He’s a man of many occupations and has become a household name hosting for the last 20 years throughout countless mediums, be it competition shows, talk shows, or as a radio personality. His banter and charm have won hearts the world over, and his influence knows no bounds. No, we’re not talking about Ryan Seacrest; we’re talking about the incorrigible Steve Harvey!
Sorry, Bob Barker and Alex Trebek, we love you dearly. Sorry, Pat Sajak and Ken Jennings, we love you too. Steve Harvey is better.
He’s been the host of Family Feud for 13 years, and the culmination of all his work prior to this has helped him propel to what we feel is the best television host on television by a longshot.
We can’t name a game show that crosses all borders of age and demographics other than Family Feud. We also can’t name a game show with as raunchy a tone either, much of which comes from Harvey’s comedic background. It’s deliciously dirty, and getting away with it on family television takes a real skill. So many moments of the show have gone viral that you could make a top 10 list on it, and it’s not hard to fathom why, Harvey is just that hilarious. And he inspires hilarity toward the contestants.
Thanks to his background as a comedian, sitcom star, and host of many shows, he has a widespread audience that funnels into each other. And thanks to his crowd work capabilities, he is able to converse with other people better than his contemporaries.
Hosting is what makes him so widespread and international. Not only does he host 3 Family Feud series, but he also hosted beauty pageants (no matter how hilariously bad they went) and served as host of The Original Kings of Comedy standup, Little Big Shots Forever Young, and Steve Harvey’s Funderdrome reality shows. Hell, most folks originally know him from hosting Showtiume at the Apollo.
He has an audience due to The Steve Harvey Show, a demographic of a bunch of now 30-year-olds. Older audiences know Harvey from Feud, so they will tune in to watch Judge Steve Harvey. My significant other and I love to watch Judge Steve Harvey just to trash the opening sequence and the guests. Not to mention getting glimpses of Harvey’s still-faced reactions to the absurd cases.
His record and tenure since the ’90s speak for itself. If that’s not enough, he has genuine engagement with his contestants. His back and forth with folks on game shows or even his former talk show was filled with humor and honesty, and they replied with authentic reactions. But no matter how great their reaction is, they are never better than Harvey’s, making him more special than most hosts.
It’s certainly better than some of the stilted back-and-forths we see between show hosts and guests on Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune. It’s gotten so bad for the former that some fans and behind-the-scene staff think it is time to move on from those highlight moments, which have been around since the inception of the series.
To be perfectly honest, Harvey could very well be the next Trebek. He’s become someone who is borderline irreplaceable and will die at the helm of his game show. Audiences would honor him until his very last breath and will never get tired of him hosting Family Feud.
