Steve Harvey has opened up about why he decided to walk away from stand-up comedy more than a decade ago.
The 68-year-old Family Feud host revealed on The Pivot Podcast that cancel culture played a major role in his decision to step back. When asked about what jokes are still “acceptable” in today’s climate, Harvey admitted that even while hosting his game show, he often holds back jokes he’d like to make.
“That’s why I left stand-up in 2012, 2015—around then,” Harvey explained. “I had so many shows, I was making money, and I had built a catalog of work. If I toured on the weekends, I wouldn’t even have a family. So I let stand-up go because I saw the change coming.”
Harvey stressed that “change is inevitable,” and said he chose to step away before things got worse. “You got to react or participate. My participation was to get away from it, because cancel culture started becoming everywhere. Comedy is too hard to do right now.”
He praised the podcast hosts for staying authentic, urging them not to change what works: “The problem with people is, they get something working and then wanna find something better. You ain’t gotta fix it if it ain’t broke.”
Harvey performed his final stand-up show in August 2012 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The two-hour set aired live on pay-per-view.
