Over the weekend, The Hollywood Reporter posted its latest Awards Chatter podcast episode with Eddie Murphy – the actor and comedian’s first podcast interview ever. Murphy opens up about everything from acting for comedy vs drama, his film career, early days at SNL (and getting called a “tightass†by John Belushi for turning down cocaine), wanting to return to standup, and more. Here’s what he said about possibly returning to standup:
I had stopped doing standup because it had stopped being fun, and the reason it stopped being fun was it was harder to write – and this is before the internet – it was harder to write new stuff. It had gotten so crazy. Like if I went to the club and tried out a bit, the next day it could be like “Oh I saw Eddie was onstage at the so-and-so and he said yada yada†and I’d be like “Man, I ain’t even finished that bit yet!†And it’d be people talking about it: “What’d you think of that new joke?†And it was like “What the fuck?†And this was years ago it started, so it was like “Ehh, maybe I’ll take a little break from standup.†And then the break just got longer, then the whole Def Jam thing started with those comedians, and the whole comedy scene just turned into this big other thing. For years I’d been procrastinating about it going “Oh I’ll do standup again,†and it just got to, all of a sudden, I’m this far away from it. But honestly, now I really am curious about doing it again because it’s been so long and so much has changed and I’m such a different person. I’m curious as to what it would be like if I got onstage. But, if I do that, whoever comes to see it has to sit through a bunch of my shitty songs.
And here’s Murphy on why he doesn’t tweet or read articles about himself:
I used to be the hippest of them all. I used to know everything about everything. I used to read about everything that was going on, and I knew everybody’s name and anybody in pop culture. Anything that was written about me I would read, and for the last maybe 20 years…I haven’t read a newspaper in 20 years or read a corporate magazine. I don’t read corporate magazines or stuff. I don’t read stuff about me. I really don’t read stuff about me. Like, if there’s an article about me, someone has to read through it before they even give it to me. I don’t want to see anything that has anything negative. I don’t want to read any of that shit. So I don’t know what y’all think. I don’t have a computer, I don’t have email, I don’t have any of that shit. And that’s just because you feel it’s healthier, just “Who needs it?†It’s not even that. I wasn’t interested in it, and I don’t need to be on the social media interacting with the fans, tweeting that I just ate strawberries. I just never…I’m checking y’all out while y’all are doing it, but nothing has made me go, “Oh, yeah, get me, too, I want to be on there with y’all! I just had strawberries too!†“I’m going to the store now!†“Look at this picture of this baby!†Yeah, I’m not doing none of that shit.
Listen to the full interview over at The Hollywood Reporter.