comedian; actor
Personal Information
Born in West Virginia in 1957; divorced father of twin daughters.
Education: Attended Kent State University for two years.
Career
Stand-up comedian; host of syndicated television program It's Showtime at the Apollo; former morning radio host for Chicago's WGCI-FM 1996-97; star of ABC Television's Me and the Boys, 1994-95; star of Warner Brothers Television Network's The Steve Harvey Show, 1996-; released 1997 comedy album, "Steve Harvey ... Live Somewhere Down South"; performed in his own 1997 HBO Comedy Special called "Steve Harvey: One Man."
Life's Work
Though most stand-up comedians use their profession as a springboard to the entertainment big time--work in television or the movies--Steve Harvey wants to use these mediums to make him a better stand-up. Like his career goal, his road to comedic success was different than most stand-ups. Harvey was born in West Virginia in 1957 and grew up in inner-city Cleveland. After spending two years at Kent State Harvey left college, working several different factory jobs and selling life insurance. In 1984 Harvey won an amateur comedy contest and decided one year later at the age of 28 to take his act on the road.
Although most comics start their careers at an earlier age, Harvey told Tom Walter of the Commercial Appeal that his late start was beneficial: "It helped because it became the basis for my material; it's more mature than what the other guys talk about. I don't do heavy sex stuff, I don't do vulgarity. I talk about real life. I don't do blue comedy. A lot of the young guys break into the business and have nothing to talk about except the first time they (had sex), which was the week before last ... I usually touch on what's bugging me. I've got a great run on relationships. I do about 25 minutes on what women wear to bed."
After putting over 120,000 miles on his Bonneville in one year, Harvey slowly began to build a name for himself. His incessant traveling and growing name recognition led him to several appearances on the syndicated television show It's Showtime at the Apollo. Harvey prospered despite some trying circumstances, such as performing before a bitter audience in place of Public Enemy who were forced to cancel a show with no notice. Harvey was soon hosting the program while continuing his stand-up career.
His big break came at the 1993 Montreal Just For Laughs International Comedy Festival. Among the audience were executives from all the major television networks. Harvey left Montreal with a developmental contract for what would become a short-lived, but important series called Me and the Boys. The year 1993 was also pivotal for Harvey as a entrepreneur. He opened his own comedy club in Dallas, Texas, called Steve Harvey's Comedy House. The club, created just for comedians, is only the fourth African-American owned comedy club in the country.
In 1994 Harvey appeared in the ABC sitcom called Me and the Boys, starring as Steve Tower, a single male widow raising his three sons. A big component of the program was the love and respect shown between a black father and his sons. Harvey, a father of twin girls, told Clarence Waldron of Jet why this part of the show was so important: "I want America in general, all people to understand that this is a way that many of us live. We, as Black people, do first and foremost love our children. And we do make really great parents, whether we are single or married or whatever; we have a loving relationship with our children." Me and the Boys, which appeared on Tuesday nights before the ratings juggernaut Home Improvement, was the highest-rated show in its time slot and among the top 20 highest-rated shows on television. Harvey won the 1995 Peoples Choice Award for the favorite male in a new television series.
Despite its ratings success and the show's critical praise for its positive depiction of an African-American family in a sea of television drug dealers and hoodlums, ABC canceled the show. Harvey believed that though Me and the Boys was a "family hit," the network saw the success that NBC was having with more adult- oriented programming and decided to cancel the show. Harvey quickly moved on to his next project without bitterness. In addition to his stand-up act and his duties at "Showtime at the Apollo", Harvey hosted an episode of "Def Comedy Jam" and "Dick Clark's New Years Rockin Eve."
If 1995 was a busy year for Harvey, 1996 was a year in which he barely had time to sleep. In February of 1996 Harvey began hosting a morning radio show on Chicago's top-rated WGCI-FM. Harvey got up at 3:30 A.M. every Monday through Friday to host the daily program from his apartment in Los Angeles. Besides the radio program, his "Apollo" hosting duties, and a full slate of performances across the country, Harvey took on two new projects. He became a spokesperson for Denny's restaurants and was involved in all the company's media, including print, radio, and television advertising.
Harvey also was signed by Warner Brothers to create and star in a new television series. Producers and directors from sitcoms such as NewsRadio, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Moesha teamed with the comedian to create The Steve Harvey Show. Harvey played Steve Hightower, a former leader of an R&B group from the 1970s trying to teach music to students at an inner-city high school. Harvey set out to develop a show that was comical, but more thoughtful than most sitcom comedies. Evidence of this resolve was an episode of The Steve Harvey Show which united West Coast rapper Snoop Doggy Dog and East Coast producer, rapper, and C.E.O. of Bad Boy Entertainment, Sean "Puffy" Combs. The two entertainers pledged to end their rivalry in a news-conference before making an appearance on The Steve Harvey Show.
Though the show received mixed reviews in its first two seasons, Harvey again earned near unanimous praise for his role in the series. Ken Tucker, in an Entertainment Weekly article, offered his opinion of Me and the Boys and The Steve Harvey Show: "Two years ago, the enormously likable Harvey was wasted in the bland ABC sitcom Me and the Boys; this one--in which he plays a high school music teacher--is merely a tad better. But Harvey is terrific in conveying the life of a man raised on '60s soul who's trying to retain his dignity in the hip-hop '90s."
Burning the candle at both ends took its toll on a part of Harvey's career. In February of 1997 Harvey left his radio job because of differences with management and exhaustion. Despite his grueling schedule and mounting success, radio still remains an important medium for Harvey. He explained his attachment to radio in a 1997 interview with Allan Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "To be funny on the radio is such a challenge, man. But you know why I enjoy radio? Not being funny, because I can be funny on stage, on TV, I've got a lot of avenues to do that ... Radio allows me and affords me the opportunity to share with a large number of people my feelings and thought about real issues. I think it's my ability to be serious on radio that attracts me more than anything. Because I get to stand up and say stuff for black people, on behalf of black people, and about black people. And I love that spokesman role."
The stand-up's stand-up is more than a man relentlessly driven by his own career goals. Harvey talks to young people across the country in high schools and youth detention centers about setting goals and avoiding drugs. Harvey has started another project for young people which is more personal for him. He is creating a program called the King Love Center, named after his hero Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Center is being created for young people to learn about the subjects which Harvey is constantly stressing--a positive attitude, following your dreams, and building character.
As Harvey's radio career was temporarily interrupted, his stand-up performances continued to bring him more and more recognition. The T-Neck/Island Black Music label released Harvey's comedy album entitled "Steve Harvey Live ... Down South Somewhere." The album highlights Harvey's stories about the differences between the sexes and the races in Harvey's audacious yet "clean" style. Another major event for Harvey was his December 1997 HBO Comedy Special called "Steve Harvey: One Man." Harvey hopes the special, which he believes is one of the top comedy specials of its kind, will bring him closer to his ultimate goal.
To Harvey, despite all of his others endeavors and the very real possibility of future work in films and other endorsements, he remains what he always has been--a stand-up comedian. He told the Chicago Tribune: "When they say the elite group of comedians today, I want them to have to say my name ... {I want to} go to any theater in any major city and sell it out and do my thing. And that's always been my goal. My goal has never been a sitcom. My goal has never been a movie. My goal was always to have been one of the top stand-ups in the nation."
Further Reading
Sources
- Chicago Tribune, December 19, 1997, p. 26.
- Commercial Appeal, March, 1997, p. E3.
- Entertainment Weekly, September 13, 1996, p. 60.
- Jet, November 28, 1994, p. 34.
— Michael J. Watkins
