Steve Harvey & Cedric.

Yeah peeps I been waitin’ on this topic right here. I’ve kept a close eye on contemporary comedians for a minute. In my personal opinion I think Steve Harvey is the Bill Cosby of the new millenium. He’s come a long way in the world of Comedy and has evolved more than any other comedian in the last ten years. Now, he has the Steve Harvey Morning Show and I’m telling you I’m straight up addicted to that radio show. Now don’t get me wrong. Tom Joyner deserves hellified props for his radio show. Many days went by when I worked in the Florida Keys and  Tom Joyner, J. Anthony Brown, Sybil Wilks, Tavis Smiley, George Wallace, Myra J.,  and Ms Dupree were the only black voices I heard all day. I’ve always thought “The Fly Jock”  and his crew was some wild and crazy as  well as informative and supportive of the black community. However, if you’ve followed Steve over the years you know he just has that Midas touch of comedy.

I’m going to be real with y’all folks. I’ve always loved Steve as a stand up comedian but I wasn’t too particularly crazy about his T.V. show. When I heard Steve was going to start up his own radio show I said to myself - oooooh lord - here we go with another entertainer thinking he can do the George Foreman thing and expand his career. When his show first came on the air it wasn’t all that interesting. Steve’s style just didn’t seem to come through over the radio waves the way it came across in his stand up routine. I simply tuned out and went back to my tried, true and tested NPR News. Then, one day, I decided to give ole’ Steve another shot. What the hell did I do that for - dude was mad, crazy, funny as hell!! That Strawberry Letter routine simply has me in tears.

Now, on the other hand, you have Cedric the entertainer. Come on man. What the hell is up with you, dude? Cedric is equally a good stand up comedian. Okay, wait a minute. Lemme rephrase that. Cedric is almost as good of a stand up comedian as Steve but ever since he struck out on his own and started making movies he’s been on a steady decline. he was okay in Barbershop and Barbershop 2 but The Johnson Family Reunion tanked - and by the way, Ice Cube’s version sucked ass too - and now you have Codename: The Cleaner. Naw, Ced. Hell naw.  I’m no fool. I know Cedric has continuously been pulling in the millions through these low buget successes but I’ve lost respect for this brother. As for Steve, well, I used to say back in the day if I could choose any black man to be my daddy it would be Bill Cosby. Bill is still tops on my list but I’d have to say Steve has taken that number one spot in my rather short list of father figures. Well, actually, I don’t look at ole’ Steve as a father figure. I look at him as more of a big brother. We have very similar personalities as far as sense of humor goes.

See, Ole’ Steve and me have similar personalities in that I ain’t quite straight in the head my damn self. Many people will sit there in certain conversations and try to be all diplomatic and nice, then there’s me. I’ll tell you the damn truth. A person like Steve you can’t fuck with him because there ain’t no level he won’t raise or lower himself to in order to humiliate and clown your ass. What’s so great about ole’ Steve is he can clown himself and still turn around and hurt you that much more. Steve is one of the few black stand up comedians with longevity that can reinvent himself and comeback even stronger than before.

Steve’s old routines that was filled with curse words would kill an audience, and I should know because I peeped his show when he came through Birmingham a few years ago. But when he came out with his cleaned up The Lord Ain’t Done With Me Yet routine he had people passing out in the isles. Steve can completely bring a house down not by being funny but making the truth sound and feel so real. Cedric has never been able to go there so he chose to go the sellout route. But hey I ain’t hatin’. More power to you Ceddy Ced. I ain’t mad at ya at all but I just feel you dun played yo’self homie. And I’m sure Ced will say in response: “And I’m playing myself all the way to the bank.” That’s all well and good but haven’t we had too many other black entertainers that have played themselves one too many times? Look at Vivica Fox for one. She played herself one too many times in various movies playing those stereotypical sistergirl roles and now she’s bottom feeding in some sorry ass TV show on the Lifetime women’s network. I ain’t mad. I’m just sayin’. Cedric you don’t have to go out like than that man.