The Washington Post has a great interview out today with Eddie Murphy, and it’s full of interesting insights about why he decided not to impersonate Bill Cosby for SNL’s 40th anniversary special, what movie projects he has in the works (including “an R-rated talking animal movie and a film about two brothers who inherit a black circusâ€), and whether or not he’d like to finally return to standup. Here’s what he had to say on the latter:
“That’s the carrot,†Murphy says. “Every now and then when I think about it, I think, ‘What would I even talk about onstage?’ It’s never been, ‘I wonder if I’m funny. I wonder if I can come up with jokes.’ It’s more, ‘What would it be like without the leather suit and the anger?’â€
And here’s what Murphy said about his decision to not impersonate Cosby on SNL40:
“I totally understood,†Murphy says, speaking about the anniversary show for the first time. “It was the biggest thing in the news at the time. I can see why they thought it would be funny, and the sketch that Norm [Macdonald] wrote was hysterical.†So why not? “It’s horrible,†he says. “There’s nothing funny about it. If you get up there and you crack jokes about him, you’re just hurting people. You’re hurting him. You’re hurting his accusers. I was like, ‘Hey, I’m coming back to SNL for the anniversary, I’m not turning my moment on the show into this other thing.’ â€
Read the rest of the interview over at The Washington Post, and be sure to check out Norm Macdonald’s recap of the Cosby sketch that almost was here.