David Marchese talks to the comedy legend about navigating the minefield of fame, “Family Feud” and changing Hollywood forever.
From the New York Times, this is the interview.
I'm David Marchese.
Eddie Murphy has been so famous for so long that it can be easy to take for granted or just plain overlook how game changing a figure he actually is as a stand up.
He was a total rock star.
Eddie Murphy, Raw from 1987, is the highest grossing stand up comedy film ever released.
And he brought that sheer comedic firepower to tv, too.
At the risk of overstating it, and I don't think I am, he can take pretty much sole credit for rescuing Saturday Night Live from its early eighties slump.
But he made his greatest mark in movies, where he became one of the biggest stars of all time.
He reached new heights of popularity and bankability, especially for a comedian and especially for a black actor.
He pioneered the action comedy genre with movies like Beverly Hills Cop in 48 Hours.
And later, he made classics out of family friendly films, too, like the Nutty professor and Shrek movies.
Simply put, there is american pop culture before Eddie Murphy and american pop culture after Eddie Murphy.
And now he's returning to the character that sent his career into overdrive with Beverly Hills cop, Axel F.
It comes 40 years after the first film in the series, and Murphy is back as the wisecracking detective Axel Foley.
In recent years, Murphy's been a somewhat remote and enigmatic off screen presence.
But as I found out over the course of our two conversations, now is a good moment for Murphy to reflect on what he's accomplished in some Hollywood stories, explain why stand up doesn't appeal to him anymore, and reveal the dream project he's never been able to get off the ground.
Here's my conversation with Eddie Murphy.
And just a heads up here.
Big surprise.
This episode has some pretty salty language in it.