Since Katt Williams’ appearance on “Club Shay Shay,” comedian and actor Steve Harvey has been under the microscope for allegations that he stole material from other comics, including Bernie Mac and Mark Curry. Now, actress Angela Means, known for her role as Felisha in “Friday,” is corroborating Curry’s account of events, claiming that Harvey lifted jokes from several others as well.
In a candid sit down with Comedy Hype, Means pulled no punches, confirming long-standing rumors that Steve Harvey has been stealing jokes since the early days of his career. However, she also says that comedians complaining about it years later have “got to let it go.”
Means didn’t shy away from addressing the specific allegations made by Katt Williams and Mark Curry, who accused the “Family Feud” host of swiping a Halloween bit for his own show.
While her stance was clear: appropriation of a joke is bad, she also noted that everyone does it in a way to get timing, and sometimes legends do it because they have lost their edge.
In Harvey’s case, she said it neither catapulted his career to new heights nor derailed Curry’s path to success in comedy.
“Steve Harvey will steal a joke,” she said. “It was like blatant.”
Adding, “It was a lot of people stealing jokes. You almost had to steal jokes in the beginning of your career just to understand what timing was,” before saying that even Richard Pryor stole jokes.
According to Means, “Steve Harvey felt like he was the king” and had the right to just “take that joke.” She also claims that a lot of people stole from Curry.
“Everybody stole from Mark Curry. Mark Curry was one of the most prolific geniuses of comedy. He would riff, and people be like, ‘He never gonna say that again. I’m gonna take that,’” she recalled, revealing that the funnyman would do a 20-minute just off the top of his head.
“Curry has forgotten about more comedy that he has said than a lot of people have written,” Means marveled before saying, “But also he needs to let go of Steve Harvey and let Steve Harvey let the chips fall where they may.”
“Steve Harvey did not make it off of Mark Curry’s UPS Halloween joke,” Means said. “Trust me, he didn’t get no opportunities off of Mark Curry’s Halloween bit. He was already plateaued by the time he started looking back. Listen, in Steve Harvey’s defense, when you have that much cheddar in the bank, that much cheese, you start losing things in your life that you can use that are funny, so you gotta reach back.”
Means did tell Comedy Hype that a comedian named Jamal Hannah was one of many who actually checked Harvey about pilfering people’s work. But that didn’t stop him.
Harvey’s alleged joke-stealing became public when Katt Williams blasted The Original King of Comedy during his explosive “Club Shay Shay” interview with Shannon Sharpe in January.
After he mentioned the thievery, the Internet not only found instances where Harvey had stolen jokes but also where his pal Cedric the Entertainer snatched a joke from “Pimpin Pimpin” and sitcoms like “Designing Women.”
Clips were also shared of Curry performing in 1999 and of Harvey seemingly retelling Curry’s jokes in 2005.
There’s more😬 https://t.co/RpKOsQKB6f
— Whitley (@Whitleysdaughtr) January 4, 2024
It doesn’t seem that Curry is letting matters go until he gets either proper respect and acknowledgment that the joke was lifted, an apology, or compensation. He also believes that this goes deeper than the stage, but this is about him as a man.
If you go back and look at Def Comedy Jam 25 you can see Mark Curry checking Steve Harvey in the background pic.twitter.com/lUotrFPChA
— BIG MALCOLM X PLAY COUSIN (@Omowale99949437) January 9, 2024
While talking about the incident on the “Willie D Live” talk show, he said that the “Think Like A Man” author wanted to be him.
“Take the Steve Harvey thing. It’s a b—ch move,” Curry said. “Maybe [he’s] not stealing my material, you know, I maybe give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe one of his writers did it, but they know, we all know, whose material it is.”
“I think it is ulterior motives,” he said before adding, “It ain’t about the money. [Harvey] got enough money… So, it looked like you want some of me. You want to be me. Therefore, you ain’t got enough money… I look at it like that’s alright, boy … I’m a G in the game. You want to be me. You want my style.”
Means says she doesn’t think that is the case. She thinks that this is really about someone rising to success and someone not, and the “frequency” that they are on to attract their success.
Mark Curry is not where Steve is, not because of Steve… [but] because of Mark Curry,” she said. “Nobody’s gonna stop, you know, you’re meant to be there and you match that frequency. Listen, Steve Harvey said… I’m going to have $100 million in the bank, and that’s what he thought about, and that’s where he is.”
Stolen joke or not, Means believes Curry has to let things go to attract the prosperity he sees in his nemesis.
