Key Takeaways

• Mike Epps reflected on how jealousy contributed to his years-long public rivalry with Kevin Hart on a new “Club Shay Shay” podcast episode.
• The comedians have reconciled and recently worked together on BET’s “ComicView” revival.
• A potential new project with Katt Williams could mark a major moment for this generation’s kings of comedy.

Mike Epps is owning up to the comedy feud that kept him and Kevin Hart at odds for years. On the Jan. 7 episode of the “Club Shay Shay” podcast, he admitted that jealousy fueled their public rivalry, which included years of media jabs and online tension. Now, he’s putting the beef behind him for good.

The rivalry was triggered when Hart suddenly became a breakout star. Animosity began to brew as Epps realized he was no longer the go-to comedic act in town. “Kevin was a dude that had come right up under me… and he blew up, and he got famous, and he got rich, and they [were] no longer talking [about] Mike Epps,” he shared, further stating, “Before Kevin came along… man, I had this s**t locked down. I did. I was out on the road, but I didn’t know that other part of the business — which was business.”

Hart rose to become a record-breaking stand-up comedian with sold-out Madison Square Garden shows and co-starring several blockbuster films. His résumé also includes being the founder and CEO of HartBeat Productions, becoming the face of multiple global brands and launching a partnership with Authentic Brands Group to expand the Kevin Hart brand beyond laughs and into generational wealth. So, Epps is right; the media mogul absolutely understood that entertaining was only a piece of building success and longevity.

“The Upshaws” star confessed, “All I could speak for was really my work, which later on in life, that s**t ended up helping me because I did good work… Kevin Hart knew how to do that show and that business, so he was able to get in there, and then I had to end up learning from him. That’s how that s**t works; the old learn from the new, and the new learn from the old.”

His acknowledging the bruised ego ultimately helped Epps regain his focus, too. “I needed some young n**ga to come along that was hot, and people were loving them and looking at me like, ‘What you gon’ do?’ You know, that s**t hurt, but at the end of the day… I just went back to my regular roots, to who I really was and how I started comedy… There’s only one Mike Epps.”

Mike Epps, Kevin Hart and Katt Williams are cooking up jokes

Epps and Hart put their differences aside when they collaborated on the revival of BET’s “ComicView” in 2023. Now, it seems as though they are ready to embark on a new production with Katt Williams in the mix. The Acting My Age jokester revealed that several ideas have been thrown around, and that whatever sticks, he hopes will be this generation’s Harlem Nights.

“We got some great ideation happening about how we can shake s**t up for the culture and give the culture something they desperately deserve, and let’s find a way for us to all share the screen together,” said Hart during a November 2025 appearance on the “7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony” podcast. In the words of the great “Insecure” philosopher Kelli Prenny, “You know what that is? It’s growth.”