Line #8 Creator/EddieMurphy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eddie_murphy_1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow!]]]]
3
4	->''"That was really amazing to me that he would have that power. To stand in front of a group of people and say: 'This is what I think is funny and I'm gonna make you laugh.' and do it."''
5	-->-- '''Creator/CharlieMurphy''' on his younger brother Eddie.
6
7	Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American actor, voice actor, film director, producer, comedian and singer. He is the second-highest grossing lead actor in motion picture history. He was a regular cast member on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' from 1980 to 1984 -- keeping that show afloat at a time when it was floundering so badly that Creator/{{NBC}} was considering cancellation [[note]]At the time, Eddie Murphy was ''SNL'''s youngest cast member to join at the age of 19. He was beaten by Anthony Michael Hall -- who was 17 years old -- when Hall joined the cast in 1985. Murphy is still considered the youngest black male cast member to join the cast, despite the upset[[/note]] -- and worked as a stand-up comedian throughout TheEighties. He was ranked #10 on Creator/ComedyCentral's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.
8
9	On ''Saturday Night Live'', he's known for appearing with Joe Piscopo in a lot of sketches (to the point that the cast members and fans thought they were stealing the spotlight during their time on the show), his recurring characters Mr. Robinson (a poor, black, urban take on ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'' [[note]]Notably one of the only parodies of his show which Creator/FredRogers was said to have personally enjoyed, as he not only knew that it was sincere but didn't worry about children mistaking Murphy's parody for the real thing.[[/note]], who first appeared on the Jean Doumanian episode that gave NBC a reason to kick her off the show[[note]]you know, the one where Charles Rocket casually says, "I'd like to know who the fuck did it," after being shot during a sketch[[/note]], but didn't become popular until Dick Ebersol took over), Buckwheat from ''Film/TheLittleRascals'' (whose character was assassinated, then brought back from the dead), Dion (a CampGay hairstylist), AngryBlackManStereotype Raheem Abdul Mohammed, poetic prisoner Tyrone Green, sleazy salesman Velvet Jones (the "I Wanna Be a Ho" Guide), and Gumby as an old, Jewish man. His celebrity impressions, though small, included Creator/BillCosby[[note]]with whom he had a rivalry, until Cosby's history of sexual assault and misconduct ruined his reputation, as mentioned when Eddie Murphy came back to host in season 45 and gloated in Cosby's voice, "Who is America's Dad now!"[[/note]], Music/JamesBrown (the singer, not the football commentator), the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Creator/MrT, Creator/JerryLewis (in a ''Two Faces of Eve'' film parody with Joe Piscopo as the older, embittered Vegas hanger-on take on Lewis while Murphy played the loud, bucktoothed, childish moron version of him), and Music/StevieWonder.
10
11	Eddie Murphy is also the first (and, so far, only) ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member to host the show while still a cast member (making him the only cast member to have the shortest time between being a cast member and hosting an episode, beating Chevy Chase, who left the show in the middle of season two and came back to host in season 3), a decision that has been cited by the cast at the time as a low point for the show and a sign that Dick Ebersol cared more about making Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo popular rather than give the other cast members (Gary Kroeger, a pre-''Seinfeld'' Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus, Mary Gross, Tim Kazurinsky, and Brad Hall) a chance at being funny.
12
13	In 1983, he took the world of stand-up comedy by storm with his special ''Delirious'', earning him the title of "the first rock star comedian." It continues to be memetically popular with the new generation, featuring memorable sketches such as his drunk [[ClusterFBomb foul-mouthed]] dad, his shoe-throwing mom, his overweight moustached Aunt Bonnie who fell down the stairs (My Shoe!) and is rumored to be Bigfoot (GOONIE GOO GOO!), portraying Creator/MrT and [[Series/TheHoneymooners Ralph Kramden]] as homosexuals, portraying Music/MichaelJackson as a very sensitive young man, discussing offended African-Americans on his portrayal of Stevie Wonder and much much more.
