Kevin Hart and Josh Gad gave a press conference to promote their new movie “The Wedding Ringer” in the Stamp’s Pyon Su room on Nov. 1.
The line of students seemed never-ending Saturday night. It flowed out the front of Cole Field House and down through Union Lane. It snaked around the back of Stamp Student Union and past Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, its tail nearly reaching the east end of Byrd Stadium.
Officially, 5,000 students bought tickets for Kevin Hart’s comedy show Saturday at Cole — a nice, round maximum number that Student Entertainment Events reached in about half a day. But by 6:30 p.m., that number meant nothing to students waiting anxiously in line — hunched over in the face of a brisk breeze — as the only thing on their minds was length. How long was the line standing between them and Kevin Hart?
Hart took the stage to a riotous ovation from the crowd packed into Cole Field House. The show, one in a series of college stops Hart is using to try out brand-new material, had been the talk of the campus since tickets went on sale at midnight on Oct. 14. Throughout the set, laughter and applause were nearly constant, with some students intermittently rising from their seats with delight.
“It’s hard to compare comedy to music, just because the nature of the events, but this one had the feel of a concert,” said Ben Stryker, SEE comedy director. “It was that big.”
Because the set featured material not yet released on a grand scale, Hart’s agents asked that The Diamondback not include direct references to show content.
“I figured seeing Kevin Hart live is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so it’s worth it to stand on line,” said psychology major Jake Alpert as he slowly inched forward, Cole not yet in sight.
“We had Aziz Ansari [in 2011] and I thought that was huge,” said senior marketing major Danny Hoffman, who stood not much farther ahead of Alpert. “And now we have Kevin Hart; it’s crazy. The kind of things that Maryland is getting, it’s awesome. SEE is really doing a great job.”
In the weeks leading up to Saturday, students in the SEE offices simply called it “Kevin Hart Day,” and for good reason. The 35-year-old actor and comedian first arrived on the campus in advance of a 2 p.m. screening in Hoff Theater of his new movie, The Wedding Ringer. That was followed by a Q-and-A with the crowd, which filled the Hoff to maximum capacity. While this line wasn’t as long as the one for the comedy show, some students started lining up well before noon for the screening.
Hart was joined at The Wedding Ringer screening by co-star Josh Gad onstage before the film and sat among the students that had squeezed into Hoff to watch it.
“This movie is ultimately about a friendship between these two guys; it’s a bromance,” said Gad, in a joint interview before the movie. “It’s hysterically funny, and it’s actually touching, in a way.”
“It is,” agreed Hart. “And I think at the end of the day, you walk away with the ultimate message that when you are yourself, you’ll get accepted, which is eventually what I wind up doing.”
“Way to ruin the ending!” Gad exclaimed.
“Who cares, Josh?” Hart said. “It’s a comedy.”
Hart said he took on the role because he had long admired Gad’s work on TV and the stage as the star of The Book of Mormon and because he enjoyed the subtle complexity of his character, one of many things that struck a chord with him in the script. Both actors saw this university as a perfect place to test the waters on the film.
“Here’s the thing: College kids love free stuff and they love to talk about what they love,” Hart expanded. “So, this being a good film — a great comedy — it’s right up their alley. So the goal is to get people to spread the word, and that’s why we’re doing a college tour — smart promoting.”
SEE used “Kevin Hart Day” as a way to enhance its brand on the campus. Between the screening and the show, Saturday was a landmark date for the student organization, Stryker said. Now, students are looking forward to future events for the same reason they waited outside Cole on a cold November night and left two hours later with throats sore from laughter: Kevin Hart.
“Truly talented people are few and far between and when you’re able to get them on campus at their peak, it’s special,” said Stryker. “We like to get people before they get big, but when we can get someone really at the pinnacle of their career, people will line up.”
