Confusion and disappointment befell many Kevin Hart fans who attended his performance at Vancouver’s Stanley Park over the weekend. A surprising brevity to the comedy set left some fans disgruntled, revealing they had shelled out hundreds of dollars for the event.
Jessica Mattice, a Langley resident who was amidst the crowd at The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival that Hart headlined on Saturday night, expressed her dissatisfaction with the film superstar’s short act, estimating it to have lasted only 15 to 20 minutes.
Mattice shared her perplexity, noting: “When people go to comedy clubs, the headliner is usually the one who performs the longest. Shockingly, it seemed like both acts that took the stage before Kevin Hart outperformed him timewise.”
Uncertainty loomed over the actual length of Hart’s set, with spectators required to stash their phones and smartwatches prior to the show. Nonetheless, the abrupt end to Hart’s performance and his swift exit from the stage left attendees astounded.
According to Mattice, Hart’s thank you note to Vancouver felt more like an introduction than a finale to his performance. The opening acts also added to the swirl of confusion by commencing roughly an hour behind schedule. A circumstance Mattice found to be a stark variance from her Friday night experience, when Russell Peters punctually delivered a performance that lasted more than an hour.
Discontentment echoed throughout the event’s Instagram page, with disgruntled fans labeling the festival a “waste of money.” Similar to Mattice’s account, several fans constrained Hart’s set to a mere 20 minutes.
Adding to the chaos, some attendees speculated a security issue had arisen given the high presence of safety personnel during Hart’s act, though no official information was provided at the time. In retrospect, these concerns might have stemmed from an incident on Friday where a possible security breach occurred involving a man animatedly advancing towards the stage brandishing an “edged weapon.”
Saturday’s performance still held a more bitter taste for VIP ticket holders, among them Mattice, who expended $240 for the experience. Mattice lamented the unjustifiable cost for a mere 15-minute performance, admitting she found Hart’s stand-up routine less entertaining than his on-screen performances. “I expected to be more amused—or at least entertained for a longer duration.”
For comparison, The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, which also visited other Canadian cities this summer, received no complaints when headlined by Jerry Seinfeld in Halifax. With the sour reviews looming over Kevin Hart’s performance, one would hope for restoration in the coming acts.