14
15	Amongst his Eighties film roles,[[note]]all of them at Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures, with whom he had an exclusive contract[[/note]] he was best-known for playing Axel Foley in the ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' series; he also helped popularize OddCouple black-white pairings with his work in ''Film/FortyEightHrs'' (his film debut) and ''Film/TradingPlaces''. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for playing soul singer James "Thunder" Early in ''{{Theatre/Dreamgirls}}'', a role which also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
16
17	In case you can't tell yet, Murphy was ''absolutely huge'' in the '80s. He even scored a chart-topping pop hit with "Party All the Time" in 1985; people bought the (notably bland) song entirely because it was Murphy and Music/RickJames. The song even appears in the soundtrack to (of all things) ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''. Murphy continued his music career to diminishing returns into TheNineties, culminating in a duet with Jackson which is far less awesome than it sounds. Many of his later film roles have also incorporated his singing ability.
18
19	In some of his films he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols, Creator/PeterSellers, who played multiple roles in ''Film/DrStrangelove'' and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in ''Film/ComingToAmerica'', Creator/WesCraven's ''Film/VampireInBrooklyn'', ''Film/{{The Nutty Professor\|1996}}'' films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, uncle, mother and grandmother), ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'' and 2007's ''Film/{{Norbit}}''.
20
21	After voicing Mushu the dragon in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', Murphy's work as a voice actor went on to include Thurgood Stubbs in ''WesternAnimation/ThePJs'' and Donkey in the ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' series.
22
23	His brother Creator/{{Charlie\|Murphy}} was an accomplished stand-up comedian in his own right, and had a steady acting career of his own; having been a regular on ''Series/ChappellesShow'', played Ed Wuncler III in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', and had a regular role as Vic Hargrove in ''Series/BlackJesus''. He even appeared in a cameo as himself in a segment from ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie''. Sadly, he died from leukemia on April 12, 2017.
24
25	Unfortunately, as the 1990s and 2000s rolled around, Eddie's career became notorious for alternating significant hits (''The Nutty Professor'' and the ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' movies in particular) with embarrassing bombs, [[StarDerailingRole hitting rock bottom]] when ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'' became one of the [[BoxOfficeBomb all-time biggest flops, with a budget of $100 million dollars and a worldwide gross of $7.1 million]]. He had a brief resurgence of quality with ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'' (earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor), but he has yet to have a hit film since then. However, in 2019 he drew raves for his performance in the Rudy Ray Moore biopic ''Dolemite Is My Name'' and his return to ''Saturday Night Live'' as a guest host for the Season 45 ChristmasEpisode, and is planning a return to the stand-up circuit.
26
27	!!Notable film credits include:
28
29	* ''Film/FortyEightHrs'' (1982) - Reggie Hammond
30	** ''Film/Another48Hrs'' (1990)
31	* ''Film/TradingPlaces'' (1983) - William "Billy Ray" Valentine
32	* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' (1984) - Det. Axel Foley
33	** ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII'' (1987)
34	** ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'' (1994)
35	** ''Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F'' (2024)
36	* ''Film/TheGoldenChild'' (1986) - Chandler Jarrell
37	* ''Film/ComingToAmerica'' (1988) - Prince Akeem Joffer/Clarence/Saul/Randy Watson
38	** ''Film/Coming2America'' (2021)
39	* ''Film/HarlemNights'' (1989; also wrote and directed) - Vernest "Quick" Brown
40	* ''Film/TheDistinguishedGentleman'' (1992) - Thomas Jefferson Johnson
41	* ''Film/{{Boomerang\|1992}}'' (1992) - Marcus Graham
42	* ''Film/VampireInBrooklyn'' (1995) - Maximillian/Preacher Pauly/Guido
43	* ''Film/{{The Nutty Professor\|1996}}'' (1996) - Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr.
