Kevin always tripped me out.
Half the comedians vouch for him and talk about how many brehs & brehettes he's helped behind the scenes.....the other half would shyt on him.
I think people were suspicious because his level of popularity seemed out of whack relative to his comedic ability. The Black comedians that got the Hollywood cosign were usually "the best of the best of the best" like Eddie, Martin, Bernie etc. Kevin has never been considered on that level, and yet he's got more juice than almost all of them.
My guess is Kev handled the biz side better than most.
Real issue is that most Black comedians have to be truly elite to get the big opportunities. A lot of white comedians get TV shows, movies and shyt, but their path seems different. To use a football analogy, the most successful Black comedians are 2x 1st Team All American, Heisman trophy winner at Ohio State that get drafted in the first round. The white comedian was MAYBE all conference in the FCS yet ends up getting TV/movies more quickly. They barely have a stand up rep before making it big.