy Network) that led to work in feature films.