Eddie Murphy reiterates his plan to return to stand-up comedy once the COVID-19 pandemic is over
Like many people across the world, the sudden onset of COVID-19 shuttered Eddie Murphy’s plans for 2020, which included a return to the medium that helped set him on the path to superstardom.
But on Thursday, during an appearance on Kevin Hart’s SiriusXM’s podcast Comedy Gold Minds, the comedic legend revealed that he still wants to do new stand-up comedy performances once the pandemic ends.
‘My plan was to do Dolemite, Saturday Night Live, Coming 2 America, and then do stand up. And then the pandemic hit, and it shut the whole s**t down,’ Murphy, who turns 60 next month, explained.
On a mission: Eddie Murphy, who turns 60 next month, reiterated his plan to return to stand-up comedy once the COVID-19 pandemic is over and it’s safe for fans to return large gatherings
Three-fourths of the plan went without too many hitches: Dolemite Is My Name dropped in October 2019, his much-anticipated return to host SNL happened two months later, and Amazon just released the Coming To America sequel on Prime Video March 4.
‘The whole time last year I would have been out working on my act, trying to get my s**t right, and then the whole thing shut down,’ he added in reference to his time in quarantine.
The Brooklyn, New York native then reiterated to Hart during the interview that ‘when the pandemic is over and it’s safe for everybody to go out and do it, then the plan is to do it.’
His plan: The comedian’s four-part plan to return to stand-up began with his acclaimed film Dolemite Is My Name, which dropped in October 2019
Triumphant return: Murphy also made his return to host Saturday Night Live in December 2019
While still in high school, Murphy began his career in stand-up in the mid 1970s, and would see his star rise when he became a regular cast member on Saturday Nigh Live in 1980, at the tender age of 19.
That would set him off to movie stardom in the early 80s with such films as 48 Hours (1982), Trading Places (1983) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984).
But as his fame began to soar on the silver screen, so did his stand-up act during this period following his now legendary performances in Delirious (1983), which became a TV special on HBO, and the follow-up, Raw (1987) that, unlike Delirious, received a wide theatrical release.
Sequel: The Brooklyn, New York native completed the third part of his plan to return to stand-up with the release of Coming 2 America, alongside Arsenio Hall
Iconic: Murphy’s first stand-up special, Raw (1983), and the follow-up, Delirious (1987), cemented his place among the greatest stand-up comedians
Delirious was released as an album later in 1983, titled Eddie Murphy: Comedian, and went on to win Best Comedy Album at the 1984 Grammy Awards.
Raw, which was filmed in the Felt Forum of Madison Square Garden, raked in more than $50.5 million at the box office in North America, making it the highest-grossing stand-up comedy concert film of all time, which still stands to this day.
With the added success of films like The Golden Child (1986), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and Coming To America (1988), Murphy became one of Hollywood’s biggest box office stars by the end of the decade, and subsequently he quit stand-up to focus on his movie career.
End of an comedic era: Following his second stand-up special, Delirious (1987), Murphy quit stand-up to focus on his wildly success movie career
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