LOS ANGELES 鈥� Host extraordinaire Steve Harvey got his start in standup comedy. But Harvey hasn鈥檛 executed standup for six years and might never again.
鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 so politically correct out here now,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so PC. [Dave] Chappelle鈥檚 special broke a lot of the rules, and so did [Chris] Rock, but they鈥檙e not television stars. And I鈥檓 connected to a radio show and TV that鈥檚 very much sponsor-driven. If I had said anything that those two guys said, and somebody wrote in [to] a sponsor talking about it, 鈥業 can鈥檛 believe he said THAT!,鈥� then my whole television empire crumbles.鈥�
Harvey has always kept his TV empire clean. And an empire it is. On May 24 he鈥檒l be celebrating the season finale of his popular Fox series, Showtime at the Apollo.
He also hosts a TV talk show, a morning radio gig, NBC鈥檚 Little Big Shots and the syndicated Family Feud.
A bit of a workaholic, Harvey, 61, admits hosting is what he does best. He says he learned the intricacies of that job in 1991 when he emceed at his own comedy club. (鈥淗osting is a specialized talent because you have to be gracious,鈥� he nods. 鈥淢ost people are not successful hosts because they make the show about them. It鈥檚 really about the other person.
鈥淵ou have to be gracious when people are succeeding. Now if they鈥檙e losing, you can do your thing. But I鈥檝e always hosted. Then when I became host of Showtime at the Apollo I had so much experience bringing up acts at this one-nighter club that I had in Dallas, and my own comedy club, I became good at it.鈥�
He鈥檚 so good at it that he鈥檚 the go-to guy when anybody needs a host. That鈥檚 why Harvey is holding down five jobs on a schedule that would exhaust a tsunami. 鈥淚 just decided that I wanted to do something exceptional, and the only thing I know is work,鈥� he shrugs.
鈥淚鈥檝e slowly been turning my brand into a global entrepreneur. It takes work to make dreams come true. I don鈥檛 know any other way to do it.鈥�
But at times he鈥檚 overwhelmed, he confesses. 鈥淭here are a lot of days that I wish I was off, but I can鈥檛 be. But also at the same time, I鈥檓 really grateful and proud of the fact that I don鈥檛 miss 鈥� I鈥檝e been on Family Feud 200 episodes. This is the ninth year. I鈥檝e never missed a day 鈥� never missed a show. I鈥檝e been on my talk show 鈥� this is the end of the sixth year. I鈥檝e never missed a show. Never missed Showtime at the Apollo. Never missed an episode of Little Big Shots, Little Big Shots: Forever Young, Funderdome.
鈥淚鈥檝e never missed an episode of television, except one episode of television back in the 鈥�90s 鈥� The Steve Harvey Show 鈥� my mom passed. Other than that, I鈥檝e never missed a day. I鈥檓 very grateful for being healthy to be able to work.鈥�
It didn鈥檛 start out so propitious for the kid from the projects in Cleveland. When he was a little boy he began to stutter. 鈥淚 stuttered all the way up to the sixth grade,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淎 guy who owned the corner store called Moore鈥檚 Deli, he saw that I stuttered, and he used to give me candy if I could read my mother鈥檚 note or say what my mother wanted without stuttering. And he helped me stop stuttering.鈥�
Harvey says he always entertained comic thoughts. 鈥淚 just couldn鈥檛 get them out. Then when I stopped stuttering, I was still so bashful from stuttering in public that even when I was in high school, I would just say stuff under my breath to the students sitting close to me.
鈥淭hey would be on the floor laughing. And then they鈥檇 have to go to the principal鈥檚 office, and I鈥檇 be sitting there with the same deadpan look on my face.
鈥淚 had a real dry sense of humour. I didn鈥檛 really come out of that until I went to college and I was away from my parents and getting up going like I wanted, and that freedom made me say stuff out loud. And there was a lot of loud, brash kids in college, and I couldn鈥檛 let them think that I was some little sissy,鈥� he says.
鈥淚n college guys would be sitting round in the room, and I would pull out a desk-chair and stand up on it and just start talking about something that happened on campus that day. And they would be screaming. They鈥檇 all be drinking beer, eating pizza, and it was like a show. They were doing drugs, and I鈥檝e never done a drug. They鈥檇 be smoking marijuana, getting high, drinking beer, laughing. And I鈥檇 just be standing up in the chair because I never drank or took drugs.鈥�
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