Eddie Murphy reflects on five decades at the top of comedy in a new documentary

You may be forgiven for thinking you know who the real Eddie Murphy is based on the various roles he has played throughout his career.

From his appearances on Saturday Night Live and stand-up comedy specials such as Delirious and Raw to starring in blockbusters such as Beverly Hills Cop, The Nutty Professor, Coming to America, Shrek, and more recently Dolemite is My Name and You People, Murphy has taken on multiple characters with ease — sometimes within the same film.

But in the Netflix documentary Being Eddie, Murphy points out that the audience has never really seen the real him.

Even his mother asked him when he was little “Who’s Eddie? What voice is Eddie’s voice?” in response to his impersonations.

The doco promises to strip back a little of that mystery — and to some extent it does — but there are still some things that go unsaid.

Here are some key takeaways from Being Eddie.

Murphy’s impact

The producers pulled out the big guns for the documentary, including Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Jamie Foxx, Jerry Bruckheimer, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Arsenio Hall and Pete Davidson.

They were all there because of Murphy’s impact.

Murphy spoke about how prior to his success in film, there was usually just one black actor at a time at the top of the game.

“That’s just how it was,” he said.

“For years it was, you know, one at a time that would get you the mass appeal and be in big movies.

“In the ’60s it was Sidney Poitier, then Richard [Pryor] was the one person that became the man, and he was the one black guy in most of the movies for a minute.

Film producer Jerry Bruckheimer said in those days an African American actor had never grossed more than $US25 million.

“So this was a big risk to put Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop,” Bruckheimer said.

“The conventional wisdom was it wasn’t going to work.”

But Beverly Hills Cop was number one for 14 weeks, which Bruckheimer said was unheard of.

Murphy has gone on to have an illustrious acting career.

He won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Dreamgirls and was nominated for an Oscar for the same role.

Behind his lengthy break from Saturday Night Live

It took Murphy three and a half decades to forgive and return to Saturday Night Live after a skit on the show calling him a “fallen star”.

Murphy said in the documentary that he held no ill will towards David Spade, who performed the skit, because having worked on the show he knew it would have had to go up the chain and be signed off by numerous people before making it onto the screen.

The sketch, at the news desk, was broadcast December 9, 1995.

Murphy didn’t return to SNL till December 2019 and, given he hadn’t hosted since 1984, that was a long time between drinks.

Jerry Seinfeld said in the doco: “In show business, you receive the greatest flattery and the greatest venom, and they’re both lies”.

The 10 children

Murphy has 10 children.

The doco didn’t dive into the messy battle between Murphy and Spice Girl Melanie Brown (Mel B), who brought a paternity suit against him in 2007.

But their daughter Angel Iris Murphy Brown does appear in a photo montage.

Surviving fame

In the doco, Kevin Hart describes fame as like a drug, and it’s true that many stars struggle with fame.

But Murphy says his biggest blessing isn’t his comedic talent, but the fact that he loves himself too much to destroy himself and chooses to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

Dave Chappelle puts it this way: “The biggest success in show business, first and foremost, is surviving this s**t”.