Advertisement

Eddie Murphy Compares Himself to a Hollywood Icon You Might Not Have Expected

Eddie Murphy recently gave his first podcast interview to Awards Chatter and talked about his long and prodigious career. In a 2011 Rolling Stone interview, he described his cultural impact: “I’m the first black actor to take charge in a white world onscreen. That’s why I became as popular as I became. People had never seen that before.”

On the podcast, Murphy said his Hollywood story is similar to another film icon’s. And you might not guess which one. “Just in the same way James Dean, when he shows up, he’s the first one to do movies about teenagers and teenage angst and that s***, so that stuff gets projected onto him,” the comedy legend said. “So you were just part of this thing, this audience they weren’t even servicing. It was like, ‘Wow, they’ll go see movies about teenagers?’ And with me, it’s like, ‘Wow, they’ll come see a young black dude in movies?’”

The half-hour chat was filled with a lot of interesting different subjects, including one story from his SNL days. Murphy said that he was offered cocaine by two late comedy legends. “They’re both dead now, so I can tell this story,” Murphy began. “When I was, like, 18 years old, I remember I went to the Blues Bar. I was with Robin [Williams] and John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd. Belushi and Robin Williams offered me some blow, and I didn’t take it, and Belushi called me a tight-ass. Then years later I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a trip.’”

Finally, Murphy discussed the Academy Awards. He was nominated for a Supporting Actor award for Dreamgirls, and many felt he deserved recognition for The Nutty Professor. He said that he’d be happy to win an Oscar, but that he’s not desperate for it. He pointed out that he’s going to win one, one way or another.

“Eventually ya’ll going to have give me something,” he joked. “If you’ll wait till I’m 85-90, I’m going to come out a 90-year-old dude in a sky blue tuxedo — there’s a reason why it’s sky blue — and I’m going to walk out, and when they give me an award and they hand it to me, I’ll just stand there and urinate on myself in front of the world, the whole world.”

Werner Herzog Never Spends More Than a Week Writing a Screenplay:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter.