{"id":2338,"date":"2006-03-19T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-19T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/steve-harvey-cleans-up-his-act-for-god\/"},"modified":"2006-03-19T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-19T18:30:00","slug":"steve-harvey-cleans-up-his-act-for-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/steve-harvey-cleans-up-his-act-for-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Steve Harvey cleans up his act for God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve been interviewing actors and directors for years, but it wasn\u2019t until just over a year ago that I went on my first-ever press junket \u2014 for a talking-zebra movie called Racing Stripes<\/a><\/i> (2005; my review<\/a>). And possibly the first person to be interviewed in \u201cthe God room<\/a>\u201d (Peter Jackson\u2019s name for the room where all the religious-media reporters congregate) was comedian Steve Harvey. I had first come across his work when he was one of the four stand-up comics profiled in Spike Lee\u2019s The Original Kings of Comedy<\/a><\/i> (2000), and given the profane nature of his humour, I was intrigued when Harvey began to talk about his religious beliefs; you can read Phil Boatwright\u2019s transcript of that round-table interview here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that interview, Harvey talked about his desire to clean up his act; and now it looks like he\u2019s made a significant step in that direction with Don\u2019t Trip \u2026 He Ain\u2019t Through with Me Yet<\/a><\/i>, a comedy concert film recorded before a gathering of church folk assembled by Bishop T.D. Jakes. Reports the Asbury Park Press<\/a><\/i>:<\/p>\n

For two decades, comedian Steve Harvey had been known for delivering foul-mouthed, hilarious dialogues on life, including many in the smash comedy concert film \u201cThe Original Kings of Comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he was ready to switch gears, become closer to God and do away with his otherwise un-Christian-like devices.<\/p>\n

He decided he wanted to become a better man.<\/p>\n

So last summer in Atlanta, he stepped onstage in front of 16,000 churchgoing folks at the Bishop T.D. Jakes annual MegaFest conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be any more scared than that. I\u2019ve had some traumatic stuff in my life, but I\u2019ve never been more nervous, more jittery, more anxious about anything. It was tough,\u201d says Harvey, who can be heard in select markets on his weekday \u201cThe Steve Harvey Morning Show\u201d or online at www.steveharvey.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking, \u2018This could go bad for me. This could just not work.\u2019 A lot of these jokes, I\u2019d never done anywhere before. I\u2019d just wrote the stuff for that night. But it was church stuff. It was stuff I knew. Then I took some jokes about subjects I want to get into, but keep it clean and not offend these people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He originally filmed the 74-minute comedy concert with hopes of putting it out on DVD. But his show went over so well, it\u2019s getting a studio release and is set to open in select markets today. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The reviews, as sometimes happens, are divided on the film\u2019s merits. The Park Press<\/a><\/i> itself says the film is too short, it\u2019s so good, and the New York Times<\/a><\/i> is more positive than not, saying:<\/p>\n

Anyone who thinks that Christian America\u2019s sense of humor maxes out at \u201cFather Knows Best\u201d reruns needs to hear Mr. Harvey on Michael Jackson, whom he dismantles far more effectively than Jay Leno ever did. They need to hear him make fun of churchgoers themselves \u2014 the ones who can\u2019t control their bratty children, the ones who get up in midservice to go to the bathroom, the ones who feel compelled to \u201ctestify\u201d about perfectly ordinary events. And, more to the point, those who think they have the Christian crowd pegged ought to hear Mr. Harvey\u2019s audiences roar with laughter at all this.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, the Star-Ledger<\/a><\/i> is not impressed: \u201cHe manages to avoid using four-letter words, but this feat would be more impressive if his kinder, gentler jokes were as funny and real as his blue work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been interviewing actors and directors for years, but it wasn\u2019t until just over a year ago that I went on my first-ever press junket \u2014 for a talking-zebra movie called Racing Stripes (2005; my review). And possibly the first person to be interviewed in \u201cthe God room\u201d (Peter Jackson\u2019s name for the room where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSteve Harvey cleans up his act for God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've been interviewing actors and directors for years, but it wasn't until just over a year ago that I went on my first-ever press junket -- for a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/steve-harvey-cleans-up-his-act-for-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steve Harvey cleans up his act for God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I've been interviewing actors and directors for years, but it wasn't until just over a year ago that I went on my first-ever press junket -- for a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/steve-harvey-cleans-up-his-act-for-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-03-19T18:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/7991\/933\/400\/steve-harvey.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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