Comedian Kevin Hart is everywhere (well, except the Oscars) and he’s definitely having a cultural moment — or many of them really. Literally chilling with his NBA pals is just part of it. Hart started his own @LOLNetwork where one of the recurring shows is his funny, always revealing ColdAsBalls series. Hart interviews sports superstars as he and his guests ice down in cold tubs. Freezing cold tubs that is, with ice being continually added. ColdAsBalls is like the (polar) opposite of shows like Hot Ones, where Hart was a sweating, memorable guest. Predictably one Hart guest — the utterly unique NBA star Russell Westbrook — didn’t play by the Hart rules. Westbrook, who lives his #whynot motto both on and off the court, commandeered Hart’s show right out from under the diminutive comedian. Westbrook showed up with his guys wearing “Russell Westbrook’s Cold as Balls” t-shirts, sat in Hart’s tub, and wrote to his followers on Twitter “I think the fans prefer me as host.” (Hey, Russ basically said the same thing to Kevin Durant, won an MVP and now the OKC Thunder is thriving — so watch out Kevin Hart!)
New episode of my #ColdAsBalls show is out TODAY. Watch the full episode on @LOLNetwork with my guest, #KevinHart. I think the fans prefer me as host. https://t.co/KKnUkpRJ4y pic.twitter.com/VPbIG4KMRv
— Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) February 15, 2019
Hart is forced to admit to Westbrook, “I’m on your show. I’m fine with it. I’m secure!” It’s all in fun and 6’3″ Westbrook is a good host, staying on the host theme like glue, playfully accusing 5’4″ Hart of playing kids in the movies. (Hart’s impassioned response: “I played an adult in every (expletive) movie!”) Russell Westbrook’s Cold as Balls is about an 11-minute go — see below. A funny revelation occurs when the men switch tubs and Hart admits that the guest’s tub is deeper — “so I can be eye level with the guest!” That’s an old trick, even for talk show hosts that aren’t vertically challenged like Hart. Letterman, Carson, the 6’4″ Conan O’Brien — they all had their desks raised above their guests’ seats. Westbrook is so far the first guest to steal Hart’s show. When NBA stars Ben Simmons and Nick Young join Hart for episodes of Kevin Hart’s Cold as Balls, they sit in the guest tub. Still, eye level is a stretch in describing Hart looking at the 6’10” Simmons.
