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uh
the fear of failure was a big one in the
beginning
because what happened to me as I was 27
years old and I was like
miserable and you know I just kept
trying to figure out what my life was
for
you know because I discovered something
that the two most important days of your
life is the day you're born
and the day you discover why and at 27 i
just hadn't figured out the why
and I walked into a comedy club on October
8 1985.
first time ever in a comedy club didn't
even know comedy club existed
I actually went there on a dare a girl
dared me
to go to this comedy club cause she knew
It was funny I won amateur night that
night
October 8th,, 1985 I went to work the next
day
and quit the job I won 50
and I went to work and quit my job
the day I quit my boss as I put my
box on his desk and told him I was
leaving to be a comedian
he talked me right out of it he said
Steve, you're not even funny
he said I've never heard you say
anything funny since you've worked here
I've been selling insurance for two
years he said are you kidding me you've
got a
family, you put that stuff back on your
desk and I'll give you your job back but
don't you ever come in here again with
something ridiculous
you're going to be a comedian I took all
my
back to my desk and put that back on my
desk
DNA Russell Middlebrook came up to me
and said hey harv I thought you were
quitting the day man
I said no I talked to tom and he told me
I wasn't funny
he said he'll know you
he said dog you the funniest dude I know
he's
mercy and he looked at me he was so hurt
he said
damn dawg I told everybody he was
leaving today
he said man I can't believe he did you
letting him
tell you what to do and he swore me back
up
because I had been deflated and I took
that box right back in and I said tom
hey man I'm really funny I'm gonna make
he said I'll tell you what you leave
out this door don't ever come back in
here again
so I tried to shake his hand say I'm not
shaking your hand
he said you're making a huge mistake
leaving your family out like this
he was right I became homeless
I made a big mistake
I became homeless I lived in a car for
three years
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probably about 20 years after that he
was at a show
and he said I came to this show I saw
this steve Harvey said
I couldn't believe it was you he was
backstage he said
oh my god I always knew you were going
to make it
but that was overcoming that was my
biggest
and then none of my family believed in
me
the only family member I had that
thought it was a good idea was my father
because my father was really funny he
just grew up in a time for blacks that
was very different
and uh he just said son if you think you
can make it get on out there and get
discovered my father was born in 1914.
it wasn't good my grandfather was a
slave
my grandfather was born into slavery my
grandfather was a slave till he was 12.
so my background of people becoming
successful was like
and my dad was the only one who believed in
me everybody else told me no
laughed at me all kinds of
when you're going through stuff like
that man it's pretty easy I almost gave
up you know everybody has a turn back
the moment I almost gave
up a couple times because it got pretty
hard for me I was going to ask my father
could i
come home and stay there for three
months and get a job because my father
had a rule for all the boys once you
leave the house you can't come back
he was pretty strong with that the girls
could come back home
any time they wanted to the boys you
can't come back here
so calling him and asking him could i
come home it's pretty tough and then
I got a phone call you know remember
back in the day you all
you you had an answering machine and you
could press in the code and you could
play your messages back
I was about to give up and I pressed the
code one day and uh
there was a guy named chuck Sutton from
showtime of the apollo
and he said hey we got the gig for your
Sunday night if you can get here
uh we'll put you on tv Sunday night it
was a Thursday
I'm in Florida I got 35 I'm homeless
I'm fitting to give up and uh I didn't
have enough money to get to new york
and I sat there and I started crying on
the side of the roadman I said, man
I finally get my shot to be on tv and i
can't even get there so i
I sat there when I got through crying i
said let me call back and see if he said
this Sunday so i
picked up the phone and I dialed again
and they said yeah this Sunday
and I got ready to hang up but another
the message had come through since
and said he said steve Harvey this is
tom Sobel from the comedy caravan if
you're anywhere close to Jacksonville
Florida
if you can get there Friday night I got
150 bucks for you I'm in Pensacola
so I jump in the car I got 35 bucks
I drive to uh uh Jacksonville Florida
at the punch line
I do the gig Friday night they give me
150
I did so good that guy asked me to stay
over Saturday night
he paid me 100 another 150. I got 300
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dollars
you
English (auto-generated)
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