SINGAPORE, Feb 3 — Kevin Hart may be the hardest working man in comedy right now, what with touring the world for his international standup show (he’s in Singapore tonight), and promoting his new movie, Ride Along 2 – the follow-up to the buddy-cop action-comedy that broke the United States’ box office records back in 2014.

Ride Along 2 opens in cinemas here on February 25.

But Hart isn’t throwing the quest for the hallowed Oscar into the mix.

“I’m not in the business for an Oscar,” shared the 36-year-old funnyman.

“I didn’t sign up to be a comedian and an actor to eventually win an Oscar as if that was the ‘do all’ to me. That is not the stamp of success in my career!”

Instead, Hart unabashedly revealed that he’s in it “for the fanfare”.

“I think the biggest Oscar you can receive is support!” declared the father of two.

“So you do something and people go out and see it? That’s your Oscar. For me. When people literally go out and you get an A-plus or A-minus cinema score, people are applauding and coming back to see it for the second or third time, taking their friends – that’s your reward.”

Hart is earnest and incredibly warm in person, which is why one is not surprised that he’s so popular and why his films such as Get Hard (with Will Ferrell) or The Wedding Ringer make a lot of money.

Hart’s on-screen characters also tend to be cut from the same hyperactive, lovably bungling cloth as his stand-up persona; something the man and his “brand” makes good use of. But despite his celluloid success, Hart insists his first love will be always be strand-up comedy.

“I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now if you took stand-up comedy away,” he said.

“I feel like I’m doing a disservice to my fanbase if I were to walk away from stand-up comedy, no matter how big the movies get.

“Granted, this year and the last couple of years, as a comedian, it’s been unbelievable. I love the art of stand-up comedy.

“I love taking thoughts that I have and constructing them into jokes and having the audience laugh at that.”

And you believe him when he says the standup comedy acts as his “therapy”.

“I think I am a sane person because I have an outlet. The stage is my place to speak. That’s me getting whatever I have that I have been going through off my chest.

“The day I bottle that up, that’s the day Kevin Hart probably goes crazy.

“I’ve done a great job of not being crazy! The day that I stop ... I feel that that’s the day the light switch comes on and I’m talking to myself in some leather pants with my a** cut out,” he quipped.

“So let’s just hope it doesn’t go that route. At all.”

So Kevin, to borrow from the title of your stand-up comedy show at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre: What now?

“I think that’s the question I get most often,” laughed the comedian.

“Kevin, what are you going to do now? You’re doing so much! I say when you’re a driven person: The sky’s the limit. I want the most out of life. It’s the one life that you get and it’s your job to live it to the fullest.”

He explained how getting a taste of success is addictive.

“People are addicted to drugs or bad habits, I’m addicted to winning. And I want to win as much as I can,” he said.

“Right now, the newest goal for me is international success. I love the fact that as a comedian, it’s my job to make people laugh. If I can do it on a global level ...”

He continued: “Laughter is the one thing that brings people closer together.

“So my calling (is) bringing people together underneath one roof ... and making people forget about all the bad that is going on in the world and all the negative (stuff), and we get a positive outlook on life for that one brief moment.

“I’m providing content that can hopefully bring people closer together. It’s putting a definition behind what you do – and loving it.” — TODAY

* Ride Along 2 opens in Singapore on February 25.