Title: The Steve Harvey Show

Host: Steve Harvey

Created by: Steve Harvey

Format: One-hour daytimes talk show

Broadcast information: The Steve Harvey Show is broadcast nationally in syndication. Check your local listings for times.

Production company: Universal Television, Endemol

Distributor: NBCUniversal Television Distribution

Location: WMAQ studios in Chicago, Ill.

Premiere Date: Sept. 4, 2012

Brief History:

Popular comedian Steve Harvey announced his venture into the world of daytime talk in late August 2011. Back then, Harvey described the program as a "comedy show with talk show elements," will borrow from the comedian's popular series of relationship books, including Act Like a Lady and Think Like a Man. It will focus on relationships, parenting, office politics, health and body, and more.

The show's official website describes the show as "multi-topic" with "real people with real issues." Harvey will draw from his "varied life experiences" to bring a fresh and insightful spin to those issues and topics.

More than that, Harvey says in a statement, the new host wants to bring a "male perspective to daytime." It's an audience Harvey thinks is underserved.

"You'll get a male perspective in daytime TV, which I think is missing," he says in the statement. "I'm a little more open than the average daytime (talk show host). I talk about my personal life - this is my wife, these are my kids, this is my take on parenting and marriages.

I'm not really scared of that part of my life."

Harvey also stresses that he's bringing his A-game when it comes to comedy.

"And on top of all that I'm gonna be funny," he says. "I'll bet you that other than Ellen, no one comes close. Funny is my business. I'm a comedian."

Midwest to the big time
Harvey was born in Welch, W.V., but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. And he was both a mail carrier and insurance salesman before taking a chance at stand-up comedy.

Harvey hit the stage at Hilarities Comedy Club in Cleveland in 1985, quickly making a name for himself on the comedy circuit. One report suggests Harvey clocked more than 120,000 miles behind the wheel while making tour stops throughout Canada and the U.S.

His near win in a national comedy contest paved the way to his first television appearance, as host of Showtime at the Apollo. Harvey would hang on as the popular host for a number of years before leaping to primetime as co-star of the ABC sit-com Me and the Boys. But he's better known for his turn on the self-titled sit-com of a similar name, The Steve Harvey Show.

That experience in front of the camera, combined with his interaction with live stage and studio audiences, was the perfect combination to push Harvey toward a foray into daytime television.

"In 2000, I really wanted to do a late-night talk show after The Original Kings of Comedy, then in 2003 I still wanted to do a late-night show," Harvey says via press release. "Then my life started evolving and I went from a late-night to a daytime guy. I got married to a wonderful person who gave me a peace I never had before and who enabled me to tap into who I really was, instead of trying to be somebody I wasn't.

"The next thing I know I quit saying I wanted a late-night show and thought, how great would it be to host a daytime show?"

His willingness to talk openly and candidly about myriad topics is what will surely attract audiences. After all, it was Harvey who, in 2009, told viewers of The Tyra Banks Show that women shouldn't date atheist men. He suggested that someone with an atheistic view would have no "moral barometer." Harvey solidified his viewpoint when he told Joy Behar the same thing while Behar was substitute hosting Larry King Live.

The show debuts during one of the most crowded daytime talk show seasons in recent memory. The reason for the influx is clear: Oprah Winfrey's departure from daytime television. Everyone is vying for a piece of the pie, and Harvey is no exception.