Sheryl Underwood, one of the comedians who appeared on Netflix Is A Joke Festival Presents: The Roast of Kevin Hart, recently opened up about jokes she felt went too far, especially from Tony Hinchcliffe and Shane Gillis. Underwood was one of the comedians who roasted Kevin Hart during the Netflix special, which was held at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on May 10, 2026.
According to Vulture, Underwood’s roast involved shots at the various comedians that came before her, including Tony Hinchcliffe and Shane Gillis, before setting her sights on Hart, saying:
“Kevin and I hooked up once before he got married. Kevin Hart is packing ten inches in his pants. They’re his legs. But it’s still ten inches… F**king Kevin was a lot like watching his movies. The first five minutes are okay. Then you’re just waiting for it to be over.”
Entertainment Tonight caught up with Sheryl Underwood for an interview on May 21, 2026, where the comedian revealed Hinchcliffe’s joke about George Floyd and Gillis’ joke about “lynching” Hart went too far in her opinion. Underwood added that people “should be upset, like the George Floyd jokes, the bonsai tree jokes, things like that,” adding that she wanted to “get to know what is in your brain that makes you think this is OK?”
Sheryl Underwood further added that she spoke to Tony Hinchcliffe after he made the joke about George Floyd, saying that the comedian had to deal with Floyd’s family. For those uninformed, Hinchcliffe said, “George Floyd is looking at us all and laughing so hard that he can’t breathe,” during the roast. Floyd’s family slammed the joke in a statement to TMZ at the time, saying that the remark was “sad for the culture.”
“I told Tony Hinchcliffe personally, ‘You gotta deal with the Floyd family — and they got hands.’ You’re talking about someone’s relative. And not that the joke wasn’t well written, but would you say that this generation of roasting and comics, they do stuff that most people would think are in poor taste but it still makes you laugh,” Underwood added.
Additionally, Sheryl Underwood addressed Hinchcliffe and Gillis’ jokes about her late husband’s suicide, telling Entertainment Weekly that the jokes were “in poor taste.” However, she did disclose that both comedians had contacted her beforehand to inform her that they were going to joke about the subject, adding that they “came with respect but I didn’t know exactly what they were gonna say.”
“Like when they talked to me about how they were coming at me, I said, ‘They better be funny,’” she added.
Exploring Tony Hinchcliffe and Shane Gillis’ jokes about Sheryl Underwood
The Roast of Kevin Hart saw a lineup of notable comedians come together to roast each other, including Chelsea Handler, Pete Davidson, Shane Gillis, Tony Hinchcliffe, and Sheryl Underwood. Both Hinchcliffe and Gillis made brutal jokes at Sheryl Unerwood’s expense regarding the death of her husband, who died by suicide in 1990, three years after their marriage.
During the roast held at the Kia Forum, Gillis spoke about Sheryl Underwood’s husband’s suicide and said, “Apparently, Black does crack if it’s married to Sheryl and jumps off a f**king roof.” Meanwhile, Hinchcliffe said:
“Her [Sheryl Underwood] husband committed suicide 3 years into the marriage. I’ve been sitting next to her for 2 hours and I have to ask: how did he last that long?”
Sheryl Underwood was seen laughing at the jokes at the time. She also addressed the incident in an interview with Netflix’s Tudum on May 16, 2026, saying that while people felt bad for her because of the jokes, she found that they were “written so well that they made me laugh,” and added that she believed “the line is the intention of the comedian and the construction of the joke.”
However, Sheryl Underwood also admitted that it was not about the line but about the people the comedians had to face when they walked out, adding:
“It’s not about the line; it’s about who you’ve got to face when you walk out. If somebody is waiting on you, I got nothing for you, man. Shouldn’t have told your joke. The audience lets you know when you’ve gone too far and have to course correct.”
Sheryl Underwood is not the only comedian who seemed displeased by the jokes that Tony Hinchcliffe and Shane Gillis made at The Roast of Kevin Hart. Chelsea Handler, who also appeared at the roast, called Gillis and Hinchcliffe “racists,” “sexist,” and “bigots,” adding that lynching Black people was not a joke.
Handler also said that Kevin Hart deserved an “elevated roast” and that comedians should have the ability to “go for it without being gross” during a roast, further adding, “There was so much disgustingness, I knew it was gonna be a gross vibe.”
Edited by Juhi Marzia