Getty Image / Christopher Polk
I was waaaaayyyyyyy too young the first time I saw Eddie Murphy‘s stand-up special Delirious. To this day, that’s the funniest comedy special I’ve ever seen. It might’ve been because I learned a few hundred new words I wasn’t supposed to know but goddamn Eddie’s comedic timing and delivery was perfect.
He was on top of the world in the 80s and then sort of drifted away into a decade plus of kids movies. Nothing edgy. Nothing even really all that funny if you look back at it. But he was getting PAID.
Flash forward to present day, Eddie’s recently hosted Saturday Night Live and according to Page Six he’s sneaking into NYC comedy clubs to work on material for a potential Netflix special that could pay him up to $70 million.
Eddie Murphy sneaking into comedy clubs? This month? Testing jokes? Like he’s maybe prepping for his Netflix stand-up special?
Born 1961 in Brooklyn, ready Eddie — a teenager — was a hotshot stand-up comic. Then, over the years, “SNL’s” smartmouth gold mine of the ’80s went quiet. He’s now woken up with “Dolemite Is My Name.”
But the newborn Eddie seems enlightened. Transformed. Must be the old raunchy Eddie heard the Voice. Got the Message from on high. No more politically incorrect. New Eddie is now softer, gentler.
Soft? Gentle? He’s made 10 kids. And could make about $70 mil from Netflix. (via)
This is good news. The world needs more Eddie Murphy stand-up specials. Eddie’s been dropping hints about his next chapter. Speaking recently with Ellen DeGeneres he hinted at the timeline of his next move:
Murphy explained that he planned to take as long as “eight or nine months” to get his material ready for this next chapter in his stand-up career.
“I’m gonna start kinda working [it] out in the beginning of the year and then when it’s ready, you know, I’ll try to give myself eight or nine months to get it ready,” he said, later adding in an assessment on how the form has grown in the years since he first became a star.
“When we started it was like, if you were saying you were a comic, it was like being a juggler or a magician or something. Now it’s this mainstream thing,” he said. (via Complex)
So, in theory, we’re looking at three quarters of a year for him to perfect his material while his team plans a nationwide tour that would likely culminate in the filming of a Netflix special worth something in the realm of $70 million according to Page Six. I’m having trouble keeping track of all the dollar signs.