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Why Eddie Murphy’s Legacy Still Matters
This month, Eddie Murphy hosts Saturday Night Live for the first time in 35 years. His recent comeback, with films like Dolemite is My Name, plus his development of a sequel to his 1988 film Coming to America, led me reflect on his legacy all over again, not only his career but what he means as a cultural figure.
For people born 2000 and on, Eddie Murphy might simply be seen as the guy from films like “Norbit” and “Daddy Day Care”: A goofy guy who makes corny, PG-13 family films with a few fart jokes in them. It’s debatable that younger generations really know who Eddie is, but I question if any of us really know who he his or what he means as a cultural figure.
When I think about Eddie’s legacy, I often think about my first introduction to his work. One of my earliest memories of his comedy came in the summer of 1996, when my parents and I went to go see a movie called The Nutty Professor.
Mind you, I was only 6 years old at the time, so my sense of humor was really just starting to develop. But even though I didn’t catch every joke on my first watch, I knew early on that this movie was funny. Like any six-year-old , I laughed at the fart jokes and the wacky family members. But, it was after the movie when I watched the credits and noticed something when the cast list came up:
