When Tavis Smiley says he’s “busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest,” he’s not exaggerating.

The longtime host (11 seasons) of PBS’ “Tavis Smiley,” who turns 50 in September, has four (!) books in the works, continues with his ongoing anti-poverty initiative (which includes a new app) and is still glowing over his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (he was inducted in an April ceremony by Jay Leno and Larry King, and is now the second PBS celeb to get a star behind Big Bird from “Sesame Street.”)

“Our show has quietly become the longest-running show in late night to be hosted by a person of color, and we take great pride in that,” he says. “It’s easier to be president of the United States than it is to be a black man or woman to host a late-night talk show for any length of time.

“This is our 11th year on PBS and if you add in my five years on BET before that, that’s now 16 years in late night.” Smiley says he “gets e-mails and social media feedback” daily about possibly replacing “Late Late Show” host Craig Ferguson, who’s leaving CBS in December, adding that he’s “not doing a Chelsea Handler” by throwing his name into the “Late Late Show” mix. “That’s not what I’m interested in,” he says.

Smiley will mark his 50th birthday in September with the release of his newest book, “Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Final Year.” “It’s about how the country turned against Dr. King in the last year of his life when he came out against the war in Vietnam,” Smiley says. “He couldn’t get a book deal, he was bankrupt and he was smoking and drinking. It’s the story of Dr. King we don’t know.”

That will be followed next Mother’s Day by “My Journey with Maya,” his tribute to the late Maya Angelou. “It’s kind of like my version of ‘Tuesdays with Morrie,’ ” he says. “She was like a godmother to me. We traveled the country and the world together.”

Also on Smiley’s book menu: “Gratitude: 50 Lessons I’ve Learned in My First 50 Years” and, in 2016, “Death of the King of Pop,” a look at the last 18 months of Michael Jackson’s life. “His singular goal was to get back on stage,” Smiley says of Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50.

And Smiley says that, now that he’s reached the half-century mark himself, he’s reassessing his priorities. “Turning 50 has me thinking about all kinds of things,” he says. “Like, for instance, how much longer I want to do this work and how much more meaning I want to put into this work.

“I’ve been on the [late-night TV] journey for almost 20 years — and I’m just starting to feel like I’m getting my legs under me.”