However, his early days as a comedian were a very tough ride. In 1985, Harvey won $50 in a comedy competition. For him, that was a sign that he had the potential to go far.

Steve Harvey was forced to live in his car

“I quit my job the next day,” Harvey recalled. “I informed my supervisor that I was leaving to pursue a career in comedy. My boss discouraged me from applying by telling me: ‘Steve, you’re not even funny.’”

In the beginning, things hardly went the way Harvey expected them to. Speaking to People, he explained that he was homeless for three years. He even had to steal things to make ends meet.

“It was crushing,” Harvey said. “I realized, ‘You’re on your own. You have nothing or no one.’ All I knew was that I could make people laugh.”

Harvey lived out of his car, using a small cooler as a refrigerator and showering in different rest stop bathrooms. He survived mostly on sandwiches. To get to comedy gigs, he was forced to steal fuel from gas stations.

So what happened? Well, as reported by People, Steve Harvey made approximately $3,000 in his first year of being a comedian. He and his wife Marcia had separated – their divorce finalized in 1994 – and Harvey’s relationship with his daughter had fallen apart.

“I’m married, I have twins. I’m supposed to provide for them, but I had to take this chance,” he recalled thinking.

75% of his paycheck went straight to Marcia and twins Brandi and Karli. As a result, Steve had pretty much no money left for himself.

“I sat down and started crying”

He explains it was an “ugly” period of his life, and once, while trying to wash up in the sink of a hotel restroom, he was forced to hide from guests for hours until they had left.

“I sat down and started crying, but a voice said, ‘If you keep going, I’m going to take you places you’ve never been,’” Harvey told People.

“It was like God said, ‘Don’t quit, you’re almost there. Not long after, he finally got his big break in the form of a televised gig at the Apollo.”

The Apollo changed Steve’s life and career. In 1993, he became the host of the program Showtime at the Apollo, which he stayed on until 2000. At that point, he also landed his sitcom, The Steve Harvey Show, which became his next career springboard.