"Being Eddie" And The People Who've Made Us LOL By Decade ...

 *Content being added, as I watch the second half.

So we started watching this late, then went to bed, so watching the second half tonight - and we're really are enjoying it -  despite the poor reviews, mostly about how we're not really getting any insight into being Eddie Murphy at all.

What did y'all expect?

This is how Eddie Murphy survived his super stardom without falling into addiction or drugs (he has never drank or used drugs), having a mental breakdown, or losing all his money - by NOT allowing us to have that part of himself. 

He'll hint at more vulnerable parts of himself, but he's not going to let you actually see it, so quit trying. 

It's a huge deal that he even let us see his house, his kids and grandkids, revealing that he prays and meditates, and especially that he was diagnosed with OCD a long time ago, right?

We're lucky Eddie Murphy let us in at all, frankly - he is well known to fiercely protect his privacy.

Because Eddie Murphy is a rare gift, straight from God (if there is one) - much like Robin Williams was.

And at the same time, he has this ability to tell you about everyday, mundane stuff, so that you feel like you're sitting right next to him at Thanksgiving. 

Eddie Murphy could sit there and could tell you what he had for breakfast this morning and have you laughing until you cried.

That is, if he wants to - he's actually known to be a pretty introverted person when not on stage, always observing. 

He's not going to allow the public to use HIS childhood to feed your "black trauma porn" addiction.

The important part is, he survived - and thrived!

In fact, he's remarkably well-adjusted, not just for having survived hints at his childhood, but his skyrocket into fame at 21 years old, and the fact that most comedians are privately bitter people.

No drugs, no drinking his entire career (with the exception of weed now and then, which he didn't even try until his 30s).

No rehab, no mental breakdowns, and has has made good financial choices - still worth about $200 million - and above all, no bitterness.

It's really quite remarkable, especially considering the level of fame he was at and being the first black box-office blockbuster draw - everyone wanted a piece of him - and he was 21 years old!

His experiences in early life taught him to find the humor in everything, literally everything - and without being mean.

Everything is curious to Eddie, everything is fodder for jokes later, and not in a mean way, but just like "That's some crazy shit, man, you know that, right?" - while giving you a wink at the same time.

People often credit Seinfeld with observational comedy  - but Eddie Murphy is actually the king of it - because not only does he joke about what he observes in real-time, he acts it out for you, with dead-on impressions, from celebrities to the person that served him Starbucks this morning.

I'm gonna sound like a granny here, saying this, but it's true - I wish "the kids" today could understand what a huge deal Eddie Murphy was, back in the day. 

I remember watching the old VHS tapes of "Delirious" and "Raw" over and over again, with my boyfriend and his huge family and our friends, like big groups of people, crying from laughing so hard, though we'd seen it 20 times already.

Built on the foundation Richard Pryor built of tackling racism from the black perspective, and making us laugh - Eddie Murphy took that ball and ran with it, to the degree that even White Supremacists laughed and liked Eddie Murphy.

Eddie Murphy taught us not only to laugh at white racists, but laugh at the everyday dumb stuff we white people do, and often what other black people do - Eddie Murphy taught us to laugh at ourselves.

In short, after literally centuries of white people putting their cruel racist humor on center stage and daring people of color to even blink, here came Richard Pryor, then and Eddie Murphy, not just laughing in the face of racism, but getting even racists to laugh at themselves-  getting ALL of us to laugh at ourselves, white, black, or other -  with a wink while he did it.

Eddie Murphy had the power to actually make us forget race for a while, if he wanted to - he had the power to unify - in a way that very few entertainers - very few people - can do. 

The show mentions an LA critic who pointed out, at the time, that his movie Boomerang had not a single white cast member and that Coming to America only had one.

So?

Were you counting?

And you know what, I didn't even notice what race people were, and I definitely didn't cout, at the time, expect that, or even care - all I knew if Eddie Murphy was in it, I was going to laugh.

I didn't even think about or care about the race ratio - why did you?

And what, you're uncomfortable because you're not seeing people with your complexion all over a movie?

Welcome to their world.

Then we were talking about when was the last time someone made us laugh until we cried, like literally wiping our eyes we laughed so hard, doing stand-up or on TV or in movies?

It's been a while. Nobody currently seems to have that ability do they?

I mean, I laugh really easily at everything, but wiping my eyes from laughing so hard I cried?

It's been a minute. 

