Name: "Eddie Murphy is Zen Like" - Norm Macdonald
Uploaded: 2021-06-28T23:49:22.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video '"Eddie Murphy is Zen Like" - Norm Macdonald' from I'm not Norm on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-06-28. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video '"Eddie Murphy is Zen Like" - Norm Macdonald' from I'm not Norm on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-06-28. Transcript available.

Well, finally, the Guinness Book of World Records announced this week that Gull
Mohammed of New Delhi, at 22.8 inches tall, is the shortest man in the world to
have Eddie Murphy's head.
One time when I had my sitcom, the showrunner goes, why don't we have a big
star every week do the cold opening?
And I go, oh, sure, yeah. And he goes, you can get big stars, right? I'm like,
no, I can't get anyone.
And when we, they go, we got Eddie Murphy on the phone. I'm like, why, why,
what?
And they're like, yeah, for the cold opening. And I go, what cold opening?
And so they hand me this script, you know, so I'm talking to Eddie Murphy, and
I don't know Eddie Murphy.
And he's being like super zen-like, you know, he's an amazing guy, because he's
like all zen and peaceful.
And then he tells a story, and it's hysterical, like all of a sudden he's doing
voices, because he was talking about being a director.
And he goes real peacefully, you know, he's like the directors in Hollywood are
very, it's a very tough to find one.
Frank Oz was magnificent, but I was very unhappy with the other directors.
Finally, I had to direct myself, and I directed Harlem Nights, and the Red Fox
was in it.
And so Red Fox came to the show once, and he was having trouble with the IRS,
and he had to, he owed all this money.
So he kept trying to sell me things.
And he would come to the set, and he would go.
Here we go.
And then all of a sudden, he's super funny, right?
After doing this real flat voice, and he goes, and then Red Fox would say, hey
Eddie, you like Elvis?
I got Elvis's watch.
How do you like to buy Elvis's watch?
Elvis, give me this watch.
So I said to him, hey Red, how long have you had Elvis's watch?
He said, I had it for 40 years.
I go, that's not Elvis's watch, that's Red Fox's watch.
I ain't buying Red Fox's fucking watch.
So he's like, super funny, and then he'd go back again to be zen-like.
So I said, so as I'm talking to him, I'm leafing through this fucking awful
fucking shit of a cold opening that they're having him do.
And so it's like white guys writing for black guys, what they think they'd say.
It's just awfully, horribly racist.
And so he says to me, he goes, I'll do it.
If you tell me it's funny, I'll do it.
And I go, it's not funny.
I didn't know what else to do.
I didn't know what else to do.
So I was calling because I wanted to get your take on Eddie Murphy,
hosting the Oscars.
I think you're like the funniest SNL guy ever,
and I just wanted to know what you thought about Eddie hosting.
Well, I think Eddie is unbelievably funny.
I always loved Eddie, and I couldn't be happier that he's hosting the Oscars.
Obviously, last year, the Oscars were the worst hosts ever.
There's Anne Hathaway.
James Franco.
James Franco.
And I think they tied for worst ever.
I think they did, yeah.
He might have been a little worse.
Just a little.
Because at least she's nice to look at.
She was trying a little bit.
Yeah, she was trying, yeah.
But Eddie, what I like is, because Eddie's become a little zen-like and so
forth.
He's a very intelligent guy, and he's stepped back a little from the crazy
Eddie of old and stuff.
And I think this is going to burst him back to the incredibly funny Eddie
Murphy.
I can't wait to see him, man.
I would write for that.
I would write.
If anybody's listening in the Eddie Murphy camp, I will write for that show.
Yeah, that's going to be good.
Because I love Eddie Murphy.
I think it's going to be great.
It's been so long since you've seen him be really funny, too.
And I was amazed by Eddie Murphy when I saw him, not when I saw him, but later
on.
Because when you're a stand-up, it takes a long time to get funny.
But he did it instantly.
Like, he was the only guy I've ever seen.
When he was 19, he was funny.
Hilarious.
And he was self, you know, he knew he was funny, and he was confident.
Confident, yeah.
And I've never seen anything like that from a young person.
Yeah.
Have you?
Can you think of him as a single other person?
Well, that young, no.
No, I mean, he started doing stand-up when he was, like, 16 or something, right?
So by the time he was on SNL, he'd already, you know, done that.
But think of when you were 16 to 19, that stuff you thought was funny.
Oh, God.
I don't think anybody would have thought it was funny.
No.
It's not funny to throw eggs at houses.
That's what I was doing.
Yeah.
Well, it's kind of funny, but it's not get up on stage funny.
I know, exactly.
And he was a man.
Yeah, he was a man.
19.
Oh, yeah.
A man.
A star.
Oh, I know.
I talked to him one time.
Because I had a TV show on my, the guy I did the TV show with, he goes, why don't
you
get your friends to be on the show?
I'm like, oh, yeah, just pretend, you know.
I'm not Eddie Murphy's friend.
Anyways, I never met him.
And he's like, one day, he's like, hey, we got Eddie on the phone.
And they put Eddie Murphy on the phone with me, right?
So, I'm talking to him, and then I'm supposed to talk him into doing this thing
on the show.
And I read it, and it's all racist and everything.
It's like what a bunch of white guys would think a black guy would say or
something like
that.
Oh, God.
So, anyways, I was talking to Eddie, and he was very nice to me, and he said,
listen,
I said, I got this thing, I can send it to you.
And he goes, you don't have to send it to me.
He goes, if you think it's funny, I will do it.
Wow.
Wow.
That's a compliment.
And then I said, I don't think you should do it.
Really?
But that was good.
No, no, yeah.
I couldn't prove myself to do it.
If he had that much confidence in you, and you'd accept him something bad.
You don't want to let him down, right?
I understand that.
You don't want to let him down.
But he's the greatest.
I can't wait for the Oscars.
Eddie Murphy was going to do a skit on Bill Cosby on the 40th, and they didn't
do it,
right?
That's right.
That's correct, yeah.
Was that a good decision?
By Eddie?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it was a good decision.
Eddie is like no other comic I've ever met.
In what way?
He doesn't find it necessary to be funny when he's, but all of a sudden, he can
be explosively
funny when you're talking to him.
But he's sort of a zen guy, you know, a very calm, and maybe out of that, when
he springs
out of that into, you know, this incendiary, incredible force of comedy, it
makes it even
funnier.
On Saturday Night Live on the 40th reunion show, 40th anniversary show, right,
Eddie Murphy
was supposed to play Bill Cosby?
Yes, that's, well, we wanted him to play Bill Cosby, yes.
And he didn't want to.
What was that about?
Well, he thought that all the facts were not in at that point.
The documents had yet to be unsealed, and so being a big fan of due process, he
decided
it not proper to assume guilt.
So I thought it was very admirable, because it would have got a huge, huge
laugh, you know,
him doing Bill Cosby, and I thought it was kind of cool that he went, he doesn't
need
laughter, he's kind of a zen-like guy, you know?
Do you?
When you talk to him, he's very calm, and then all of a sudden, he'll burst
forth with the
funniest thing you've ever heard, and then he returns to his equanimous state.
It's very, very interesting to see.
How do you figure out how much to share about what goes on behind the scenes at
SNL?
Because I know that you were talking about Eddie not doing Bill Cosby on Howard
Stern's
show, and Seth Meyers wasn't crazy about that.
He came out about it and said, I wouldn't have told that story.
Seth Meyers said that?
Yeah.
He said, I've got, do we have the quote here?
Just bring out the quote.
He said, I wouldn't have told it.
I feel the same way.
I think when you're at SNL, you're seeing so many different things behind the
scenes.
There are often things to give away that are yours to give away.
Norm played it in a way that is very Norm MacDonald.
And he went on to praise you, but I don't know what that means.
I mean, how do you choose what to reveal and what not to reveal, what to share
and what
not to share about an institution as powerful as it is?
I always think, what would Seth Meyers do?
Ridiculous.
Ridiculous.
Ridiculous.