There are three things to know about the enigma that is Eddie Murphy: 1) his humor is evergreen; 2) his list of admirers reads like the royal family of comedy; 3) he greatly dislikes hearing people rave about him.
Nevertheless, for literally One Night Only, Spike TV’s upcoming tribute special to the comic icon, Murphy sat back, smiled, and let his friends, colleagues, and protégés take over the stage to pay homage to his 30-plus years in show business.
“It feels nice, I think,” the 51-year-old actor told theGrio on his way into the event Saturday (November 3) at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. “I’ll know on the way out how it felt more.”
It took years of convincing to persuade the superstar to agree with the honorary celebration, but the turnout and showcase indicated a deep desire has been burning within the entertainment community for some time. The show featured famous scenes from some of Murphy’s most popular films and shows, including Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America and The Nutty Professor, along with clips from his days on Saturday Night Live and two comedy specials, Delirious and Raw.
Those who paid homage to the comedian included actors, comedians, and industry colleagues like Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Tyler Perry, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Tracy Morgan, Martin Lawrence, Adam Sandler, Charlie Murphy, Russell Brand, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Brett Ratner and Arsenio Hall.
“As talented as Eddie is, he doesn’t necessarily like to have people kiss his ass for an hour and a half,” Hall told theGrio. “That’s hard. That’s awkward. But he deserves it and he needs to do it. And I think his brother talked him into it – Vernon [Lynch] – who is one of the producers on this. He was like, ‘You need to have this; they’ve done Tom Green twice! Do this.’”
Hall also described the impression his Coming to America co-star made on the field of humor.
“When I first started doing comedy, comics were monologists – straight up, stand-up, punch line type guys,” he said. “Set up – punch line; set up – punch line. Eddie brought a certain kind of versatility to it…He broke stand-up out of the mold of a guy with a microphone just talking. Now, it’s like LeBron – the next guy after LeBron is gonna have to fly. And after Eddie, he put the bar high. And guys had to really bring it cause he did so much.”
Murphy first broke out in comedy around 1980 when he joined the cast of SNL, bringing noteworthy hilarity with sketches like “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood,” “Little Richard Simmons,” and the famous characters he devised in “Velvet Jones,” and “Buckwheat.” Two years later, he was doing movies, starring alongside Nick Nolte in the action comedy feature 48 Hours.
From that point on, Murphy’s credits rolled like hard edge jokes from his tongue. In 1983, at the age of 22, he debuted his first comedy concert special, Delirious, an honest, high energy, flamboyant show tackling issues of race, celebrity, relationships and childhood. Four years later, he followed it up with a second special, Raw, which remains the highest-grossing comedy concert film of all-time, raking in over $50 million.
“We were kids. We were friends, and it was just a fun,” Wayans, who produced Raw, recalled. “There was no pressure. There wasn’t a minute that we didn’t think it was going to be funny, that it was going to work. So, to be in an environment like that, that’s a once in a lifetime thing.”
He adds, “When you look at Eddie’s achievement, you can see how far that we’ve all come because there is no one prior to Eddie that has this much body of work; this much success; this much box office; this much repeatability; this much worldwide appeal. He’s a phenomenon and the legacy he’s left has paved the way for an entire generation of comedians.”
Among those successors was Murphy’s older brother, Charlie, who attended the event with his mother and other members of the family. Charlie says his greatest memory of his younger sibling was watching his first live show.
“[Eddie] did an impression of Al Green, and came out with this suit on,” he remembered. “It was excellent. That was a real memorable moment. It made me scream. I won’t admit that to a lot of people.”
The Roots served as house band for the tribute, which will air Wednesday, November 14, and special guest performer Stevie Wonder further sang Murphy’s praises with “My Cherie Amour,” as well as a duet with the comedian on “Higher Ground.” Wonder pointed out that even those being spoofed by the comic, like himself, could enjoy the humor.
“To me, that’s human,” the singer said.
Murphy spoke briefly at the end of the event, saying it felt like someone had been “singing Happy Birthday” to him for hours and he was “Eddie-d out.” Asked about his own legacy, he says uncertain.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I think I did my thing.”
Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @courtgarcia