Comedian Steve Harvey remembers his roots in family, church

Published: 2004-12-30

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Comedian Steve Harvey admits that when he was first approached to serve as the voice of a horsefly, he thought it was a joke. "I always dress up; I wear custom suits," he laughed. "I always told God if he let me make it, I'd stay successful on the outside, too. So, a horsefly?" Harvey, best known for his stand-up comic routines, his TV and radio shows and his roles in such films as "The Fighting Temptations," gives character to Buzz, one of two comic horseflies in the upcoming Warner Bros. family film, "Racing Stripes," due out Jan. 14. David Spade voices his fellow horsefly, Scuzz. At least 90 percent of the lines he and Spade have in the movie were ad-libbed, Harvey said, forcing other actors such as Frankie Muniz, Mandy Moore, Jeff Foxworthy, Joe Pantoliano and Dustin Hoffman to return to the studio as many as 10 times to re-record their lines. "Yeah, the writer is a nice guy," said Harvey with a laugh. "But he ain't that funny!" "Racing Stripes" is the tale of a baby zebra named Stripes (voiced by Muniz), who is accidentally abandoned by a traveling circus during a rainstorm.

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