Cedric the Entertainer recently disclosed during his guest appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” why he finds it difficult to go on vacation with Steve Harvey.
The pair, who in the past have worked together on numerous projects, are longtime friends and often consider themselves brothers. During the Oct. 26 interview, Cedric shared that traveling with Steve is a challenge because the 66-year-old often asks “Family Feud”-related questions. Steve has hosted the hit show since 2010.
He said, “So I hang with Steve quite a bit. It’s just hard when you hang with Steve. Every question is a Family Feud question.” Cedric continued while impersonating Steve,” You can’t sit down to eat ‘top five reasons,’ you like Steve, no.”
Further in the conversation, Cedric shared another interesting challenge: Steve constantly changing his attire. He said, “You know Steve be sharp. You get on the plane with Steve, and you get ready to get off he done change clothes.”
When Jennifer asked if Steve had changed his outfits on a flight, Cedric said, “I didn’t know you get to change clothes on a flight…This is another level of rich. I wasn’t ready for this rich right here.”
He added, “He would change his clothes mid-flight and I was like, ‘Oh man, I got some different shoes I could put on.”
Toward the end of the interview, Cedric opened up about how he and Steve became good friends. The 58-year-old revealed that he met Steve after the club in Dallas, Texas, where he was scheduled to perform, became double booked. Cedric ultimately performed his skit at Steve’s club. Following his act, Cedric claimed that Steve gave him some money and made him a headliner the next time he hit the stage.
Steve recalled that monumental moment in 2021, on his series “Rolling with Steve Harvey.” Steve shared about the event in 1989, when he was booking for a club called VooKoo Ray in Dallas, Texas.
He said, “In 1989 I had a small room I was booking in Dallas, Texas, called Vookoo Ray and I used to book all the acts before you knew any of them. Jamie Foxx, Bernie Mac, Adele Givens, Bill Bellamy, Martin Lawrence. I had this guy performing named Rexx Garvin and he wasn’t doing that well but I was letting him work anyway.”
He added, “A friend of mine, Percy Crews, called me and said, ‘Hey man this guy from St. Louis named Cedric the Entertainer was performing at the club across town The Funny Bone; they canceled him out. They overbooked it, so they are sending him home. Could he come to your club and do five minutes to audition.’ I said ‘yeah, send him over.’ “
Immediately after accepting Crew’s offer, Steve met Cedric and listed the negotiations, which was to perform a skit for 10 minutes instead of five, before he went on stage. The father of four said that after he put Cedric performed, he received a standing ovation, an act that occurred again the next night he performed.
He said, “I put Red on that stage 10 minutes he got a standing ovation. So the next night, I paid him $50 to stick around. He did another 10 minutes but he did a different 10. Got another standing ovation. Third night I said, ‘hey man, if you stay, I will give you $100…’ He said, ‘Man, hell yeah.’ So he stayed, and I paid him $100. We exchanged numbers. We became friends.”
Steve wrapped up the story by saying that Cedric’s comedic talent was so good that he was headlining the show the following week and was paid $1000, which made the comedian emotional. Steve claimed since that day, the pair remained friends and have never argued or gotten into a disagreement.
