On Sunday, May 10, 2026, Netflix turns the tables on one of Hollywood's most relentless comedy engines. Kevin Hart — the man who spent years roasting others, who delivered one of the most brutally effective performances in recent roast history at the 2024 Tom Brady special — sits down in the chair. The Roast of Kevin Hart airs live at 8 p.m. EST from the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, and if the buildup is any indication, Hart is about to get everything he gave out and then some.
This is one of the most anticipated live comedy events of 2026, and not just because Hart is a massive star. It's because of the specific dynamic at play: a man known for going jugular is now the target, and the people he's worked alongside for decades have spent two years sharpening their knives.
What You Need to Know: Date, Time, and Where to Watch
The Roast of Kevin Hart streams live on Netflix on Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 8 p.m. EST. The event is held at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles, and is expected to run approximately three hours. Yahoo Entertainment confirms the broadcast details, noting this is a fully live production — not a taped-and-released special — which raises the stakes considerably for everyone involved.
To watch, you'll need an active Netflix subscription. Given the three-hour runtime, this is the kind of event worth clearing the evening for. It also airs on Mother's Day, which adds a layer of irony given what roasters are likely to say about Hart's personal life. Netflix has positioned this as appointment television in the same vein as major live sports broadcasts, and the production scale at the Kia Forum — one of the largest arenas in the Los Angeles area — reflects that ambition.
Shane Gillis Hosts, Jeff Ross Is Plotting Something
Shane Gillis takes the hosting duties for the event. Gillis, whose career has followed an unconventional trajectory from controversy to genuine mainstream crossover success, is a fitting choice for a roast that's expected to push hard against the edges of acceptable comedy. He has the timing and the willingness to go places that a more conservative host wouldn't.
But the most intriguing subplot heading into Sunday's event involves Jeff Ross, known as the Roastmaster General and arguably the most skilled practitioner of the roast format alive. In an interview published May 8, Ross spoke candidly to The Daily Beast about his motivation for participating: revenge.
"Hart was really mean. He was vicious. Now it's our turn."
Ross was specifically referencing Hart's performance at the 2024 Roast of Tom Brady, where Hart — serving as roastmaster — delivered a set that left people genuinely stunned. The man who usually takes punches had spent that night throwing them with surgical precision, and Ross and the other comedians were on the receiving end. That dynamic makes this roast unusual: it's partly a formal entertainment event and partly a long-deferred settling of scores.
Hart's Performance at the Tom Brady Roast: What He Said and Why It Matters
To understand why Jeff Ross is using the word "revenge," you need to understand what Hart actually did at the 2024 Tom Brady roast. As roastmaster, Hart had the platform and the last word — and he used both without mercy. He dug deep into Brady's divorce from Gisele Bündchen, mined the awkwardness of Brady's relationship with former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and — by multiple accounts — said "f--- you" to Brady a total of seven times. That's not comedy as affection. That's comedy as a weapon.
The aftermath has been well documented. Brady himself has since expressed public regret about agreeing to participate in the roast, specifically citing the effect that some of the jokes had on his children. When a celebrity — particularly one as media-trained and composed as Tom Brady — breaks from his typical stoicism to say he wishes he hadn't done something, it tells you something about the intensity of what actually aired.
Hart has claimed that this makes him the first real comedian to be roasted in Netflix's roast series, suggesting that Brady was a sports figure who strayed into comedy territory, while Hart is native to it. It's a fair point, and it changes the calculus: a comedian being roasted by other comedians, one of whom is specifically motivated by score-settling, is a different kind of event than a celebrity enduring a formalized ribbing.
Who's Roasting Kevin Hart? The Lineup So Far
Netflix has not released the full official roaster lineup as of this writing, which is fairly standard for these events — part of the appeal is the surprise of seeing who walks out. But several names have emerged through reporting and rumor.
Nikki Glaser — who had one of the most celebrated performances at the Brady roast and has become one of the most in-demand roasters in the business — has confirmed she will not be attending due to a scheduling conflict. That's a genuine loss. Glaser has a talent for finding jokes that are simultaneously devastating and weirdly earned, and her absence leaves a gap that whoever replaces her will need to fill.
The most significant name circulating in speculation is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Johnson and Hart have one of the most commercially lucrative comedy partnerships in Hollywood, and their dynamic — Hart constantly teasing Johnson about his physical size versus Hart's lack thereof — is well established and deeply mined. The two have appeared together in multiple film franchises and countless promotional moments. Johnson appearing at this roast would be both expected and genuinely welcomed, as he has the charisma and the material to land. However, as of this week Hart was still publicly teasing Johnson, which cuts both ways — it either suggests Johnson won't be there, or it's the kind of pre-event trash talk that sets up a live confrontation. His participation remains unconfirmed.
Beyond these names, expect a mix of comedians who have worked alongside Hart and celebrities from the broader entertainment world. The Kia Forum seats over 17,000 people, and the production is expected to match the scale of the Brady special.
Kevin Hart's Life as Roast Material: The Controversies That Will Define the Night
Part of what makes Hart such a compelling roast subject is that his personal life has generated genuine, serious controversy — the kind that, in a roast format, becomes unavoidable material.
The most significant of these is the 2017 cheating scandal. Hart publicly admitted to cheating on his then-pregnant wife during a drug-fueled trip to Las Vegas. The situation escalated when footage from the trip was used in an extortion attempt against him — someone had recorded him in a compromising situation and attempted to leverage it for money. Hart went public with the story in an attempt to control the narrative, but the episode permanently altered his public image.
Then there's the 2019 Academy Awards controversy. Hart was announced as the host of the 91st Oscars ceremony, only to step down days later after a wave of criticism over decade-old homophobic tweets and jokes surfaced. The episode reopened questions about cancel culture, whether old comedy material should define current careers, and the entertainment industry's shifting standards. Hart's response at the time — and the ongoing conversation about that moment — will almost certainly appear in some form on Sunday night.
