Eddie Murphy and Paige Butcher

Pre-nup. Money at stake.

 

'Cause he wants to keep his money.

 

Bingo! Why marry? You can date forever, she can enjoy the good life with you while you're dating...

 

proud of eddie murphy for not taking SNL up on their offer for the 40th anniversary show...evidently he was asked to impersonate bill cosby...eddie decided at the last moment that it wasn't the right thing to do and he didn't need the laughs...he said he didn't feel right about hitting a man when he was already down...takes a mature man to let go of the lime light

 

Murphy never impersonated Cosby on SNL before. I doubt all of a sudden the show thought it would be a good time for him to do so.

 

Back in 1982 or 1983, Eddie did impersonations of Cosby on a couple of occasions. In the film Raw, he talks about the time Cosby called in protest of his style of comedy. Richard Pryor asked Eddie on the phone, " Do people laugh when you tell your jokes?"
Eddie said yes. Pryor asked,
"Do you get paid when you tell your jokes?"
Eddie said yes. Pryor said, " Then you can tell Bill to have a Coke and a smile and shut the fuck up."

Eddie had a lot of respect and admiration for Cosby.

 

Do you read the news? I feel like I am beating my head against the wall trying to have conversations with people that don't keep up on current events

 

That's your problem

 

Keenan would do that shit for pack of smokes and a forty at the rate his career is going

 

True G,I saw that impersonation on SNL. His Cos character had a cigar like the real one. Has anyone brought a photo of Eddie and his girlfriend at the SNL red carpet event?

 

Right here.

 

Lucky SOB but have more respect for him after hearing about how he basically kept SNL from being cancelled.

 

She's divine

 

Thanks TheU. You did a great job. There is no doubt the reason Eddie Murphy did not return to SNL when he blew up was he did not get the respect from Lorne Micheals. I do not blame him. I give him my respect and also he respected the Black comics before him like Foxx and Pryer which is why he didn't do that Cos thing.

 

Eddie Murphy was originally a minor cast member on SNL when the new cast was chosen after the departures of Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Jane Curtain, Garrett Morris, Gilda Radner, Larraine Newman, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. A black woman was one of the main cast members. Eddie had some new ideas and he went to Lorne Michaels to pitch them. Of course, Eddie stipulated that he had some leeway in the material. So, Michaels let Eddie loose. Eddie Murphy created many memorable characters like his parodies of Gumby Richard Simmons/Little Richard(The Little Richard Simmons Show; may have inspired Richard Simmons' Sweatin' To The Oldies) and Fred Rogers(Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood was classic). Impersonated Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Bill Cosby, Mr. T, Jessie Jackson, Art Carney's Ed Norton from The Honeymooners(Eddie even performed in SNL alum Joe Piscopo's Honeymooner's Rap in Piscopo's album as Ed Norton) and Buckwheat(Buckwheat's assassination, which came after president Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination by Ralph W. Hinkley was also classic and Arsenio Hall was in the sketch as one of Buckwheat's enterage). And not to be forgotten, the pimp Velvet Jones and Tyrone Green. Eddie helped bring the funny and the ratings up for SNL with comedy and perceived reality. When he blew up with the film .48 Hours, the worm turned. I recall one show in which Nick Nolte was to appear, but Eddie explained that he threw up on Nolte's shirt and Nolte became ill. It was supposed to be comedy, but I guess Nick didn't want to be on SNL. In another show actress Lily Tomlin was trying to make the main cast realize that they could not play the characters that Eddie made famous(like Tim Kazurinsky playing Velvet Jones or Mary Gross playing Gumby). She explains to Eddie that, "Quick success is like quicksand." Very true. When Eddie had his problems, SNL alum David Spade mockingly said in a sketch after showing Eddie's portrait, "Look, a falling star." Eddie confronted David about his moment and David apologized. Eddie's flame burned brighter than any of the cast members he was worked with. Lorne Michaels knew this and he tried to take full control and made the final decisions where sketches where Eddie was concerned. But then came Eddie Murphy's Delirious; the most talked about cable show of that time. At that time, Eddie was his own show. He was his own brand and SNL helped him to achieve it.

 

No doubt.

 

Wow. I stand corrected. I had never seen that clip before..

 

Eddie had other characters than Bill Cosby. He could've done Gumby, Mr. T, Tyrone Green and Buckwheat(which he had officially retired mid-season with Joe Piscopo and his character The Guy From Jersey). If he brought back Buckwheat, he would've brought back a lot of memories. But, many actors sometimes are a bit jaded with their past works. Eddie's impersonation of Bill Cosby was impressive, but not the most popular at the time.

 

Eddie and his sexy babe Paige on the red carpet @ the Academy Awards last night.