44	* ''Film/{{Metro}}'' (1997) - Insp. Scott Roper
45	* ''Film/HolyMan'' (1998) - G
46	* ''Film/DrDolittle'' (1998) - Dr. John Doolittle
47	** ''Dr. Dolittle 2'' (2001)
48	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' (1998) - Mushu (voice)
49	* ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'' (1999) - Kit Ramsey/Jifferson "Jiff" Ramsey
50	* ''Film/{{Life\|1999}}'' (1999) - Rayford "Ray" Gibson
51	* ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' - Donkey (voice)
52	** ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' (2001)
53	** ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' (2004)
54	** ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' (2007)
55	** ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' (2010)
56	* ''Series/ISpy'' (2002) - Kelly Robinson
57	* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'' (2002) - Pluto Nash/Rex Crater
58	* ''Film/DaddyDayCare'' (2003) - Charles "Charlie" Hinton
59	* ''Film/{{The Haunted Mansion\|2003}}'' (2003) - Jim Evers
60	* ''Film/{{Dreamgirls}}'' (2006) - James "Thunder" Early (Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor)
61	* ''Film/{{Norbit}}'' (2007) - Norbit Rice/Rasputia Latimore-Rice/Mr. Wong
62	* ''Film/MeetDave'' (2008) - Starship Dave Ming-Chang (Spacecraft), Captain
63	* ''Film/ImagineThat'' (2009) - Evan Danielson
64	* ''Film/TowerHeist'' (2011) - Darnell "Slide" Davis
65	* ''Film/AThousandWords'' (2012, originally filmed in 2008) - Jack [=McCall=]
66	* ''Film/MrChurch'' (2016) - Mr. Henry David Church
67	* ''Film/DolemiteIsMyName'' (2019) - Rudy Ray Moore
68	* ''Film/YouPeople'' (2023) - Akbar
69	* ''Film/CandyCaneLane'' (2023) - Chris Carver
70
71	----
72	!!His roles provide examples of:
73
74	* AlterKocker: Loves playing these, almost always while in [[WhiteLikeMe heavy Caucasian makeup]]. His performance as one in ''Film/ComingToAmerica'' provides the trope's page image.
75	* AsideGlance: An artform when he does them.
76	* AscendedExtra: He originally wasn't supposed to be a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live''. When Jean Doumanian was gathering her cast, she had another token black cast member in mind (Robert Townsend, after failing to get comedian and street performer Charlie Barnett, who, despite being talented enough for TV, was a barely-literate high school dropout), but an SNL writer at the time named Neil Levy and Murphy's agent urged Doumanian to give him a chance. Murphy was let on the show after Townsend forgot (or refused) to sign his cast member contract, and even then, Murphy was relegated to background roles (even though he was a feature player along with Patrick Weathers, Yvonne Hudson, and Matthew Laurence) and fought hard to be more prominent on the show. When Doumanian was running out of material for the episode hosted by Ray Sharkey, Murphy stepped in and did a stand-up bit about black people fighting and was promoted to repertory player on the next episode (hosted by Creator/KarenBlack).
77	* AssShove: "Boogie In Your Butt" is about putting random things inside a butt.
78	--->Put a tree in your butt\
79	Put a bumblebee in your butt\
80	Put a clock in your butt\
81	Put a big rock in your butt
82	* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: In his ''Saturday Night Live'' opening monologue as host, he notes with irony that 30 years ago he never thought that he would be the boring, stay at home family man (with 8 kids) and Creator/BillCosby would be the one in jail. Cosby voice "Who's America's dad now?"
83	* BlackAndNerdy: His role as Norbit in the movie ''Norbit'' and also his role as Jiff in ''Bowfinger'' and as Professor Sherman Klump in ''The Nutty Professor''.
84	* BrokenPedestal: Had this for Creator/BillCosby. Murphy recalled on ''Raw'' that he admired Cosby growing up and was so excited to get a call from Cosby after ''Delirious'' was a hit. Cosby proceeded to dress down the younger comic and browbeat him about his "dirty" act. Joe Piscopo recalled Murphy coming into his office afterwards completely devastated by what happened. He predictably took a ton of satisfaction in Cosby's exposure as a serial rapist a couple decades later.
85	* TheCastShowoff: He did not need a pro boxer to teach him how to fight in ''I Spy.'' He was already trained.
86	* ClusterFBomb: When doing stand up, he has a very filthy mouth.
87	* CowboyCop: Axel Foley in ''Beverly Hills Cop''. The movie starts with Eddie's character causing wide-spread property damage during a chase that resulted from an unauthorized sting.
88	* DoesNotLikeGuns: Despite using guns in most of his movies, he really hates them in real life.
