Steve Harvey says Kenan Thompson "owes him 5 percent of his total earnings"

For Black History Month, The A.V. Club will be rerunning interviews with Black performers from recent years. This week: A recent video featuring Family Feud host Steve Harvey.

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When Steve Harvey began hosting Family Feud in 2010, he became an instant internet sensation. People loved his oversized reactions to dumb answers, his loud suits, and his dry looks to camera. They loved them so much, in fact, that Kenan Thompson even took on Harvey’s mannerisms for sketches on Saturday Night Live, earning laughs and acclaim for his spot-on take.

While Harvey was a little put-off by Thompson’s impression initially, he’s come around, and has even become friendly with Thompson. As he tells us in the video above, he’s “had Kenan on [his] talk show, [he’s] had him on [his] radio show,” calling him, “a super talented guy.” He doesn’t begrudge Thompson his impression, saying “If that can keep him working…” though he admits Thompson doesn’t need him, given that he’s got both his own sitcom and holds the title of the longest running cast member on Saturday Night Live. That being said, Harvey does feel like he gave Thompson “new life,” joking that, “Kenan probably owes me five percent of his total earnings.”

In the clip above, Harvey also tells us about why thinks he really shines as host of Celebrity Family Feud, which returns for its seventh season Sunday, June 6. Though he thinks he’d be a shitty player on the show, saying, “I really don’t have any idea what’s going to be on [that] board,” Harvey says he’s a great host simply because he does know, “what’s not going to be up there.” Harvey says his “specialty is waiting on those moments,” which he says “make for some great TV and…even better YouTube moments.” As he puts it, when he’s dealing with contestants, his mindset is always, “I wait on you to give me that answer that I know is not up there, and then me and you are going to have a real special moment.”

Image Credit: ABC