Eddie Murphy has been sending audiences into hysterics for decades now. While his laugh became iconic after appearing in classic action comedies like “Beverly Hills Cop,” the baritone chuckle has slowly vanished over the years, which Murphy can explain.
The Oscar-nominated actor divulged his personal reason in an interview Saturday with Comic Book Resources, who praised his performance in “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” but asked why he had retired the character’s recognizable laugh for the fourth installment.
“That was my laugh,” Murphy told interviewer Kevin Polowy. “And in the ’80s, I was like, ‘I don’t want to be known for a laugh.’ I noticed, some people would do an impression of me … That’s all they did, they’d laugh. They’d be like, ‘Hey, Eddie Murphy!’ and go, ‘He he he.’”
He continued, “The audience would [erupt] and say, ‘That’s it! That’s him!’ And it was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna stop laughing like that.’ And I forced myself to stop laughing like that. Which is really an unnatural thing. And now I don’t laugh like that anymore.”
Murphy has made audiences laugh for decades after being part of the “Saturday Night Live” cast in 1980 when he was only 19 years old. He went on to drop two of the most acclaimed standup specials of all time, “Delirious” and “Raw,” when he was 22 and 26, respectively.
The comedic prodigy found similar success in Hollywood after starring in some of the most beloved comedies of all time — “Coming to America” and “Trading Places” — and even scored an Oscar nomination for his performance in “Dreamgirls” (2006).
He claims he was determined not to become a caricature, abandoning his natural laugh.
“They were making too much of it,” Murphy told Polowy. “Even still! If you say, ‘Do an impression,’ they’ll do that laugh. They’ll talk like the donkey [from “Shrek”] if you say, ‘Do Eddie Murphy.’ They’ll talk, ‘Hey! How ya doin’! He he he!’ It’s like, that’s not me!”
Polowy said his daughter was excited that he was going to interview “the donkey from ‘Shrek,’” and Murphy joked: “And then they said, ‘Make sure he does that laugh, daddy.’”
“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is available to stream July 3 on Netflix.
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