Steve Harvey
Broderick Stephen Harvey is an American comedian, radio and television host, actor, writer, and producer. He hosts The Steve Harvey Morning Show, Family Feud, Celebrity Family Feud, Family Feud Africa, and the arbitration-based court comedy Judge Steve Harvey, and formerly hosted the Miss Universe competition. His accomplishments include seven Daytime Emmy Awards, two Marconi Awards, and fourteen NAACP Image Awards.
Harvey began his career as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s, and later hosted Showtime at the Apollo and starred in the television sitcom The Steve Harvey Show on The WB. In 2000, he was featured in The Original Kings of Comedy after starring in the Kings of Comedy Tour. His last standup show was in 2012. Harvey is also the host of both Family Feud and Celebrity Family Feud, holding this role since 2010. He also hosted Little Big Shots, Little Big Shots Forever Young, and Steve Harvey's Funderdome.
As an author, Harvey has written four books, including his 2009 bestseller Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. In 2017, he founded Steve Harvey Global, an entertainment company that houses his production company East 112 and various other ventures. Harvey launched an African version of Family Feud and also invested in the HDNet takeover along with Anthem Sports and Entertainment. He and his wife, Marjorie, are the founders of The Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on youth education.
Early life
Broderick Stephen Harvey was born on January 17, 1957, in Welch, West Virginia, the son of Jesse Harvey, a coal miner, and Eloise Vera. He is the youngest of five children. His first name is Broderick, named after actor Broderick Crawford of the TV series Highway Patrol. Harvey had a severe stutter as a child, but eventually overcame it. When he was in the sixth grade, Harvey wrote that he wanted to be on TV when he grew up, after his teacher asked the class to record their personal dreams. Harvey's teacher told his father that Harvey was being a "smart aleck". His father believed in him though. After Harvey achieved his dream, he sent the teacher a TV every year for Christmas for the rest of her life. Harvey and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, living on East 112th Street, which was renamed Steve Harvey Way in 2015. Harvey graduated from Glenville High School in 1974.Shortly after high school, Harvey attended Kent State University, where he was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, but never graduated from college. He readily admits to "flunking out" of Kent State after two years as an advertising major in the 1970s. While Harvey has talked about overcoming his early life and educational obstacles, Harvey later conceded, "It really threw my life into a downward spiral, and I regret not getting that degree."
Career
Early career and comedy
Harvey has been a boxer, an autoworker, an insurance salesman, a carpet cleaner, and a mailman. He first performed stand-up comedy on October 8, 1985, at the Hilarities Comedy Club in Cleveland, Ohio. In the late 1980s, Harvey was homeless for three years. He slept in his car when not performing shows that provided a hotel, and showered at gas stations and swimming pools. Rich and Becky Liss helped Harvey during this time with a contract for carpet cleaning and credit at a travel agency.1990–2009: Move to television and film
Harvey was a finalist in the Second Annual Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search performing on April 16, 1990, eventually leading to a long stint as host of It's Showtime at the Apollo, succeeding Mark Curry in that role. Harvey's success as a stand-up comedian led to a starring role on the short-lived ABC series Me and the Boys in 1994. He would later star on The WB network show The Steve Harvey Show, which ran from 1996 to 2002. While popular, the show never achieved critical acclaim outside of the African-American community.In 1997, Harvey continued his work in stand-up comedy, performing on the Kings of Comedy tour along with Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley, and Bernie Mac. The tour became the highest grossing comedy tour in history, grossing $18 million its first year and $19 million its second. The comedy act would later be put together into a film by Spike Lee called The Original Kings of Comedy. That title was also used as the name of Harvey's comedy and variety television show, which aired on The WB network from 2003 until 2005.
Harvey is the host of The Steve Harvey Morning Show, a weekday morning radio program he has hosted since 2000. It was originally syndicated through Radio One, Inc. from September 2000 to May 2005. As of 2019, the show is syndicated through the United States.
Harvey appeared in the 2003 movie The Fighting Temptations alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles. The same year, he played the role of Clarence Johnson in the film Love Don't Cost a Thing. In 2004, Harvey had roles in the films Johnson Family Vacation and You Got Served; in 2005, he co-starred in the movie Racing Stripes as the voice of Buzz.
