The creators, writers and co-executive producers discuss their new series, BET+’s first animated show, which takes a comedic, often poignant look at the harsh 1990s realities of the famed comedian and actor’s early life in North Philadelphia.
After nearly a decade in development, Lil Kev, the new adult animated series starring and executive produced by Kevin Hart, has finally made it to screens. Based on Hart's upbringing in North Philadelphia, the BET+ show takes a comedic, often poignant look at the comedian's early life through a stylized 2D lens. Writers and executive producers Michael Price and Matthew Claybrooks recently sat down to discuss the long road to production, their collaboration with Hart, and how they developed the show’s distinctive tone and look.
The show, which was in development at Fox back in 2018, offers a humorous, sincere look at Hart’s childhood, blending satire with firsthand experiences to tackle real-life issues and relationships that helped shape him into the hugely successful artist we know today.
Hart voices the titular character, a small but determined 12-year-old boy with big dreams of escaping his rough environment. His wild imagination and unshakable optimism constantly collide with his neighborhood’s harsh realities. At the same time, his no-nonsense, fiercely protective mother Nancy, voice by Wanda Sykes, juggles night shifts as an E.R. nurse while waging a one-woman war to keep Kev on track. Through it all, Lil Kev navigates his rocky upbringing with humor, hustle, and heart, surrounded by the unforgettable characters who will propel him to comedy superstardom.
The origins of Lil Kev go back as far as 2016, when Price was first approached by a Lionsgate executive about working with Hart to develop an animated series, based on his experience working with Bill Burr on F is For Family. “A.J. Morewitz called me to see if I'd be interested in trying to develop something for Kevin Hart," Price recalls. “Of course, I said yes.”
Meanwhile, Matthew Claybrooks had also been in early conversations about the same project. “We had different ideas about the show, so they put us together for a meeting at Hartbeat [Kevin Hart’s production company],” Price continues. “I’d never met Michael before, but they sent me some of the stuff that he'd written, and I knew he worked with Chris Rock and was really funny.”
“Michael met with Lionsgate and they hired him, and I met with Codeblack and Kevin, they hired me,” says Claybrooks. “And then they were like, ‘We have one problem. We already have a writer.’ And I was like, ‘God dammit!’ I finally get a show… I’ve had a lot of challenges in my career, so I was like, ‘OK…’ Then they said, ‘We're gonna put you guys together, see if you gel.’”
The pairing worked. “I looked at his resume, saw he wrote on The PJs, he wrote on Homeboys in Outer Space, and I was already a fan,” Claybrooks says.” “We hit it off right away,” Price adds. “We started working together and took it from there.”
According to Claybrooks, as writers, they have a lot of similarities. “We care about the joke more than anything. We probably care about the joke and the story equally. We just fit together well.”
The project was initially pitched at Fox, but despite seeming like a good fit for the network, it never moved forward. “To this day, we have not been given a reason why that didn’t go,” Claybrooks says. “We kept asking and asking. No one could give us an answer.”
Fox didn’t formally pass on the show either. “They kind of sat on it for years,” Price adds. Eventually, Hart and his team took the project elsewhere. After a near-miss with Quibi - in more ways than one - the series finally found its home at BET+.
"Ultimately, BET+ - a streamer without network TV content restrictions - enabled the show to really live the way it wanted to live,” Price explains. “Real, authentic, using the language and themes that were real to Kevin and his neighborhood growing up.”
From the outset, Price and Claybrooks were determined to create something that honored Hart’s experiences. “Kevin gave us the lay of the land,” Claybrooks says. “He wanted his neighborhood portrayed as a place he loved. It was tough, but these were good people. He didn’t want it to seem like he couldn’t wait to leave.”
They drew inspiration from Hart’s book, comedy specials, and ongoing conversations with the comedian. According to Claybrooks, after a few scripts, the team at Hartbeat began to trust their approach. “They saw we got this. At first, it was like, ‘I hope you guys can nail it,’ but then it became, ‘We’re on the same page.’”
Price describes the core of the show as rooted in contrast: "It's a really rough place. There are drugs, there's crime, there's poverty. But Kevin came through that with optimism and drive. And a big part of that was his mom."
That dynamic - between a relentlessly cheerful child and a strict, grounded mother - became central to the storytelling. “We knew what the show was about,” Price says. “It wasn’t just about making fun of life in the hood. It was about a kid who’s bursting with optimism in a hard place, and a mom doing her best to keep him on track.”
