The words escape from his mouth, seemingly as a joke: “I don’t want to host this show no more.” But there is a chilling conviction in Steve Harvey’s voice as he says this about his current gig: hosting the ubiquitous, long-running syndicated game show Family Feud. The popular comedian and TV personality has been at the helm of the show since 2010, and it’s obvious that six years of jokes about coochies, tallywackers, and rectal cavities have taken their toll on the man. The video wizards at Super Deluxe are sympathetic to his plight, and they’ve responded with a surreal montage video entitled “Steve Harvey Doesn’t Want To Host Family Feud Anymore.” The video, which Vic Berger culled from clips of genuine Family Feud episodes, presents Harvey as a man trapped in some weird circle of hell where his punishment is to listen to contestants talk about erections and flatulence forever and ever and ever. What clearly makes it worse for Harvey is that the players are so proud of themselves and so utterly without shame. They can’t wait to make boner jokes in front of their closest relatives on national television.
The writers on Family Feud seemingly have it in for Harvey, devising questions bound to elicit smutty, off-color responses from the supposedly wholesome contestants. “Name a kind of ball that doesn’t bounce” goes one query. The expected, giggly reference to testicles is mere seconds away. All Harvey can do in a moment like this is go numb, affecting a thousand-yard stare and a slouched posture. The Super Deluxe video is very dream-like in nature, employing repetition, slow-mo, and echo, suggesting that Harvey’s punishment does not end when he exits the brightly lit Family Feud stage. No, the fart jokes have wormed their way into his very soul and torment him at night. Poor guy. Hope the pay is good.