I can't even remember. I think it was certain SNL skits a couple of times (NOT this season) in the past 10 years.

(BTW, what's missing this season from SNL are the OTT impressions of people, which made the show, and its actors, famous.  Nobody in this cast is apparently capable of doing them?)

So then we started to talk about who made us laugh until we cried, each decade.

1970s

Carol Burnett.

Tim Conway.

Lily Tomlin

Red Foxx

Flip Wilson

Phyllis Diller

Paul Lynde

Mary Tyler Moore

Valerie Harper

Cloris Leachman

Ed Asner

Ted Knight

Betty White

Monty Python cast (John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin)

The entire original Saturday Night Live cast (John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris,  Jane Curtin, Chevy Chase, and Laraine Newman).

Richard Pryor

Gene Wilder

George Carlin

Andy Kaufmann

Woody Allen

Diane Keaton

Tim Curry

Charles Grodin

Mel Brooks

Madeline Kahn

Alan Alda

Polly Holliday

Sally Field

Burt Reynolds

Danny Devito

Steve Martin

Bill Cosby

Bette Midler

Robin Williams

SCTV cast (John Candy, Martin Short, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty)

1980s

Eddie Murphy

Robin Williams

Bill Murray

John Belushi and Dan Akroyd

Chevy Chase

Goldie Hawn

Charles Grodin

Lily Tomlin

Bette Midler

Billy Crystal

Robin Williams 

Whoopi Goldberg

George Carlin

Jerry Seinfeld

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Bill Cosby 

Tom Hanks

Michael Keaton

Leslie Neilson

John Candy

Rick Moranis

Steve Martin

Martin Short

Danny Devito

Dana Carvey

Kevin Nealon

Dennis Miller

Al Franken

Phil Hartman

Nora Dunn

Jan Hooks

Billy Connolly

Roseanne Barr

John Goodman

Ted Danson

Shelly Long

Woody Harrelson

Kirstie Alley

Steve Guttenberg

Michael J. Fox

Bruce Willis

Matthew Broderick

Anthony Michael Hall

John Cusack

The Kids in the Hall cast (Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Kevin McDonald, Scott Thompson, Bruce McCullough)

Christopher Guest

Fred Willard

Martin Mull

Michael McKean

Harry Shearer

Bette Midler

1990s

Eddie Murphy

Robin Williams

Billy Crystal

Whoopi Goldberg

Jerry Seinfeld

Martin Lawrence

Jim Carrey

Adam Sandler

Chris Farley

David Spade

Mike Myers

Dana Carvey

Will Ferrell

Molly Shannon

Ana Gasteyer

Nora Dunn

Jan Hooks

Norm MacDonald

Kevin Nealon

Phil Hartman

Sarah Silverman

In Living Color cast/The Wayans brothers (Damon, Keenan-Ivory, Marlon, and Shawn)

David Allen Grier

Tommy Davidson

Martin Lawrence

Rosie O' Donnell

Chris Rock

Ellen Degeneres

Roseanne Barr

John Goodman

Fran Drescher

Jeff Bridges

Steve Buscemi

Friends cast - Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc

"Frasier" cast -  Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde-Pierce, Jane Leeves, John Mahoney, Peri Gilpin

Margaret Cho

Janeane Garofalo

Nathan Lane

Brett Butler

John Lithgow

Jane Curtin

French Stewart

Kristen Johnson

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Christopher Guest

Michael McKean

Harry Schearer

Eugene Levy

Catherine O'Hara

Parker Posey

Fred Willard 

Martin Mull

Conan O'Brien

Kevin James

Danny McBride

Jamie Foxx

Simon Pegg

Nick Frost

2000s

Jim Carrey

Robin Williams

Dave Chappelle

Sasha Baron Cohen

Mad TV cast (Nicole Sullivan, Michael McDonald, Stephanie Weir, Alex Borstein, Debra Wilson, Will Sasso)

