By Stan Washington
Following a recent store promotion appearance at the only remaining K-Mart store inside the city limits of Atlanta, radio show host/author/comedian Steve Harvey sat down with a few members of the news media for a quick five minute interview. And when I said five minutes – I mean five minutes.
Harvey recently received the Pinnacle Award from the Trumpet Awards Foundation. His morning radio show can still be here across the country and in his home based city of Atlanta on Majic 107.5/97.5 FM. It has also been reported that Harvey is looking to become the next host of the syndicated game show, “Family Feud.” And he is also working on his follow-up book to his New York Times bestseller, “Think Like A Man, Act Like A Woman.”
Here is an edited transcription of the interview. See the full video interview online at: theatlantavoice.com.
Atlanta Voice: Congratulations on your recent Trumpet Award. What did that mean to you to be honored in that fashion?
Steve Harvey: It was pretty amazing. It was a humbling experience to receive an award that could have been given to so many people. I know a lot of people I would have given the award to. It is in deed an honor. I was absolutely blown away when they asked me if I would accept it. That night I gave it to my wife because she is very much the reason why I’m in this position today. I actually met a woman who didn’t necessarily change me, but brought out the best in me. I always thought I was a good man, a good father , someone who knows how to treat women but, she just brought out the best in me where I just wanted to be the best for her. She is the reason that I’m happy the way I am today, so that’s why I gave it to her.
AV: And this is not to say that you haven’t met good women before in your life but this one is special.
SH: Oh, not at all. Please know that I take full responsibility for how all my relationships turned out in the past and all of my transgressions. I made a lot of mistakes and I did a lot of things the wrong way. I never discuss exes and what they said or cause me to do because no one can’t make you do nothing. I was tripping because I was a trip. That’s it. But what happens is sometimes you meet a person that makes you want to do better. And that’s what happened to me.
AV: Are you surprised at all of the reaction that has come from your book and all that has come from it?
SH: There is nothing that could have prepared me for what the book turned into. First of all I didn’t want to write the book. I’ve never written a book before. I don’t even remember the last time I wrote a paper, let alone a book. Who could have ever thought this book would have been on the best seller list all those weeks in a row. It was a phenonmal amazing surprise. It ended up as the third best selling book of the year. And Sara Palin’s book on beat my out by a couple of hundred copies. All the TV appearances, because of the book I because a correspondent on “Good Morning, America,” did the Oprah Winfrey Show. She’s an amazing woman. One of the nicest persons I have ever met. All of this off a book...you can’t...that’s when you know that there is a lot of favor and grace being shown in your life. There is no way I could have saw that coming.
AV: Are you living your dream now or are you living beyond your dream when it comes to what your had hoped to accomplish in your professional life?
SH: Oh, I’m way past where I was shooting for. (chuckles). I’m so far. Look man, all I really wanted to do was become one of the premier stand-ups in the country; that was my goal when I struck out in 1984. I wanted to be known as one of the best stand-ups in the country. Not the best, just one of the best because I knew that comedy is such a subjective business. You can look at some guys and think they are hysterically funny and then there are other guys you look at and you don’t know what they are talking about. Humor is very subjective – emotional. I knew that there would be some who would think that I was the best who had ever done this but I know better of course and I appreciate the compliment. But as long as I’m considered in the top ten by people as one of the best stand-ups, and I think I’ve done that. The greatest I’ve ever saw was Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby. I’ve never seen it done better. I’m not in that relm though. I’m somewhere after that. (Smiles.)
