Steve Harvey’s life story is one of triumph over adversity. Harvey didn’t have much growing up, as his father worked as a coal miner and his mother as a Sunday school teacher.
Many people are unaware that Steve’s real name was Broderick Stephen Harvey, after actor Broderick Crawford, but he never used it and instead went by Steve. Harvey and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after a few years in Virginia, where he attended high school.
Harvey worked a variety of occupations before attempting stand-up comedy.
When he first heard about comedy clubs, he was a boxer, a carpet cleaner, a postman, and a car mechanic. He told People, “I had never even heard of a comedy club.” “I had no idea they existed.”
In 1985, he performed for the first time at Cleveland’s Hilarities Comedy Club. This, however, was insufficient for Harvey to be able to live a comfortable life.