Claybrooks agrees. “She was hard on him, but she had to be. She was trying to keep him alive, trying to give him a shot.”
From the beginning, the creative team was clear on what they didn’t want. “We didn’t want to look like a dozen other adult animated shows out there,” Price explains. “There’s a certain look - maybe influenced by Family Guy - that many shows have. We knew we didn’t want that.”
Claybrooks jumps in, saying, “I love The Simpsons. Family Guy. King of the Hill is probably in my top five shows of all time. We just wanted something unique to us.”
ShadowMachine, the animation studio behind the series, proved a good match. “They’re known for trying different things, being inventive with styling,” Price says. Supervising director Musa Brooker and the team helped develop the look, starting with Kevin’s character and evolving outward, though lots of back-and-forth iterations, to the painterly backgrounds.
You can read more about Brooker and the show’s production on AWN here: Musa Brooker Explores Nostalgia, Love and Sour Cheesesteaks in ‘Lil Kev’
Claybrooks notes that they also wanted the show to reflect its period. “It’s set in the '90s, and we wanted it to feel like that,” he explains. “Animation from that era had a different texture. We wanted something unique - something people wouldn’t immediately compare to another show.”
Being on a streamer gave the team more creative freedom. “BET, to their credit, said, ‘This is our first animated show - we want this to look different,’” Price says. “And we were given an incredible amount of license to develop something that felt like ours.”
They also experimented with storytelling tools within the animation itself. “There are moments when we break from the main style,” Claybrooks says. “We’ll go into Kevin’s imagination or have these surreal visual gags that feel different but still fit the world.”
Claybrooks brought with him lessons from working on Everybody Still Hates Chris. “It was kind of a bootcamp,” he shares. “I made sure I knew what not to do on Lil Kev.”
Despite surface similarities - both shows center on a standup comedian’s childhood - the tone and character approach were different. “Chris is always beaten down,” Claybrooks says. “Kevin is the opposite - so optimistic, always shaking it off. If I hadn’t been on that show, I wouldn’t have known what to avoid in our writer’s room.”
Price, with years of experience on The Simpsons, also brought a seasoned perspective. “You learn that the heart of the story matters,” he reveals. “Jokes are great, but they land better when you care about the characters.”
Writing comedy for animation differs from stand-up in one significant way: the ability to revise. “Animation is great if you’re an insane anal perfectionist,” Price jokes. “You can spend hours getting every pixel right.”
The writing process began with a free, open writers' room filled with standups and experienced comedy writers. “It starts with inspiration,” Price says. “Somebody pitches something off the cuff, we all laugh, and that joke becomes part of the show.”
But unlike stand-up, where a joke lives or dies in the moment, animation allows for iteration. “You see it a hundred times before it’s done,” he adds. “You can lose faith. But I try to remember that moment in the room when it first hit.”
Collaboration with the animation team and editor Joe Gressis allowed for precision. “We could cut a line that didn’t work, change a facial expression, or even add a shot to help a joke land,” Price says.
For Claybrooks, it comes down to what he calls “comedy ear.” “It’s like perfect pitch in music,” he says. “We can hear a joke and know if it needs a pause if something’s off. And we don’t care who wrote it - if someone can top our joke, great. The best joke wins.”
Both writers emphasize the importance of character-based comedy. “Kevin is a dreamer,” Claybrooks shares. “We have scenes where he’s imagining himself as a superhero or winning a fight he’s clearly losing. That opens the door to creative storytelling.”
Ultimately, Price and Claybrooks are proud of how the show balances humor and heart. No pun intended. “We’re not laughing at these people - we’re laughing with them,” Price says. “That’s a big difference.”
And that sense of authenticity, grounded in Kevin Hart’s personal history, guided the entire process. “The stories come from that tension between a joyful kid and a tough world,” Price says. “That’s where everything comes from.”
Looking ahead, they hope to build on the foundation they’ve laid. “We want to continue telling stories that reflect that balance,” Claybrooks says. “Not everything needs to be a joke a minute. Some of the most powerful moments are just real.”
As for Hart, his involvement has remained steady throughout. “He reads every script,” Price says. “He gives notes, but he trusts us. And that trust lets us keep pushing to make the show better.”
Lil Kev is now streaming on BET+.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
