Steve Harvey may be one of Hollywood’s most booked and busy comedians, but how he got there may be worth looking at through a critical eye thanks to a new interview.
Speaking to Comedy Hype over the weekend, “Friday” star Angela Means (who famously portrayed “Felicia”— or infamously, if you ask her) alleged that the King of Comedy outright stole jokes and material while he was making a name for himself. And while Means somewhat understood why, as it was just one way for up-and-coming comics to learn the structure of a joke and timing — she alleges that everyone stole from “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper” star Mark Curry including Harvey.
“Steve Harvey will steal a joke,” she said. “It was like blatant. It was a lot of people stealing jokes. You almost had to steal jokes in the beginning of your career just to understand what timing was…Steve Harvey felt like he was the king.”
“Everybody stole from Mark Curry. Mark Curry was one of the most prolific geniuses of comedy. He would riff, and people be like, ‘He never gonna say that again. I’m gonna take that.’”
Despite giving Curry his flowers and lowkey calling out the “Family Feud” host, Means acknowledged that the longstanding beefs between the two comedians needs to let go.
“Curry has forgotten about more comedy that he has said than a lot of people have written,” Means explained. “But also, he needs to let go of Steve Harvey and let Steve Harvey let the chips fall where they may.”
After somewhat coming to Harvey’s defense, explaining that his fame wasn’t at all tied to him stealing Curry’s Halloween bit, Means shared,“Listen, in Steve Harvey’s defense, when you have that much cheddar in the bank, that much cheese, you start losing things in your life that you can use that are funny, so you gotta reach back.”
If this sentiment sounds familiar, then you may recall comedian Katt Williams alleged the same thing of Harvey in his viral interview on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast earlier this year.
