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Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3, 1961Brooklyn, New York) is an American comedian and actor.
Murphy began his comedy career at the young age of 19, as a performer on NBC's Saturday Night Live television show after graduating from Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School. His characters include a parody of Buckwheat from the Little Rascals and of Fred Rogers. Former SNL writer Margaret Oberman has said Murphy and Bill Murray are the two most talented people in the history of the show. Murphy left the show midway through the 1983-1984 season, appearing in filmed sketches for the remainder of that season.
Murphy later starred in many comedies including the Beverly Hill Cop series, for which he was recognized by receiving a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a comedy for his performance in Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places ,and Coming to America
He is a well-known voice actor and voiced the donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon in Disney's Mulan. Eddie Murphy also has starred in a vast number of sequels including: Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Another 48 Hrs (1990), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Dr. Dolittle 2(2001), Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), Shrek 2(2004), and the upcoming Shrek 3(2007).
In many of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character. A perfect example of this is The Nutty Professor, a remake of the Jerry Lewis classic in which Murphy plays several members of the Klump family as well as Sherman Klump’s arrogant alter ego, Buddy Love. Another trademark of Eddie Murphy's is his deep, infectious, albeit considerably goofy laugh.
Murphy did stand-up comedy at the same Bay Area Comedy Club as Robin Williams and Whoppi Goldgerg (who at the time was working under her real name, Caryn Johnson). His early comedy was racy, akin to Richard Pryor, whom Murphy credits as his inspiration to enter comedy. Characterized by frequent swearing and making fun of gays,singers, and others, Murphy became, in a sense, the Pryor of the 1980's, though Pryor wrote in his biography that he always thought Murphy's comedy was a little too mean. Murphy made vicious comments about gays and AIDS during his 80's standup routines, so vicious that some years later he apologized for the remarks. At the height of his popularity, Eddie Murphy appeared in the concert films Delirious (1983) and Raw (1987). Delirious contained an infamous routine in which he depicted Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton from The Honeymooners as gay lovers. In 1983, Murphy won a Grammy for his comedy album Comedian.
Saturday Night Live
On an autumn morning in 1980, the phone of talent coordinator Neil Levy began ringing off the hook. A young man at the other end of the line begged the producer to give him a shot on the show, but was constantly rejected by the show having already booked a full cast. The man pleaded with Levy that he had several siblings banking on him getting a spot on the show. Levy finally conceded and allowed the man an audition. The caller was a 19-year-old named Eddie Murphy, and his audition performance had Neil Levy begging with new executive producer Jean Doumanian (who succeed Lorne Michaels after the 1979-1980 season) to let him on the show. Doumanian refused, citing that another actor named Robert Townsend had already been selected as the cast's "token black guy," and that the show's shrunken budget could not allow for any more actors. Doumanian changed her mind after watching Murphy's audition and also began pleading with the network to allow him on the show. NBC only agreed after it was determined that Townsend had not yet signed a contract, and Murphy was cast as a featured player.
In the second episode of the 1980-1981 season hosted Malcolm McDowell, Murphy made his network television debut as an extra in a skit called "In Search Of The Negro Republican". Murphy had his first speaking role two weeks later as Raheem Abdul Muhummad on Weekend Update . He made such a positive impression that he would be called on for more in later episodes. Murphy would soon be raised to the status of full cast member.
The 1980-1981 season would ultimately prove to be such a disaster that NBC fired Jean Doumanian and everybody in the cast with the exception of Murphy and Joe Piscopo. Whereas Murphy had rarely been featured during Doumanian's tenure, he became a break-out star under Doumanian's replacement, Dick Ebersol. Murphy's soaring popularity helped restore the show's ratings. He created some of the period's best characters, including the empty-headed former child movie star Buckwheat and an irascible, life-size version of the Gumby toy character, complete with life-size star ego. Murphy could also pull off an uncanny impression of Stevie Wonder(who, sportingly, appeared in a fake ad for Polaroid cameras). SNL was mostly a two-man show from 1981–1984, with Murphy and Piscopo playing a bulk of the lead characters. All other cast members played supporting roles and were treated with very little patience by the producers.