
The only thing Eddie Murphy does less than interviews is make good movies, so when he recently sat down with Rolling Stone to address both, it was kind of a big deal. Among his intriguing statements were that he’s through making family movies and is looking for “edgy stuff.” Let’s just hope “edgy” doesn’t mean more Brett Ratner movies, like the one he’s in next month. Doing 15 years of fatsuit movies tends to warp your perspective.
Murphy says that his days of making family movies may be over. “I don’t have any interest in that right now,” he says. “There’s really no blueprint, but I’m trying to do some edgy stuff. And I only want to do what I really want to do, otherwise I’m content to sit here and play my guitar all day. I always tell people now that I’m a semi-retired gentleman of leisure, and occasionally I’ll go do some work to break the boredom up.”
“I’ve already accomplished everything I wanted to. Right now I’m just, like, content to focus on my music or whatever.” (*blows bangs out of eyes, plays intro to “Tainted Love” on Casio*)
Murphy has decided not to make Beverly Hills Cop IV. [Which was also rumored to be a Ratner project. -Ed.] “They’re not doing it,” he says. “What I’m trying to do now is produce a TV show starring Axel Foley’s son, and Axel is the chief of police now in Detroit. I’d do the pilot, show up here and there. None of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force the premise. If you have to force something, you shouldn’t be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong.”
YOU MIGHT AS WELL SLAP THE FOOD RIGHT OUT OF JUDGE REINHOLD’S MOUTH, YOU COLD-HEARTED SON OF A BITCH!
Unlike other Saturday Night Live alumni, Murphy has refused to participate in retrospectives and hasn’t been on the show in years – but he’s gotten over his grudge. “They were sh*tty to me on Saturday Night Live a couple of times after I’d left the show,” he says. “They said some sh*tty things. There was that David Spade sketch [when Spade showed a picture of Murphy around the time of Vampire In Brooklyn and said, 'Look, children, a falling star']. I made a stink about it, it became part of the folklore. What really irritated me about it at the time was that it was a career shot. I felt shitty about it for years, but now, I don’t have none of that.”
So you’re saying you’ve seen Grown Ups…
Murphy hasn’t performed stand-up since the late 1980s, but recently, he’s given some thought to trying again. “If I ever get back onstage, I’m going to have a really great show for you all,” he says. “An hour and a half of stand-up and about 40 minutes of my sh*tty band… But I haven’t done it since I was 27, so why f*ck with it? But that’s just weighing both sides. It comes up too much for me to not do it again. It’s like, when it hits me, I’ll do it, eventually.” [RollingStone -- issue hits stands tomorrow]
Well if and when Eddie Murphy finally decides whether to consider maybe doing stand-up again, I probably might think about going. I mean, I’d definitely think about buying a ticket, eventually. It’d be silly not to! But maybe that’s just me being silly. Oh no, I’ve said too much!



Look out for Murphy’s stand-up spectacular, 10 Things I Think I Think, at some point possibly in the near-to-middle-distance future. Unless not. Putatively.
If a Beverly Hills Cop TV could actually get made, a season or two of “Mock Trial with J. Reinhold” can’t be that far of a stretch either. I think our boy Judge is gonna be aaaaaaallright!
Wait, are Trading Places and Coming to America edgy? I thought they were just funny. He should look into doing funny again.
If you have to force something, you shouldn’t be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong.
Immediately after this interview went public, H&M dropped their endorsement deal with Murphy.
TV show, that is. If anyone needs me, I’ll be looking off into the distance, reminiscing about my favourite jokes from “Raw” and “Delirious”
Great. You dick-stepped the Dragon Tattoo post, so I’m going to have to rework all of my rape jokes for Eddie Murphy.
. . .
Fuck.
I also tell people that I’m a semi-retired gentleman of leisure, but mostly that means I’m unemployable and the last business suit I bought was a wooden barrel with suspenders.
Thanks to my dumpster-based diet and fondness for huffing refrigerator freon, I’m also a semi-retarded gentleman of seizure.
YOU MIGHT AS WELL SLAP THE FOOD RIGHT OUT OF JUDGE REINHOLD’S MOUTH, YOU COLD-HEARTED SON OF A BITCH!
What’s the deal with that? Can Judge Reinhold not find work? I thought he was Jamaican.
I thought that Pluto Nash movie was edgy, if by “edgy” you mean “coma-inducing giant flaming pile of whale shit.”
I don’t know, Chino, but I can tell you that I enjoy this picture:
[www.imdb.com]
He got that pissed about 1 David Spade joke? Damn, Murphy is more sensitive than my dick after I rape a bunch of Salander couture models.
/nailed it
I thought “Dave” was edgy, if by “edgy” you mean “made me want to grab a Gillette razor and slit my wrists.”
Daddy Day Care was edgy too, if by “edgy” you mean “inspired me to throw myself off the side of a building.”
I’m trying to do some edgy stuff. And I only want to do what I really want to do, otherwise I’m content to sit here and play my guitar all day.
Lots of U2 covers, I guess.
You want to do something edgy, Murphy? Well, the obvious solution seems to be staring you in the face. Dammit man, look at the eyes that saucy little minx is giving you. Edgy as a motherfucker.
Yeah baby, Daddy’ll take care of you all day.
So he’s going less “Buckwheat Sings” and more “Buckwheat has Been Shot?”
Just as long as we’re not going to FORCE a premise for Beverly Hills Cop IX.
Like…making a TV show out of it. BHC: The Next Generation…sounds good. Someone see if Jonathan Frakes is busy…
@kyPe, like this?
He had this same “edgy” thought when he pulled over the one night to ask that extremely muscular gal if she needed a ride home. Damn near plebeian.
Eddie Murphy is the Michael Jackson of comedy. He came up in a group, in which he was a standout. During the 80′s he was the fucking man. In the early 90′s, things started going downhill. The occasional duet with another talented colleague shined through the shit, but things just weren’t the same. Then they both decided, somewhere in the mid 1990′s to exclusively entertain children. Now he’s looking for that comeback tour, to remind us that he was once great. The Tower Heist is looking more like an overdose than a resurrection.
They’re both in the Hall of Fame, no question, but I believe both deserves asterisks next to their names.
None of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force the premise.
This would be hypocritical if Beverly Hills Cop 3 had a script.
I want to do some edgy stuff. Like hosting the Oscars and playing Blind Melon on my guitar.
John Landis explained it all when he said that at some point Eddie Murphy just didn’t want to be funny anymore. He saw these other black actors like Washington and Snipes becoming bad-ass action stars and that’s what he wanted to do. And that’s how you get a dull, laugh-free pile of crap like BHC 3.
Eddie says he’s doing stand up again every five years. And he never does. Wake me when he grabs a mic.
I slap the food out of Judge Reinhold’s mouth every Tuesday by special request. Sometimes he likes to just talk, though. Or cry. Talk or cry.