Steve Harvey is saying goodbye to his daytime talk show.
On Wednesday, Steve will air its series finale — and PEOPLE has the exclusive first look at the host’s goodbye monologue. (The show will remain on the air in reruns through September.)
“I appreciate y’all coming today,” says Harvey, 62, after walking out to the audience chanting his name. “This is a celebration. This is all about seven years coming to a close, but this is good … you’ve got to understand how it works.”
“See, your life ain’t nothing but a book,” he continues. “I happen to be 62 years old. I am in the middle of my 62nd chapter of the book that I’m writing. I’ve had some good chapters, had some bad chapters, had some chapters that lasted a little bit longer than I wanted [them] to.”
“That homeless chapter — way too long,” he jokes. “That was three chapters long: I’m homeless, I’m still homeless — damn, I really am homeless!”
Harvey says he has his finger “on the corner of the page” of his 62nd chapter.
“All I’m doing is I’m about to turn it,” he says. “And I can’t wait to see what God got for me on that other page.”
The host then reveals what’s in store for the final episode: an appearance from one of his “great friends,” Bishop T.D. Jakes, and a special surprise.
“I’ve got seven boys that I want you to meet,” he says. “Today, my wife and I, our foundation and Omega Psi Phi fraternity, we’re sending seven African-American boys to the same school [Kent State University] I flunked out of.”
“So that’s my show today,” he continues. “The rest of it is just me saying whatever I want to say. Please pray for me!”
NBC canceled Harvey’s daytime talk show in May. In its place, the network will air Kelly Clarkson‘s new daytime show, The Kelly Clarkson Show. The end of Harvey’s show came as a surprise to many — this season, it has averaged about 1.8 million viewers a week, putting it at no. 5 among syndicated talk shows — but not to Harvey himself, who had previously expressed uncertainty over whether he would stay with the network.
“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, and that’s my slot,” he said during an interview at Variety‘s Entertainment Summit in January.
He admitted that he would have preferred for the network to announce the news to him personally. (Instead, he said he found out in the press.)
“I’m an honorable guy, I’m just an old school guy, and I just thought that you’re supposed to talk to people and go, ‘Look, you’ve been good business for us. This is what we’re thinking of doing. Are you okay with that?’ ” he said. “No, you don’t just put something in the paper and say, ‘I’m going make this move right here,’ because it’s crazy.”
NBC executives were reportedly unhappy with the decision to cancel Harvey’s show, due to the network losing its ownership stakes of the popular daytime talk show, according to Variety.
Steve airs weekdays (check local listings). The series finale airs this Wednesday; reruns will air through September.
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