Eddie Murphy reflects on his 50-year career in his new documentary, Being Eddie, but that originally wasn't his intention. Speaking to Extra, he reveals he had just wanted to document his return to standup.
"I was going to do standup again. ... And it was like, ‘Okay, let's document it. Let's do a documentary and show the whole process of getting the act together,’" he says. "And so we started doing that and then the pandemic hit.”
“After the pandemic was over, I was like, 'Oh, I'm not going out there and telling no jokes. You can catch COVID. ... But we had all of this footage," he continues. "And it was like let’s just keep it going.”
The timing, Eddie adds, “worked out perfect because this is about to be my 50th year in show business."
Being Eddie finds Eddie opening up for the first time about his journey, which includes "the only thing that might have been traumatic" for him in his life: the death of his brother Charlie Murphy. The documentary also features appearances from Arsenio Hall, Jamie Foxx, Tracee Ellis Ross, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, who discuss Eddie's impact and influence in Hollywood.
“To know that you had some impact on the people that came after you that they look at you a certain way ... that’s always a good feeling," Eddie says, noting he's open to returning to the stage as a standup comedian.
"If it ever struck me that I could have some fun doing it, I'd get up there and do it again," he said. "But it has to be fun for me. ... If I'm having fun, it's going to work and it's going to be funny."
Being Eddie is now available on Netflix.