Steve Harvey made some waves with a rather harshly worded memo to his staff about being left alone – no one is to visit his dressing room, pop in, bother him and, well, basically, don’t annoy him before a show. One disgruntled staff member leaked it and made him look bad.
The part behind the scenes that he just dumped a ton of staff is more debatable, but in all honesty, if you have a problem with Steve Harvey, think of it this way. Clearly, he was being constantly bothered and it was affecting his performance. Need a good example? Imagine when a client or customer walks in your office right when you open or two seconds before you close. Take that times five when you’re a comedian/performer/host. I’ll explain.
I used to work a job where we opened at 7 am. I would get there at 6 am (or 6:45 and say the clock in machine was broken, yet again) and it never failed, someone was there waiting. I had to fire up the computers, make coffee, and check in anywhere from 5-25 trucks; checking fuel levels, damage and mileage every morning. When the person tried to walk in from the back or didn’t have a reservation, it sent me into a blind rage, but that was one person. Imagine the same feeling, but right before you have to walk in front of dozens (or in Harvey’s case, millions via camera) and some staffer has a third cousin barge in while you’re trying to review your lines or jokes. Plus, he screwed up the Miss World pageant, so he’s probably even more sensitive about it.
Even lowly, stupid me hates it at bar shows. I traveled hours once, got to the venue, saw the crowd was way older than I expected and the room was set up weird with no stage or spotlight. I pulled out my notebook and some guy meanders up. “You the funny man?” We’ll find out soon, right? “I did jokes once. They told me I should have been a comedian.” (Mentally – That’s amazing. Who are “they?” Why are you talking to me? Why are you wasting my time? Why do I have to be nice to you, oh that’s right, you’re in the crowd and I need your laughs). After blathering on, while I got less and less friendly, he ended up running me right up to the showtime – then left as the show was starting. Walked right out. I wasted three months of nice on him and he didn’t even stay. I got off to a horrible start and this clown was to blame. In summation, get ’em Steve Harvey and do what you need to for your show. I’ll be avoiding eye contact with drunks and hoping for the best.