Steve Harvey Suggests He'll Leave Talk Show After Kelly Clarkson's New Deal With NBC

Will Steve Harvey be saying goodbye to the talk show world once Kelly Clarkson's talk show takes [...]

By Libby Birk

Will Steve Harvey be saying goodbye to the talk show world once Kelly Clarkson's talk show takes over in the fall? He implied as much on Wednesday at the Variety Entertainment Summit.

The 61-year-old comedian, a headline speaker at the event, said he didn't know if he was going to stay at NBC once Clarkson and her much talked-about talk show arrived.

"I thought I was, until they made an announcement a couple weeks ago that they wanted to give Kelly Clarkson the owned-and-operated NBC networks — that's my slot," Harvey said. "I don't know if it sold, it's not selling like they thought, but I thought it would have been nice of them to come to me — as the only dude who's survived [in daytime TV] for seven years — about it."

"So when you do that, I gotta make announcements too," he continued. " ... I'm working. It will be something real cute."

The Family Feud host hinted that he's not happy with the way things were handled regarding the future of his show.

"You know, I'm an honorable guy," he said. "I'm just an old school guy, and I just thought that you're supposed to just talk to people and just go, 'Look, you've been good business for us. This is what we're thinking of doing, are you OK with that?' No, you just don't put something in the paper and say, 'I'm just going to make this move right here,' because it's crazy."

Steve has been renewed for the 2018-2019 season, but he said that daytime TV is "dying."

"My show, Steve, is the only show in the last seven years in syndication that has stuck," he said.

Mentioning his good friend, Ellen DeGeneres, and her recent comments to The New York Times, Harvey said he, too, has wondered how long he should continue working.

"She's the most popular person on television," he said, before joking, "I'm second."

"I want her to do what's best for her health, and to do what's best for that, because sometimes, man, you have to consider what's best for your health — even I," he noted. "It's extreme. My doctors have told me, 'Hey, how long do you think you're gonna do this?'"

But he seemed undeterred. "I worked at Ford Motor Company, man. I used to put eight spark plugs in 1,800 engines a day — that's stressful. Telling jokes? That's pretty cool."

Clarkson filmed a pilot episode at NBC Universal Studios in Los Angeles in August. In September, it was announced that The Kelly Clarkson Show would premiere in fall 2019 on NBC.

When it debuts, The Kelly Clarkson Show will reportedly serve as the lead-in to Ellen, which is renewed through 2020 — but there's no telling what will happen if DeGeneres decides to put an end to her long running show.

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