In 2006, Harvey released the stand-up special Steve Harvey: Don't Trip... He Ain't Through with Me Yet directed by Leslie Small. The special was filmed at MegaFest with Harvey not using profanity during the show. He hosted the Disney Dreamers Academy, a teen-focused personal and professional enrichment event that took place January 17–20, 2008, at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Harvey released the book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man in 2009. The book is about how men think about women and relationships. Based on the book, the 2012 film Think Like a Man is an ensemble romantic comedy depicting characters taking advice on dating from the book. The hardcover version spent 64 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list, 23 of those weeks at No. 1.
2010–2016: ''Family Feud'' and other ventures
Harvey began hosting Family Feud in September 2010. The show has seen improved ratings under him, and Harvey holds the longest tenure of any Family Feud host. He also hosts Celebrity Family Feud, where celebrities compete for a chance to donate up to $25,000 to their favorite charity. The show airs during the summer on ABC.In August 2011, on his radio show, Harvey called Cornel West and Tavis Smiley "Uncle Toms" because of their criticism of President Barack Obama. Harvey later apologized for using the phrase but maintained his criticism of West and Smiley.
On August 2, 2012, Harvey performed his final stand-up act at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, ending a 27-year career as a stand-up comedian. The two-hour performance was broadcast live on pay-per-view.
The same year, Harvey debuted a self-titled syndicated talk show produced by Endemol and distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution at the NBC Tower in Chicago.
In 2013, Harvey became the first double host nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, receiving nominations for both Outstanding Talk Show Host and Outstanding Game Show Host. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The following year, Harvey launched a new dating website called Delightful. It is a joint venture with IAC with Harvey supplying articles and videos for the site.
In December 2015, Harvey hosted the Miss Universe 2015 pageant in Las Vegas. Upon announcing the final results, he mistakenly named the first runner-up, Miss Colombia as the winner, as Harvey apparently mistook the envelope as the name of the final runner-up for that of the winner. A few minutes after she was crowned, Harvey announced that he had read the results incorrectly and that Miss Philippines was the new Miss Universe. Harvey apologized to Wurtzbach outside the venue and later tweeted an apology to both contestants. He also hosted the Miss Universe 2016 pageant in the Philippines on January 30, 2017, telling the Miss Universe Organization that he wanted to personally apologize to the Filipinos for the incident that occurred during the last Miss Universe pageant he hosted. Harvey returned as host for the Miss Universe 2017 pageant in Las Vegas on November 26, 2017, the Miss Universe 2018 pageant in Thailand on December 17, 2018, the Miss Universe 2019 pageant in Atlanta, Georgia on December 8, 2019, and the Miss Universe 2021 pageant in Israel on December 13, 2021. During the 2019 pageant, he correctly announced Miss Philippines as the winner of the National Costume contest but Miss Malaysia mistakenly thought she won.
In January 2016, Harvey gave a motivational speech to audience members after the taping of an episode of Family Feud. The theme of the speech was for people to embrace the skills they were born with. He references embracing the gifts with jumping from a cliff and relying on the parachute to help you. The speech was the motivation for the book Jump: Take the Leap of Faith to Achieve Your Life of Abundance, published by Harvey in 2016.
In October 2016, it was announced that Harvey would host two revival specials of Showtime at the Apollo for Fox. The following month, the Steve Harvey talk show was cancelled, and it was announced that Harvey had reached a deal with IMG to produce a new syndicated talk show in Los Angeles with NBCUniversal. The new series, Steve, premiered in September 2017, and was described as having more of a celebrity- and comedy-oriented format with a larger amount of creative control held by Harvey, as opposed to the previous program's larger focus on human interest subjects. To facilitate the new series, production of Harvey's radio show and Family Feud were relocated to L.A.
Harvey is the co-creator of Little Big Shots, a series launched in 2016; executive producers are Harvey and Ellen DeGeneres. The series features children demonstrating talents and engaging in conversation with Harvey. He hosted the show until 2019.
In 2016, during a commencement ceremony at Alabama State University, President Dr. Gwendolyn Boyd awarded Harvey an honorary doctorate.