Eddie Murphy is still amazed he made it through over 40 years of fame.
The comedian and actor was reflective on avoiding the pitfalls of fame as his star rose in the 1980s on The New York Times’ podcast, “The Interview.”
Referring to Michael Jackson, Prince and other stars, Murphy said he looked at them as “cautionary tales.”
But it was his experience on a night out with Robin Williams and fellow “SNL” alum John Belushi that gave him pause about what could have happened.
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Murphy recalled going out with Belushi and Williams, and “they started doing coke,” but Murphy turned it down.
“Over the years, I trip about that moment because I was really young, and it was so easy to try some coke. I wasn’t taking some moral stance. I just wasn’t interested in it,” the “48 Hrs.” star said.
“To not have the desire, the curiosity of it, I’d say that’s providence. God was looking over me in that moment, I didn’t make a left turn. Everything would have been different.”
Murphy said he was only 19 at the time, and his recollection is likely from the year he joined “SNL” in 1980, the year Belushi left.
Belushi died two years later, in 1982 at age 33, from a drug overdose. Williams had been struggling with cocaine at the time as well, but following Belushi’s death and the birth of his first son in 1983, he quit “cold turkey,” according to friend Stanley Wilson in Vice’s “The Dark Side of Comedy” documentary.
“When you get famous really young, especially a black artist, it’s like living in a minefield,” Murphy said. “Any moment, you can step on a mine. Any moment something can happen that can undo everything. But I was oblivious to the fact I was in a minefield. …
“And now, at this age, I can look back and be like, ‘Wow, I came through a minefield [over] 35 years.’ How do you make it through a minefield for 35, 40 years? Something has to be looking over you.”
Murphy reflected on the outing with Williams and Belushi, telling The Hollywood Reporter “Awards Chatter” podcast in 2016, “There are a bunch of things like that that I look back on and be like, ‘Wow.’ And that just reaffirms my faith. I know that God is real. There’s been a bunch of times when I could have wound up crashing and burning.”
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The father of 10 also noted in The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast he doesn’t drink and only “smoked a joint for the first time at 30 years old. That’s the extent of drugs.”
One of Murphy’s idols, Richard Pryor, struggled with substance abuse, something that kept them at a slight distance.
“Richard had substance problems and alcohol [problems]. He had all these demons and stuff. We had nothing in common, outside of the fact that we were both funny,” Murphy said.
“All I wanted to do creatively was meet Richard Pryor and be funny to [him].”
He managed to achieve that goal when the two happened to be on a plane together. Murphy gave Pryor a tape of his first album on the flight and watched him listen to it.
“He was laughing. He was laughing at my stuff,” Murphy recalled. “I could have died right there, could’ve crashed the plane right there. … I made Richard laugh for real.
“You don’t see Richard laugh a lot. You never see Richard’s real laugh,” he added, imitating Pryor’s laugh.
When they landed, Pryor drove Murphy home and “was always cool” to him.
Murphy and Pryor starred together in the 1989 film “Harlem Nights,” also written and directed by Murphy.
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In a 1983 interview with People, Pryor praised Murphy, saying, “I like Eddie a lot. Eddie’s good inside. His s— is natural, it’s real.
“I’m hard to get inside. But I wouldn’t mind getting to know Eddie and sharing some real stuff, friendship. I don’t think I could pick a better person than Eddie.”
Murphy listed his other idols — Muhammed Ali, who he described as wonderful to him; Elvis Presley; and Bruce Lee — who influenced his style on stage and screen respectively.
“Elvis had a huge influence on me,” Murphy said, noting his leather suits in his specials, “Raw” and “Delirious,” were inspired by the legend.
“I used to dress that way on the streets,” he said with a laugh. “I was totally in my Elvis trip. And then when I got older, I was like, ‘Oh my god, Elvis wasn’t cool at all. Elvis was going through some s—.’”
For acting, Murphy drew inspiration from Lee’s screen presence.
“The only time I ever tried to be like somebody on screen was Bruce Lee,” he said. “People forget how big [he] was. To this day, I’ve never seen anyone make the audience have a reaction like Bruce Lee did.
“To this day, when I pull a gun out, I’m doing a Bruce Lee impression. Whatever faces I’m making and all that s—, [I’m] doing Bruce Lee looks.”
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Murphy earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination in 2007 for “Dreamgirls,” playing a Little Richard-inspired character.
The “Coming to America” star also got some insight into acting from the legendary Marlon Brando — sort of.
Murphy met Brando after Murphy’s film “48 Hrs.” arrived in theaters and had a chance to have dinner with him at his home. Naturally, on the drive to Brando’s, Murphy talked to him about acting and his most famous role in “The Godfather.”
“I was just going on and on about ‘The Godfather,’ and he was like, ‘Eh, “The Godfather.”‘ Not just ‘The Godfather’ — acting. He was like, ‘Acting is bulls—, and everybody can act,’” Murphy recalled.
Brando also scoffed at Clint Eastwood.
“He was going, ‘I can’t stand that kid with the gun,'” Murphy said. “I was like, ‘What kid with the gun?’ He said, ‘He’s on the poster!’ I was like, ‘Clint Eastwood?” ‘Yeah, that guy!’ He was calling Clint Eastwood ‘that kid.’
“I was having these famous people that I grew up watching on television wanting to have a meal with me,” he said. “After ‘48 Hrs.,’ Marlon Brando calls my agent and wants to meet me. Now, I look back and go, ‘Wow, that’s crazy. The greatest actor of all time wants to have dinner with you!’ But, back thenm I just thought, ‘Well, that’s the way it is: You make a movie, and Marlon Brando calls.'”
