“Hey man, I need to tell you something,” my friend said after I got into his car at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky. “Yeah, what’s that?” I asked. “Tonight at the Kevin Hart show, you can’t pull out your phone. If you do they will kick you out.”
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The Real

Really? I’ve never heard that one before, but no problem. I’ll be honest, I hate all the cellphone recording at concerts. Especially the people recording video. I find it to be wildly distracting and I figured Hart does too.

So eventually we make our way to Rupp Arena, and when I walk in, every seat in the building has a sign taped to it. “No cell phones, texting (or) tweeting” during the show “or you will be ejected.”

A voice came over the intercom first warning people about the phones, and then lights went dark. Instead of hyping up the show the warning reappeared and said “ushers start walking the aisles now. If you see anyone on their phone, remove them from the facility.”

The show starts and an opening act called the Plastic Cup Boyz – three comics who each do a 10-minute bit – come on stage and start making jokes about the phone policy. One guy even gives us updates.

Ten people kicked out. Now 16. Now 20. Hart eventually comes on stage, absolutely kills it, and never mentions the cell phone policy.

What is going on here? I decided to call up Mike Berkowitz at APA, who reps Hart and a bunch of other big time comedians like Louis CK, Aziz Ansari, Bill Burr and Amy Schumer.

“I get asked about this every single day,” he told me. “Comedy is different than music. A fan will listen to a song over and over, but a joke only works when they’re hearing it for the first time.”

Hart and the other comedians have to protect their intellectual property – the material from their live show can’t be leaked online. The jokes only work once – and with comedians pulling in six and sometimes seven-figure paydays for arena stops, each joke becomes a valuable asset that must be protected.

Is there a better way? Perhaps, explained Berkowitz, who said several companies are exploring high-tech ways to lock people’s phones before entering a show.

And he’s even been snagged up in the phone policy himself. Once at a show, he had to take a call for a client and absent-mindedly pulled out his device.

“They tried to kick me out and I had to show them my credentials and explain that I was with the artist,” he said. “Even I forget sometimes.”