Hustling the Hart on What The Fit

Right before the global pandemic took effect on us all, at the end of January 2020, I had the thrilling honor of appearing on Kevin Hart’s fitness and sport YouTube series – What The Fit.

Kevin’s special guest was Keegan Michael-Key, another hilarious comedic actor, best known from his show Key & Peele, and various movie appearances.

I would play the role of coach, with their main competition – now 2021 Olympian Nikhil Kumar, at the time preparing to try and earn his spot on the team.

The TV segment showed a portion of what our session involved. The idea of the show is to illustrate how intense physical fitness can be found in sports which are often overlooked. My job was to show how table tennis was one of those deceiving sports.

I started the pair of comedians out with the net-post footwork drills, using one hand only to touch each side of the net-post and side-stepping in quick bursts around half a side of the table. It quickly had the two of them sweating, a great start!

Now of course the first question people ask me, when asking about my experience on the show is, “Was Kevin Hart funny?”

I suppose this is a question you would ask about any comedian. In truth, yes, he was an absolute riot. Everything from his mannerisms, facial expressions and quirky little exclamations – paired with his spontaneous behavior, left a lasting impression. Kevin Hart is a genuinely funny person. Keegan Michael-Key was also brilliant. Many agreed they were the best pairing on the show to date. They seemed to play off each other perfectly.

The next activity, I taught them both how to serve, explaining the service rules and we had a little segment where they tried to return Nikhil’s normal serves. They didn’t fare too well on that front, and seemed in awe of the amount of difficulty involved.

We had given both Kevin and Keegan a pair brand new JOOLA rackets, and there came a fun moment where they decided to ‘examine’ their equipment, with an obviously false air of seriousness. Keegan brought the racket up to his face, eyeballing the surface intensely.

“These rackets are regulation right?” Kev says, without so much as cracking on the surface.

The next part of the session really became the core of the show segment, the multiball practice. I decided to showcase the need for speed factor of table tennis, and to test their reflexes and coordination. I fed them topspin random, at a pace just at the edge of their capable level.

Kevin stumbled around the table, grunting and huffing for effect, managing to get his racket to some of the shots. Keegan, with his height advantage, managed to hold his own surprisingly well.

Next the pair would take on Nikhil in points. Nikhil of course was never going to lose a point to the two, who I had paired together as a 2 vs. 1 doubles team.

While the two struggled with Nikhil even with him being significantly soft on them, there was a solitary moment where Kumar chose to try and give them a chance to play some shots on. It instantly backfired, with Kevin and Keegan winning the point.

There was no comeback, Kevin threw himself on the floor, while Keegan screamed in delight. Hart proclaimed that the two were going to the Olympics.

You could only laugh.

Along with the two rackets each, we also gave them a box of Magic ABS balls and a pair of US National Team shirts.

They were genuinely grateful to be receiving gifts and were very humble. We later had a moment to snap pictures with them, although they were busy moving on to more filming activities. Keegan invited us to his trailer so we could get the photo op.

The experience will definitely stay with me for life, not only was it an iconic opportunity to showcase table tennis – but Kevin and Keegan were really star hosts, hilarious in their own rights, but also warm, kind and friendly throughout.