On the Excellence of Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy returns to host SNL in December 2019.

   

    My introduction to Eddie Murphy was through film classics like Daddy Day Care and Haunted Mansion. Eddie has also been a household voice for my family, thanks to his animated roles in films like Mulan and the Shrek series. To this day, hearing Eddie’s voice always feels familiar and warm. In 2015, during my senior year of high school, Saturday Night Live hosted their 40-year anniversary special, showcasing many returning SNL legends from Amy Poehler to Larry David to Tina Fey to Tracy Morgan to Jimmy Fallon to Adam Sandler to Chris Rock...and the list goes on! When Eddie Murphy took to the stage, the combination of his calm and powerful presence, and the crowd’s uproarious response, was more than enough to pique my interest to work backwards on the history of Eddie Murphy--attempting to rewrite, or at least enrich, my connection with Eddie Murphy as comedian first, actor second.

    On this ongoing journey to rediscover Eddie Murphy’s career pre-family-friendly films, I believe I have also uncovered his excellence. By excellence, I’m referring to not only his brilliance as a performer, but also as a talented performer creating space for new talented performers. That said, he’s likely always exuded excellence and I’m only just picking up on it now.  

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    There is a clip on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee hosted by Jerry Seinfeld, from Eddie’s episode, where he shared stories about Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby when he first started performing (1). Pryor lived through the period in comedy when tokenism was in full effect; there was usually only one black comic performing in a club at a time (1). He shared how Pryor, one of his comedic inspirations, would drive by comedy clubs and if Eddie was there, he wouldn’t perform at that club (1). Regarding Cosby, he shared that Cosby apparently detested his style of comedy, which was edgy and vulgar compared to Cosby’s; he would call to chastise him and dictate how Eddie should perform (1). I watched this episode in 2019, but these two anecdotes continued to stand out to me as interesting in how comedy culture varied between different generations.

    Eddie was likely up against ostracizing attitudes by Pryor and Cosby for different reasons. For Pryor, having experienced tokenism in comedy, I’d wager there was a sense of feeling threatened since Eddie was pursuing a similar, edgy style of comedy. However, Cosby’s anger was likely in response to how Eddie’s style of comedy (and its growing popularity) contrasted with his mission for starring in the Cosby Show, which was groundbreaking in that it was “[Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University in North Carolina]: 'a regular opportunity to see black life portrayed in a 'responsible' manner.' and 'quietly cracked open the door to change; both the way black people are perceived by others, and how black people view themselves.' ” (4)

    Earlier last year I watched Dave Chapelle receive the Mark Twain award (2). At one point, a clip of Eddie appears sharing a memory about Dave when he played Reggie Warrington in The Nutty Professor. As per Eddie, the character of Reggie was initially meant for him, among the many characters he was playing in that film, but it went to Dave as he felt that “Hey that kid would be funny playing that role…” Eddie further described Dave as, “one of the most, maybe the most intellectual comedians ever,” crediting him for his contribution as an artist, “He stretched the art form, and, uh, his impact on the culture. He is the voice of his generation, without any question.” (2)

    Between these two stories I’ve shared, exists evidence of Eddie’s excellence: the difference in response to the next generation of comedians. Eddie himself was not welcomed by established comedians when he first started out in the business. However, when he found himself in a similar position to Pryor and Cosby, wherein he was facing a talented rising comic--who also considered Eddie to be one of his comedy role models--he recognized the talent and created space to showcase it. Your honor, I’d like to further surmise that Eddie Murphy, as a person, knows when to take the back seat and let someone else shine, despite possessing inexorable comedic prowess. I wonder if that’s why there is such solidarity between black comedians from different generations, following the Pryor and Cosby years? But note this is a causation-like claim that is largely speculation based on stories I’ve heard comics share--like Dave Chapelle in one of his recent Netflix specials shares how he randomly ended up bowling at Eddie’s place late one night. Tiffany Haddish shared a similar story at Dave’s Mark Twain award ceremony. (A side note on Tiffany Haddish: She is another comic who has been uplifting talent and creating space for long-time performers, specifically black female comics as well as the black trans comedian, Flame Monroe. Check out “Tiffany Haddish presents They Ready" on Netflix for more). If anything, I’m glad to see Eddie Murphy has stepped back into the limelight over the past few years. We, as the audience, will now get to witness his creative journey continue as he takes on new roles. For now, the next film on my Murphy movie list is Dolemite is My Name. 

Until next time...

PREEMPTIVE UPDATE! I’ve been sitting on this piece for a few months now. This week, as I was planning to post, I stumbled on this rather interesting conversation among some iconic performers. Chris Rock shares the story when Richard Pryor finally met Eddie Murphy at a stand up gig. From my understanding, Pryor had never formally met Eddie before that night. Pryor stood close to the stage during Eddie's set, and afterwards, walked off stage with Eddie, perhaps to show respect for Eddie's craft. The video is short, but we see the camaraderie between Dave Chapelle, Chris Rock and Arsenio Hall contrasting Chris Rock’s references to the transitional era of comedy between Pryor and Murphy. I felt this clip was relevant to this piece and thus, had to share it. If you prefer to search it yourself, it’s entitled ““Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Arsenio Hall Tell a Crazy Richard Pryor Story” on Youtube. Or click here. Coincidences coincidences!

Sources:

(1) Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Netflix. Eddie Murphy episode, “Freshly Brewed” season, 2019.

(2) Eddie Murphy quotes taken from: Chapelle Mark Twain Award special on Netflix. Eddie was going to play the role of Reggie Warrington in The Nutty Professor. He saw Dave before The Nutty Professor and says, “Hey that kid would be funny playing that role…” Describes Dave as, “one of the most, maybe the most intellectual comedians ever.” Credits him for his contribution, “He stretched the art form, and, uh, his impact on the culture. He is the voice of his generation, without any question.” 

(3) Photo Credit: Eddie Murphy returns to host SNL in December 2019. Credits to: https://www.eonline.com/news/1105218/eddie-murphy-returns-to-snl-mocks-bill-cosby-and-brings-out-dave-chappelle-and-chris-rock 

(4) https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20140919-was-the-cosby-show-revolutionary (Quotes taken from article written by Joanne Griffith in 10/21/2014)

Side Note: On some further research for this piece (ie. Youtube.com), I found a clip where Eddie uses the line “It’s your world, I’m just a squirrel trying to get a nut” in The Nutty Professor right before Reggie Warrington does his stand up set. It was familiar--I’ve heard that line used multiple times by different comedians! Initially, I heard it in a halloween sketch by Marlon Wayans. It was also featured on Fresh Prince of Bel Air by Will. I looked it up the line and it’s plausibly a reference from a song from 1990 called, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody dance now)” by C&C Music Factory. Mystery solved!