These aren't trivial talking points. They're loaded subjects that a skilled roaster can either handle with care or weaponize completely. The comedians in that room on Sunday will have made deliberate choices about how hard to push on each one.
Netflix's Roast Strategy: What This Tells Us About Streaming's Future
The Roast of Kevin Hart is only Netflix's second major roast event, arriving more than two years after the 2024 Tom Brady special. That measured pace is telling. The Houston Press notes this roast as a must-watch event, and the broader streaming conversation around it reflects something real: live events are one of the few things that can still generate genuine communal anticipation in an era of fragmented viewing.
Netflix spent years as a pure on-demand platform before making significant investments in live content — sports, comedy specials, live talk shows. The roast format is particularly well-suited to this strategy. It's inherently time-sensitive (jokes land differently when you can't fast-forward), it generates enormous social media conversation in real time, and it doesn't require the complex rights negotiations of major sports leagues. The Tom Brady roast reportedly performed well for the platform, and the decision to move forward with Hart — a considerably more controversial subject — signals confidence.
The live format also raises the editorial stakes in a way that pre-recorded specials don't. When something airs live, Netflix can't cut a joke that goes too far. That's a risk, but it's also exactly what makes the event compelling. The Boston Globe's streaming roundup places the Hart roast at the top of the weekend's must-watch list for precisely this reason.
Netflix is also expanding into other live combat-adjacent entertainment — including a Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano fight airing May 16 — which suggests a deliberate push toward events that demand live viewing rather than casual catch-up streaming.
Analysis: What Makes This Roast Genuinely Interesting
Most celebrity roasts follow a predictable template: well-known person sits in a chair, friends and colleagues say mean things, everyone laughs, the subject responds gamely. The Kevin Hart roast has several factors that elevate it above that formula.
First, the revenge dynamic is real. Jeff Ross isn't performing revenge — he experienced Hart's performance at the Brady roast firsthand and has explicitly framed his participation in those terms. When a skilled comedian says he's motivated by settling a score rather than by affection or professionalism, the material tends to be sharper and more personal. That's a genuine wildcard.
Second, Hart is a much more complicated figure than Tom Brady. Brady's vulnerabilities were mostly confined to his public persona — the divorce, the football legacy, the supermodel ex-wife. Hart's vulnerabilities cut closer to the bone: infidelity, an extortion attempt, a career-defining controversy over his public statements about gay people. These are subjects where the humor, if it lands wrong, isn't just embarrassing for Hart but potentially illuminating about how the entertainment industry processes these issues. That tension is interesting in a way that celebrity teasing usually isn't.
Third, there's the question of Hart himself. He's a comedian who has spent his entire career controlling his narrative — through stand-up specials, through his response to the Oscar controversy, through carefully managed social media presence. Sitting in the roast chair means surrendering that control for three hours. How he handles that, and whether the Hart who emerges is the same one who sat down, will tell us something about him that his own specials never could.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where can I watch the Kevin Hart roast?
The Roast of Kevin Hart airs live on Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 8 p.m. EST on Netflix. You need an active Netflix subscription to watch. The event is held at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles and is expected to last approximately three hours. After the live broadcast, it will be available to stream on demand on the platform.
Who is hosting the Kevin Hart roast?
Shane Gillis is the host of the Kevin Hart roast. Gillis is a stand-up comedian who has built a significant following and recently achieved mainstream crossover success. He is distinct from the "roastmaster" role — Hart himself served as roastmaster at the 2024 Tom Brady roast, but the hosting duties here go to Gillis, with Hart as the subject.
Will Dwayne Johnson appear at the Kevin Hart roast?
As of this writing, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has not been officially confirmed as a roaster. He is one of the most widely rumored names, given his long comedy partnership with Hart, but Netflix has not announced him. Given the tradition of roasts keeping their lineups partially secret until the event, his appearance — or absence — remains one of the night's biggest questions.
Why is Jeff Ross calling this "revenge"?
Jeff Ross was one of the roasters at the 2024 Netflix Roast of Tom Brady, where Hart served as roastmaster. By multiple accounts — including Ross's own — Hart's performance was notably aggressive, targeting Brady's divorce, his relationship with Bill Belichick, and delivering repeated profane lines. Ross has described Hart as "really mean" and "vicious" at that event and has framed his participation in the Hart roast explicitly as payback. It's a genuine motivation, not just promotional framing.
What controversies will likely come up at the Kevin Hart roast?
The two most significant are his 2017 admission of infidelity — he cheated on his then-pregnant wife during a Las Vegas trip, and footage of the incident was later used in an extortion attempt against him — and his 2019 withdrawal from hosting the Academy Awards following backlash over past homophobic jokes and tweets. Both have been extensively discussed in public, which makes them likely targets. Whether roasters treat them as light comedy fodder or go deeper will define the tone of the evening.
The Bottom Line
The Roast of Kevin Hart on May 10, 2026 is worth watching for several converging reasons: the revenge dynamic is real, the subject matter is genuinely rich, the live format means anything can happen, and Hart himself is one of the few entertainers who could credibly respond in kind if given the opportunity. This is Netflix demonstrating that live comedy can be must-see television in the streaming era.
Two years after the Brady roast showed that this format could generate cultural conversation and genuine shock, Netflix has chosen a subject with sharper edges and more complex history. Whether Sunday night confirms Hart as untouchable or finally exposes the seams in his carefully maintained persona, the event is positioned to matter beyond its three-hour runtime. Set your reminders for 8 p.m. EST — this is one night where watching live actually changes the experience.
