Eddie Murphy names the greatest comedy actor of all time: “Without even trying”
Comedy has always been an entirely subjective art form, but one thing that can’t be denied is how Eddie Murphy became one of his generation’s definitive big-screen comedic performers from almost the second he made his feature-length debut.
Already heralded as a phenomenon for his incendiary work on the stand-up circuit and his breakthrough stint on Saturday Night Live, Murphy effortlessly conquered the movie business when he embarked on a cinematic rise that could be vastly undersold as stratospheric.
In the space of six years, he headlined 48 Hrs, the first two entries in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, Trading Places, and Coming to America, earning three Golden Globe nominations for a nonstop succession of smash hit movies that earned over a billion dollars at the box office and made him the undisputed jewel in his home studio Paramount’s crown.
It’s no secret that Murphy views Elvis Presley as the single greatest entertainer who ever lived, just like it’s common knowledge that he idolised Richard Pryor. However, he didn’t call the latter the finest comedian to ever grace the screen, an honour that instead fell to an influential figure with whom the SNL veteran developed a close friendship and heartbreaking personal connection.
When asked by Jimmy Kimmel to name the funniest person that ever lived, Murphy only had one answer. “Redd Foxx,” he stated adamantly. “Without even trying. Without even trying, just naturally funny. Everything that came out of his mouth was funny.” Not only that, but he even used the actor and comedian’s death as an example.
In October 1991, Foxx was rehearsing for his sitcom The Royal Family, which Murphy executive produced through his production company. When he fell to the ground, nobody batted an eyelid because he’d developed a reputation for faking heart attacks on the set of Sanford and Son and was well-known for being a gifted physical comedian. “That’s how funny he was,” Murphy opined. “They thought he was joking.”
Foxx was in serious financial trouble in the final years of his life, with Murphy helping out by paying him a $500,000 salary to co-star in Harlem Nights. When he passed away, though, his fiscal woes had rendered him virtually penniless, and his friend and collaborator had no issues putting his hand into his own pocket to ensure he was given a proper burial.
“I buried Redd Foxx, I literally had to bury Redd Foxx,” he said to Vanity Fair. “For some strange reason, a lot of people in show business, when they die they don’t have their stuff in order. Redd Foxx, I had to physically pay for his funeral and buy his headstone and do all that stuff.”
Murphy felt it was the least he could do for someone who’d been such a massive inspiration in his career, and it’s clear he never forgot the impact Foxx had on him after making a point of referencing him during his Golden Globe-nominated performance in 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name.