89	* DudeNotFunny: In a "Hollywood Minute" on SNL in 1995, Creator/DavidSpade showed a picture of Eddie Murphy (who had been SNL's biggest cast member in the turbulent early 1980's), and exclaimed "Look, children, it's a falling star! Make a wish!". This triggered a feud between Murphy and Spade, and Murphy refused to have anything to due with SNL for almost two decades before reconciling with Spade and the show.
90	* FanDisservice: Rasputia from ''Norbit'' in a two-piece swimsuit is not a nice sight to see.
91	* FascinatingEyebrow: A good portion of the cover art/posters for his movies has Murphy with a raised eyebrow.
92	* FatSuit: In ''Nutty Professor'' and ''Norbit'' he wore a fat suit, as he's actually quite skinny.
93	* LargeHam: In many of his works.
94	* MicDrop: ''Delirious'' features one of the earliest mic drops on film, in 1983.
95	* MotorMouth: Used to great effect in his comedies.
96	* NoIndoorVoice: He can be ''very'' loud.
97	%%* NWordPrivileges
98	* NonHumanSidekick: He's voiced Donkey in the animated movie ''Shrek'' is a donkey sidekick to Shrek, an ogre. Mushu in ''Mulan'' is a dragon sidekick to Mulan, a human.
99	* OlderThanTheyLook: At 62, he still looks the way he was thirty years ago.
100	* RatedGForGangsta: He started his career as a cast member of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', then moved on to foul-mouthed standup comedy. His first movie roles were primarily in R-rated comedies, then turned to more family-friendly fare in the 1990's and into the 2000's. As of today, he has proclaimed that he has moved on to more mature roles.
101	* RefugeInAudacity: He took a photo with his ten children on Christmas Day, with no issues.
102	* RenaissanceMan: Stand-up comedian, massively popular actor, a fantastic singer, and raising ten kids on top of it all? Talk about multi-talented.
103	* SchmuckBait: In recalling his phone call with Bill Cosby in ''Raw'', when the Cos admonished Eddie for saying "[[GoshDarnItToHeck filth flarn filth!]]", Eddie [[ObfuscatingStupidity played dumb]] for a while ("[[ExactWords I never said no 'filth flarn flith']] and I'm offended you called, fuck you!") until he was able to bait Bill into saying the F-bomb ("Youuuu cannot say...[[PrecisionFStrike FUCK!]]...in front of people!").[[note]]This was exaggerated for RuleOfFunny; although he disagreed with Cosby's assessment of his act, Murphy said he stayed respectful throughout the call, as opposed to telling Cosby to fuck off.[[/note]]
104	* SelfDeprecation:
105	** His Buddy Love persona in ''The Nutty Professor'' is a big Take That against what he was known as during his slumping career in the early 1990s, when he was starting to get a reputation for being overly obnoxious and self-absorbed.
106	** Apocrypha has it that when Barbara Walters mentioned ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'' (among the OldShame of Eddie Murphy due to its TroubledProduction and the status as the biggest BoxOfficeBomb) in the interview, Murphy joked that he knew "two or three people that liked this movie."
107	%%* SoulBrotha: In ''Mulan'' as Mushu also Slide in ''Film/TowerHeist'' .
108	* SpotlightStealingSquad: On ''SNL'', to the point where he became the first person to host while still a castmember. This did not go over with his fellow castmates, especially when he opened with "Live from New York, it's ''The Eddie Murphy Show''".
109	* TalkingAnimal: Donkey in the ''Shrek'' film series. He's a talking donkey.
110	* TeenGenius: He was cast on SNL and quickly became the breakout star at only nineteen.
111	* TheTeetotaler: He doesn't drink alcohol, smoke or do drugs.
112	%%* TwoHitWonder: "Party All the Time" (1985) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" (1989).
113	%%* WhiteDudeBlackDude: In his stand up routines.
114	* YoungerThanTheyLook: In his early films and on SNL, he looked to be in his thirties when he was only in his early twenties. Of course he now [[OlderThanTheyLook still looks pretty much the same decades on.]]

Context Creator / EddieMurphy