life lessons
Life Lessons from Eddie Murphy
Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, we revisit some highlights from our September 1987 interview with Eddie Murphy, as told to the film critic Elvis Mitchell. Sit down, relax—you just might learn a thing or two.
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“Remember when Life had that photo session to celebrate Paramount’s 75th anniversary? Just about everybody came—every big star who worked in a Paramount picture, from Elizabeth Taylor to Robert De Niro. It was a historical thing, right? Then I noticed I was going to be the only Black face in the picture. So I decided not to do it. I figured 25 years from now, for their 100th anniversary, when they’ve got a lot more Black faces up there, I’ll be glad to take part in a picture.”
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“There’s always been a lot of negative stuff written about me. That’s why I don’t pay any attention to the critics. They’ve never liked anything I’ve done.”
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“I think I have enough of a sense to know what works for me and what doesn’t, without going into some big thing and analyzing what I do. I’m in a position that allows me to do what I want to do, and I do it.”
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“I trust my instincts. I just go out and talk.”
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“My people say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to watch out because of who you are.’ But as far as I’m concerned, I’ve always been ‘Eddie Murphy.’ When I was in high school, I used to wear a suit, a shirt and tie with a collar pin, carry a briefcase and have my cashmere coat slung over my shoulder. And everybody would say, ‘There goes Eddie Murphy.'”
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“On SNL, we probably had more freedom to do and say what we wanted than any other show, and there were still a lot of things we couldn’t do or say. You just get tired of running up against that, the censors telling you, ‘You can’t say that.’ Did you know that Bill Cosby once called me up and told me he didn’t like my act?
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“I’ve really been pretty lucky. The worst tragedy ever to happen to me was when I lost my father. It was fucked up, man. I was eight. But I’ve had a good life. That’s why all these comparisons to Richard Pryor piss me off. He’s had a tough life. He’s been through a lot of shit I’ve never had to face. And I’m here because of him. He paved the way for me. I grew up listening to all those albums. I heard them so much I could recite them backwards and forwards. I would sit in that basement for hours and listen to That Nigger’s Crazy and Bicentennial Nigger and go out and do stuff from those records for my friends. People call me a genius, but he’s the real genius. It was great listening to all that stuff, because it was like I knew I was doing something I shouldn’t be doing. But it was brilliant comedy.”
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“Dr. King has always been a hero of mine, but I couldn’t be a pacifist the way he was. If somebody calls me a nigger or gets up in my shit, I’ll hit him. I’m a man. You don’t pull that shit on me. I’m not with that ‘turn the other cheek.’ I wish I was.”
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“As far as my social conscience goes, I know I’ve got a responsibility to kids because they really look up to me. I don’t drink and I don’t do drugs, and I make sure that gets out. That’s why it bothers me when rumors get out that I do drugs and I drink. It means a lot to me that kids who follow me know about the way I handle my life.”
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“You’d be surprised how expensive shit can be.”
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“I just don’t go along with the whole critic’s thing of trying to analyze what this is and what it’s not and why it’s not funny. Something is funny when people laugh at it. And when they don’t, it’s not.”
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“I’ve got everything I could ever want. I’m a 26-year-old heterosexual who’s never had a venereal disease. And I’ve slung my share of dick around in my time. I couldn’t have my life go any better. Right now, for example, I’ve got David Bowie coming over here to listen to some of my music.”
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“I think people are reacting to something else when they see me. They’re not reacting to me, Eddie Murphy. They don’t even know me. It’s just luck and the God in me they’re reacting to.”
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“I know it’s not always going to be important for me to be in front of the world. That’s why I always keep my boys around. They keep me real.”
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