The Truth Behind Nick Cannon’s ‘Who’s Having My Baby?’ Game Show with Kevin Hart

Katie Reul and Michael Schneider
·4 min read
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UPDATE: Variety was right. This was all a stunt to promote the launch of a new show, “Celebrity Prank Wars.” As others reported this on face value, questioning how real it was, we had the truth from the start. Read on below.

If Nick Cannon’s new game show “Who’s Having My Baby?” sounds more like a sketch than an actual TV show… that’s because you’re right. No, there won’t be a TV show called “Who’s Having My Baby?” because, well, what would that show even look like anyway?

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Instead, the idea for “Who’s Having My Baby?” is actually a gag, orchestrated by comedian Kevin Hart, as a sketch for an upcoming, not-yet-announced project. [UPDATE: Now announced. Scroll down for more.] According to insiders, all will be revealed as soon as tomorrow, as Hart continues to expand his empire with another comedy franchise inside the NBCUniversal universe.

That doesn’t mean Hart and Cannon aren’t having some fun first with the confusion over the faux TV series. Cannon went on Twitter Tuesday to claim he would be starring in E! Entertainment’s “Who’s Having My Baby?” and even shared a teaser. (Yes, that’s a sketch, not a show.) As hosted by Hart, the fake show would appear to be a competition between single women eager to birth Cannon’s next child.

“You’re going to get some contestants that wanna have your baby,” Hart says to Cannon in the trailer.

The stand-up comic has joked about Cannon’s fertility before; namely in December 2020, when he rented a Los Angeles billboard that read, “For any advice on fatherhood? Call my best friend Nick Cannon.”

At first it looked like “Who’s Having My Baby?” might be related to Hart’s E! game show “Celebrity Game Face,” which he hosts and executive produces. The game show, which weekly features Hollywood stars facing off in a series of challenges, returns with the first episode of Season 4 on April 6 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

But insiders confirm that this sketch isn’t related to “Celebrity Game Face,” but rather an entirely new project from Hart. At NBCUniversal, Hart has been prolific via his production company Hartbeat: Besides “Celebrity Game Face,” he has hosted the Peacock interview series “Hart to Heart,” in which he talked to celebrities and icons from his wine cellar. And at the end of the year, he hosted “2022 Back That Year Up,” along with Kenan Thompson, as they reviewed the funniest moments of 2022.

The gag even caught NBCU brethren at the Today show off-guard. They wrote an entire news story on Today.com with the assumption that “Who’s Having My Baby?” was real. Other outlets also picked up the fake news on face value, barely questioning its legitimacy or bothering to do basic reporting to see if it was true.

As for Cannon, “The Masked Singer” host is an actor, writer and producer also known for roles in films like 2002’s “Drumline” and 2003’s “Love Don’t Cost a Thing.” The 42-year-old performer has been in an on-and-off relationship for the last decade with “Selling Sunset” star Bre Tiesi, who he shares a son with. The actor has had 12 kids with a total of six women, including Tiesi, Mariah Carey, Brittany Bell, LaNisha Cole, Alyssa Scott and the late Abby De La Rosa.

His prolific parenthood has been a running gag on “The Masked Singer,” and Cannon is clearly up for the joke. “We’re expecting…a new show on E!” Cannon wrote on social media, followed by a baby bottle emoji. “#WhosHavingMyBaby premieres this Spring on @eentertainment!”

UPDATE: Here’s the new news. Hart and Cannon are behind E!’s “Celebrity Prank Wars,” premiering Thursday, April 6 at 10 p.m. ET.

Here’s the logline: “It’s an all-out war as one celebrity pranks another, and the payback begins. Each episode will feature celebrities planning and perpetrating some of the wildest and most viral pranks on each other, as hosts Nick Cannon and Kevin Hart choose one winner of the Prank War. Celebrities are always trying to up the ante as each prank is more elaborate than the next – all of them with unexpected twists, embarrassing situations and shocking reveals. Celebrities would be smart to stay on high alert with these pranksters in town!” 

Celebrity participants include Anthony Anderson, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Lil Duval, Big E, Fantasia, Tiffany Haddish, Taraji P. Henson, Lil Jon, Kofi Kingston, Ludacris, Joel McHale, Killer Mike, Chance The Rapper, T-Pain, Robin Thicke, T.I. and Xavier Woods.

“Celebrity Prank Wars” comes from Hartbeat and NCredible. Exec producers are Hart, Cannon, Kevin Healey, Luke Kelly-Clyne, Mike Stein, Bryan Smiley, Thai Randolph, Jeff Clanagan, Michael Goldman and Ben Sumpter.

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