Steve Harvey, comedian turned widely popular daytime talk show host, has landed an exclusive one-on-one sitdown with President Obama. According to a news release, the interview focused on family, fatherhood and the president’s plans for the holidays.
Harvey reflected on his interaction with the president:
“Sitting down with the President is something I’ve always dreamt of doing, and I am honored to have the opportunity,” said Harvey. “I’m grateful to President Obama for welcoming me and I’m thrilled to share this experience with all my viewers.”
In an interview with “NBC Washington,” Harvey said that “The greatest moment in that interview for me was he was talking about his grandmother, who he misses so. She passed in her 80s and my mom passed in her 80s.”
Coming off a four-week straight series rating high, the King of Comedy may soon become the king of daytime. According to reports, the show has upward of 2.5 million daily viewers. After a successful first season debut, Harvey kicked off the current season with a bang attempting to create the world’s largest first date.
During the NBC interview, he also shared:
“I’m just a little boy from Welch, W.Va., that’s talking to the President of the United States. The greatest moment in that interview for me was when he was talking about his grandmother, who he misses. She passed in her eighties and my mom passed in her eighties and I said to the President, ‘I heard a rumor that your grandmother and my mother have met and that they are on the front row watching us right now.’ That was a really cool moment between me and the President and it meant a lot to him too so I felt pretty good about that.
I’ve met him before but this interview is a little different, you know. I think I talked to him the way most people don’t talk to the President. I told him I wanted a man-on-man interview. I don’t care about the politics, it’s not important to me. Look, he’s a great guy. There is a section of people that don’t agree with what he does, and then there are those of us that get it so I don’t have to go into that again. I said, let’s talk about family, let’s talk about the wives, let’s talk about Christmas, let’s talk about those girls, we’ve got girls the same age, and how he felt about fatherhood. It was pretty good.”
When asked for his thoughts on the president’s recent selfie controversy, Harvey shared:
“I thought it was perfectly fine, so what? It was a celebration of life. It wasn’t like what happened to Martin Luther King, he was taken from us at a young age, Mandela lived in his 90s. It was a celebration of life, people want to be seen with the president.”
If you are wondering what Harvey’s end goal is after being a successful comedian, author of several books, host of “Family Feud” and his own talk show, he cites Oprah as inspiration for where he wants to be:
“A little Oprah is my goal. That is what I’m trying to do.”
Meanwhile, Oprah sent Harvey her blessings. During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, when asked if she had advice for up-and-coming talk show hosts like him, she said:
“Don’t do it until you have 100 percent creative control to be yourself.” When she sensed that Harvey was straying, she called him up and told him, “I saw you in a chocolate factory trying to do that routine that Lucy and Ethel did. That’s not you. Don’t let people talk you into what they think is you.”
President Obama’s interview will air on “Steve Harvey Show” on Dec. 20.
