Eddie Murphy made his highly anticipated return to the silver screen with Dolemite Is My Name but it was only the beginning of a major comeback. On Thursday, the long-awaited sequel to the 1988 classic comedy Coming To America arrived on Amazon Prime, and fans rejoiced. It might not even be near as great as the original but it was still filled with some humorous moments, proving that Murphy still got it.
James Peterson/Online USA, Inc./Getty Images
Unfortunately, the reason why he took a break from acting was due to a string of admittedly bad movies that he was involved in. By the end of 2010, he had earned the Razzie for Worst Actor of the decade following Norbit, The Adventures Of Pluto Nash, and Meet Dave. It was at that time that he realized he needed a break. “I was making shitty movies,” Murphy said on The Independent’s “WTF” podcast. “I was like, ‘This shit ain’t fun. They’re giving me Razzies…Motherfuckers gave me the ‘worst actor ever’ Razzie. [So I thought], ‘Maybe it’s time to take a break.’”
He said the initial plan was to take a break for a year but that turned into six real quickly. “I’m sitting on the couch, and I could sit on the couch and not get off it, but I don’t want to the last bunch of shit they see me do [to be] bullshit,” he continued, adding that the plan was to do Dolemite, SNL, and Coming 2 America before returning to stand-up. “At least then they’ll know I’m [still] funny,” he said.
It’s unclear if he’ll be doing any stand-up routines soon but we are glad to see Murphy back into the fold. How are you feeling about Eddie’s return?