Friends cast - Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc

Jack Black

Adam Sandler

Drew Barrymore

Reese Witherspoon

Ellen Degeneres

Jon Stewart

Stephen Colbert

Conan O'Brien

Will Ferrell

John C. Reilly

Ben Stiller

Vince Vaughn

Owen Wilson

Steve Carell

Chris Rock

Tina Fey

Amy Poehler

Will Arnett

Maya Rudolph

Jimmy Fallon

Seth Meyers

Megan Mullalley

Sean Hayes

Nathan Lane

Ryan Reynolds

Jimmy Kimmel

Jason Bateman

Kevin James

Tracy Morgan

Andy Samberg

Kristen Wiig

Maya Rudolph

Bill Hader

Fred Armisen

Jason Sudeikis

Dane Cook

Taran Gillam

Jamie Foxx

Seth Rogen 

James Franco

Paul Rudd

Jonah Hill

Jason Segal

Zach Galifianakis

Ed Helms

Ken Jeong

Bradley Cooper

Neil Patrick Harris

Danny McBride

Jason Bateman

Jeffrey Tambor

Michael Cera

Jane Lynch

Eugene Levy

Catherine O'Hara

Parker Posey

Jennifer Coolidge 

Simon Pegg

Nick Frost

2010s

Ryan Reynolds

Kevin Hart

Ricky Gervais

Sasha Baron Cohen

Melissa McCarthy

Ellen Degeneres

Kate McKinnon

Maya Rudolph

Kristen Wiig

Leslie Jones

Andy Samberg

Jack Black

Jamie Foxx

Wanda Sykes

Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Kimmel

Stephen Colbert

John Mulaney

Tina Fey

Amy Poehler

Alec Baldwin

Tracy Morgan

Chris Pratt

Nick Offerman

Patton Oswalt

Aziz Ansari 

Aubrey Plaza

Seth Meyers

Fred Armisen

Jason Sudeikis

Conan O'Brien

Bill Hader

Henry Winkler

Dax Shepard

Kristen Bell

Steve Carrell

Seth Rogen 

James Franco

Paul Rudd

Jonah Hill

Zach Galifianakis

Ed Helms

Bradley Cooper

Ken Jeong

Danny McBride

John Mulaney

Bill Burr

Rebel Wilson

Key & Peele (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele)

Ty Burrell

Julie Bowen

Eric Stonestreet

Jessie Tyler Ferguson

Sofia Vergara

Kate McKinnon

Cecily Strong

Kenan Thompson

Tiffany Haddish

Issa Rae

Ali Wong

Kumail Nanjiani

2020s

Most of the following have made me laugh out loud, by not so much to tears, with the exception of Melissa McCarthy, several episodes of Ted Lasso, Schitt's Creek, Jennifer Coolidge, Parker Posey, and Nate Bargatze's skits on SNL (and some of his standup).

(Also, I don't care for Bill Burr or Shane Gillis, but they did make me laugh out loud a time or two; regardless, they both are hot right now.)

Ryan Reynolds

Kevin Hart

Paul Rudd

John Mulaney

Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Kimmel

Stephen Colbert

Dan Levy

Eugene Levy

Catherine O'Hara

Awkwafina

Zack Galifianakis

"Ted Lasso" cast (Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Jeremy Swift, Nick Mohammed, Phil Dunster, Cristo Fernandez, James Lance)

Aubrey Plaza

Jennifer Coolidge

Parker Posey

Wanda Sykes

Righteous Gemstones cast (Danny McBride, Walton Goggins, John Goodman, Adam Devine, Tony Cavallero, Edi Patterson, Tim Baltz)

Aziz Ansari

Pete Davidson

Issa Rae

Nate Bargatze

Leeanne Morgan

Taylor Tomlinson

Ali Wong 

Michelle Buteau

Fortune Feimster

Michael Cera

Steve Martin

Martin Short

Adam Sandler (and the Sandler family).

Hannah Einbinder

Jean Smart

"Abbott Elementary" cast (Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lisa Anne Walter, Janelle James, Chris Perfetti, William Stanford Davis)

"Ghosts" cast (Rose McIvor,  Utkarsh Ambudkar, Brandon Scott Jones, Devan Chandler Long, Richie Moriarty, Rebecca Wisocky, Sheila Carrasco, Roman Zaragosa, Danielle Pinnock, Asher Grodman, Betsy Sodaro)

"What We Do In The Shadows" cast ( Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch, and Kristen Schaal."

Tiffany Haddish

Kumail Nanjiani

Shane Gillis

Bill Burr

___________________________

PS - I have just submitted my transcript to the University of Cincinnati, for the Online Oncology Registrar Program, so wish me luck?

My prior cumulative GPA of 3.77 will probably get me in, no issue there - the problem is the finances needed. I was going to delay this a term, after Mark retires, but have decided to go ahead, so we shall see.