seven venues

Comedian Steve Harvey blended his trademark humor with messages of spirituality, social responsibility and more during the four-hour live broadcast of his morning show Monday in Shreveport.

Crowds of local fans had already gathered before daybreak in a line that stretched from the Riverview Theatre entrance onto the street as they waited to see Harvey and his crew, including Nephew Tommy, Shirley Strawberry and Carla Ferrell.

More people trickled in throughout the broadcast, nearly filling the first floor of the theater.

"His show always gets us through the first part of our day. I especially like the inspirational part," said Dana Gray, who was there with her husband, Robert.

The show couldn't have come at a better time for the couple. "We had already taken the day off to celebrate our one-year anniversary and we love his show so this was perfect timing," Robert Gray said.

The nationally syndicated "Steve Harvey Morning Show" is based in New York City and airs locally on KDKS 102.1 FM. Harvey and his crew sat at a table in the middle of the stage to conduct the show, while entertaining the audience in between segments. The show also featured a live performance by "Cupid Shuffle" singer and Lafayette native Cupid.

Harvey started the show on a spiritual note, evoking choruses of "Amens" from some people while others sang along to the Marvin Sapp gospel hit "Never Would Have Made It" playing in the background.

"When you can't seem to pull it together, try God. I always have to stop and give thanks and honor to the Almighty God," he said. "You hadn't made it until you put your life with God."

He then broke the serious tone with humor. "I mean, I don't cuss as bad as I used to, but every once in awhile I let one go," he said as they crowd burst into laughter.

"I love the comedy and what he has going on, but he always has some good points too," said retiree Jimmy Wilson of Shreveport who came out to see the show. "He's about the closest thing to Richard Pryor out there. He's my favorite."

Harvey and the crew kept the laughter coming, sparring with the crowd at times as various audience members asked them questions. Some groups, including Shreveport Job Corps students and fitness center Mosley Movements, carried big signs to represent their groups.

Several times throughout the show members from the two groups would go back and forth with Harvey and his crew.

"I'm trying to be better. I know the Lord, but I will still cuss you out," he said jokingly to one of the Job Corps students. Then, he got back on a serious note and congratulated the group on their success. "Keep making good decisions to better yourselves," he said to the students. "It's always easy to do the wrong thing, but it's hard to do the right thing."

About half way through the show, Cupid got the crowd up with his popular gold-selling hit single, "Cupid Shuffle," and debuted a new equally upbeat single ,"Happy Dance," from his forthcoming album, "Feel Good Music," scheduled to release in the fall.

However, between those songs, he slowed things down with "Don't Love Her to Death," a thought-provoking ballad about domestic violence against women.

"I just wanted to put the attention on domestic violence because I've seen a lot of young ladies where I grew up who lost their lives due to domestic violence. I just want to let people, men and women, to know you should love, but not to the point where you take a person's life away."

His new song, "Happy Dance," incorporates a two-step dance while encouraging people to celebrate when they get good news. The audience immediately jumped to its feet to learn the dance as he sang along.

Cupid said imparting such positive messages is his goal, though it isn't always easy.

"We try to make positive music that's not controversial, but it's hard to get that message out there sometimes. If the music is not controversial or negative, it doesn't usually get airplay or attention," he said.

"The blessing is that you test it and if it gets into the people's hearts, it works. It's brings out an emotion and that's what I try to do."

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, whose office is responsible for bringing the show to Shreveport, took a moment to chat with the crew during the broadcast, followed by Mayor Cedric Glover and Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau president Stacy Brown.

"We always see this as a great opportunity to highlight the state on a national level and we're ecstatic about it," Landrieu said. "This is our second time bringing him to the state — he was in New Orleans last year — so this is one of our ways of turning the state's image around and showing them we're back in business, especially in north Louisiana. Tourism is up 29 percent and the film industry is an international industry. This is great advertisement for us," he said.

Harvey and the crew regularly expressed their love for Shreveport and the state throughout the show, highlighting the casinos, the food and the people.

Youth and education are two topics that aren't a laughing matter for Harvey. During the show, Harvey, a member of Omega Psi Phi, hinted at plans to come back with his Steve Harvey Foundation to host a fundraiser with the area's black Greek organizations.

He further elaborated on the idea during a reception later that morning at the Multicultural Center of the South. He said he hopes to work with the area's Pan-Hellenic council, which presides over the black Greek organizations, on sponsoring a golf tournament fundraiser, tentatively next spring.

Harvey later explained why he focuses on the sororities and fraternities for such efforts. "Anyone can help, but I target them because so many people in these organizations have gone on to important, higher positions and can make a difference and it's important that they network with each other and pull together for something positive."

He said he hopes the event will drive more people to get involved in giving back. "People always say they care about the kids and I want them to put their money where their mouth is," he said.

"I want whoever can help to come out and give this money and whatever money is raised, I want to make sure that it goes directly to students. I don't want it to go through anybody else's hands but the students and teachers."