While the world slowly returns to normalcy since the start of the pandemic, Eddie Murphy has fully embraced Zoom culture.
“I just have to come downstairs and sit down. I’ve done these interviews and sometimes they’ll be like ‘this is the first time I’ve talked to you and you seem so relaxed.’ It’s because I’m downstairs in my house,” he revealed to Sam Rubin on the KTLA 5 Morning News.
The comedy legend stars in the big Netflix movie “You People,” alongside Nia Long, Lauren London, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and more stars.
Murphy plays the potential father-in-law to Jonah Hill in the film. Hill and “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris both wrote the script. As soon as Murphy read it, he was on board.
“It’s a nice little way to do a romantic comedy. Most romantic comedies don’t have an edge to them,” he explained. “This has this racial conversation going on and racial tension is at a fever pitch in the country. So, it couldn’t be more timely.”
“It’s the closest you’ll get to ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,'” he laughed.
The “Saturday Night Live” alum sat down with Sam just weeks after receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. Upon receiving the honor he poked fun at Will Smith’s infamous slap during his acceptance speech.
When asked what made him come up with that, Murphy chalked it up to it just being “a joke.”
“Just a good solid joke! I can still write a joke,” he explained.
He also revealed that he ran the one-liner by friend Arsenio Hall ahead of time, who gave him the thumbs up. The “Coming to America” costars still run their material by each other to this day, especially since Hall still does standup.
Would Murphy himself ever return to the standup stage?
“I have an interest in doing a stage show, and standup would be a part of it,” Murphy said. “I would love to put together a show that had standup, that had music- almost like something you’d see on Broadway.”
The “Beverly Hills Cop” actor said the idea came to him right before the pandemic and it’s still “in the back of his head.”
“I want to do something live, but like nobody’s ever done!”
“You People” drops on Netflix on Jan. 27. It’s also playing now at the Bay Theater in the Palisades.