Munya Vomo
The Real Husbands of Hollywood is one show that will be with us for a long time thanks to the fact that it breaks all the rules of reality TV.
When it first aired, we thought we were in for a male version of Real Housewives Of Atlanta with all its drama. With guys involved, we assumed the fights would get bloody, like something out of a WWE script. But we were wrong. The Real Husbands came out as a necessity, to counter and mock the mediocrity that is now called reality TV.
From the Real Housewives to Basketball Wives, TV viewing has degenerated into something shameful and distasteful. You can almost see how producers are trying to get people to fight, because that’s what gets the ratings. It is a Jerry Springer mentality taken to another level.
So Kevin Hart and producer, Chris Spencer, decided to milk this trend, only satirically. This was based on the knowledge that some people were puking in their mouths when the wretched reality shows were on. Then Real Husbands of Hollywood was born. The promotions just went on as they would with the other reality shows, only this was a satirical version of what is otherwise shown as serious. So we saw Hart, Nick Cannon, JB Smoove, Boris Kodjoe, Duane Martin, Robin Thicke and Nelly come out and goof around.
Although they really made generally funny skits, their strength is Hart because he is naturally funny. Incidentally, when they first started, he was the only one who was not married, yet was the funniest “husband”. Smoove comes close with his unpolished brand of comedy. Nelly is too aware of himself, and this is obviously a rapper thing. Kodjoe and Martin are actors so you can tell when they wear their “in character” roles.
While the dudes love making fun of other shows, what’s not funny to them is that they have problems in their own love lives. Most of them are divorced, which is ironic as they star as Hollywood husbands. Thicke got the boot from Paula Patton after she got tired of his cheating. Cannon and Mariah also had a public divorce. Hart, too, is a divorcee.
Although he wasn’t married, Nelly was with singer Ashanti for five years, but they split after he apparently found out that she was cheating.
So, essentially the husbands are Kodjoe, JB and Martin. They should probably look at changing the title to The Real Husbands, Ex-Husbands and Bachelors of Hollywood.
l Real Husbands of Hollywood, Sony Max (channel 128), 6.30pm on Saturdays.