Steve Harvey Reveals He Got His Start In TV At “Showtime At The Apollo”

(Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Splash News)

New Season Of “Showtime At The Apollo” Premieres Thursday, May 3 At 9 P.M. On FOX

He has become ubiquitous on television, hosting a half dozen shows that appear simultaneously on the small screen.

And Steve Harvey revealed that he got his start in TV on the very show he now hosts, “Showtime At The Apollo.”

Harvey said that his first on-camera appearance as a stand-up comic was on “Showtime at the Apollo” in 1991. He said he appeared alongside another then-unknown comedian, Jamie Foxx.

“We were both not famous at all,” Harvey told reporters on a press call to promote the new season of “Showtime at the Apollo” – co-hosted by Adrienne Bailon-Houghton – this week.

“We sat there and performed that night,” Harvey said. “It was probably one of the scariest night I’ve ever had. It’s such a tough place to play. I went out, got a standing ovation and my television career was born at Showtime at the Apollo. That was my very first television appearance.”

Harvey said that performance went so well that the show’s organizers invited him to return a few weeks later.

“I went back again, did okay again, and the next time they asked me was, ‘Man, you get such a great reaction, would you sit in for Mark Curry? He’s going to miss a tape day because he’s doing Mr. Cooper.’ So, I went back and did it. And after that, they offered me the job full-time and that began my television career. So, it’s a very, very special place to me.”