Shop high-quality unique Eddie Murphy T-Shirts designed and sold by artists. Available in a range of colours and styles for men, women, and everyone. Charismatic, controversial and successful — Eddie Murphy was a commercial hit. He became the king of comedy in the ’80s and shot his second special, Raw grossed nearly $51 million, cementing Murphy as an act that could break the bank by exhilarating crowds both with his raw ability, and cringe-worthy jokes.

Eddie Murphy Raw is a 1987 American stand-upcomedy film starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Robert Townsend. It was Murphy's second feature stand-up comedy film, following Eddie Murphy Delirious. However, unlike Delirious, Raw received a wide theatrical release. The 90-minute show was filmed at the Felt Forum, a venue in the Madison Square Garden complex in New York City. The film was released in the United States on December 18, 1987. As of October 2019, it is the highest-grossing stand-up comedy concert film of all time at the box office, making $50.5 million in the United States and Canada.

Plot[edit]

The film opens with a pre-taped sketch depicting a scene from Murphy's childhood. At a family Thanksgiving in November 1968, the children take turns showing their talents to the assembled relatives (including one played by Murphy himself). Young Eddie (Deon Richmond) shocks the family with a rude joke about a monkey and a lion.

After emerging on stage for the live show, Murphy begins by discussing the angry reactions of celebrities parodied in his previous stand-up show, Delirious, specifically Mr. T and Michael Jackson, as well as homosexual viewers offended by his jokes about 'faggots.' Murphy then narrates a phone call he received from Bill Cosby chastising him for using profanity on stage. Angered by Cosby's assumption that his entire act was nothing but 'filth foul filth,' Murphy calls Richard Pryor for advice. Pryor declares that his only concerns should be making audiences laugh and getting paid, and recommends that he tell Cosby to 'Have a Coke and a smile and shut the fuck up.' Murphy elaborates on his admiration for the 'raw' comedy of Pryor, running through a routine from his own teenage years about defecation, in Pryor's voice. He then goes on to talk about how people who don't speak English only pick up the curse words in his act, and shout them at him on the street.

Next comes a lengthy routine about dating and relationships. Murphy explains that the rise of deadly sexually transmitted infections has motivated him to seek marriage, but the divorce of Johnny Carson and Joanna Holland (in which she sought 50% of his assets) has left him paranoid about the financial risk of marriage, concluding that 'no pussy is worth $150 million.' He mocks the aggression and materialism of American women (compared to his believed meekness of Japanese women), referring to the popularity of Janet Jackson's song 'What Have You Done for Me Lately.' He jokes that he intends to go deep into Africa to find a 'bush bitch' who has no concept of Western culture... at least until American women convince her to stand up for herself and demand 'HALF!' This develops into a broader warning to men to avoid 'the pussy trap,' and a warning to women that men never remain faithful — once a man has evoked a powerful orgasm from a woman ('ooohhhh!') she will tolerate all kinds of misbehavior, although she may pursue infidelity of her own.

The next segment narrates a childhood memory of his mother promising to cook him a hamburger 'better than McDonald's,' only to produce an unappealing 'welfare burger,' a lump of beef filled with onion and green peppers on Wonder Bread (while the neighborhood children show off their McDonald's hamburgers in a call-back to the ice cream segment of Delirious), but he states that as an adult, he has more of an appreciation of the tastiness of his mom's homemade dish.

Murphy then talks about white people out on the town, criticizing their embarrassing dance moves, leading onto Italian-Americans being inspired by Rocky, then culminates to a bit about fighting in a discotheque with Deney Terrio, eventually starting a large-scale brawl after which 'everybody sued me' for millions of dollars.

After the fight, Murphy calls his parents, leading to a long impression of his drunken stepfather (another call-back to a popular bit from Delirious). This final segment runs for over 10 minutes and incorporates his stepfather's habit of misquoting Motown songs (including 'Ain't Too Proud to Beg', which opened the film).

Cast (opening segment)[edit]

• Eddie Murphy as Himself
• Tatyana Ali as Eddie's sister (sketch)
• Deon Richmond as Little Eddie (sketch)
• Billie Allen as Eddie's aunt (sketch)
• James Brown III as Thanksgiving guest
• Edye Byrde as Mrs. Butts (sketch)
• Michelle Davison as Thanksgiving guest
• Clebert Ford as Uncle Lester (sketch)
• Birdie M. Hale as Aunt Rose (sketch)
• J. D. Hall as Party guest (sketch)
• Tiger Haynes as Card player #3
• Barbara Iley as Thanksgiving guest
• Leonard Jackson as Uncle Gus (sketch)
• Samuel L. Jackson as Eddie's Uncle
• John Lafayette as Thanksgiving guest
• Davenia McFadden as Eddie's Aunt (sketch)
• Gwen McGee as Eddie's Mother (sketch)
• Lex Monson as Card player #4
• Warren Morris as Poetry reader
• Basil Wallace as Eddie's Father (sketch)
• Damien Wayans as Child running in the house
• Ellis E. Williams as Eddie's Uncle (sketch)
• Carol Woods as Eddie's Aunt
• Kim Wayans as Interviewed fan (uncredited)

Records[edit]

The film surpassed Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip as the highest grossing concert film with a gross of $50.5 million.^[4][3]

The film contained the word 'fuck' 223 times,^[5] setting the record for highest 'fuck count' ever in a feature-length, theatrically released film at the time (surpassing Scarface). Raw held the record until 1990 before being surpassed by Goodfellas.

Critical reception[edit]

The New York Times praised Eddie Murphy's stand-up routine.^[6][7][8][9]

Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was 'a surprisingly poor concert film of Murphy’s stand-up act,' saying Murphy is 'like a musician with fabulous technique playing 'Chopsticks.'^[10]

Actor Alfonso Ribeiro later claimed to have drawn inspiration from Murphy's depiction of white people dancing in developing 'The Carlton' for his character in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.^[11]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Eddie Murphy Raw (18)'. British Board of Film Classification. November 25, 1987. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
2. ^KLADY, LEONARD (January 8, 1989). 'Box Office Champs, Chumps : The hero of the bottom line was the 46-year-old 'Bambi''. Retrieved July 12, 2017 – via LA Times.
3. ^ ^ab'Eddie Murphy Raw'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
4. ^''Raw' Passes 'Pryor' As Top Concrt Pic'. Variety. January 13, 1988. p. 7.
5. ^'Freeze Frame: Suicide Kings'. Familymediaguide.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2007. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
6. ^Maslin, Janet (December 19, 1987). ''Eddie Murphy Raw''. The New York Times.
7. ^Patrizio, Andy (August 26, 2004). 'Eddie Murphy Raw'. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
8. ^'Eddie Murphy Raw (1987)'. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
9. ^'Eddie Murphy Raw'. September 10, 2004. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
10. ^Wilmington, Michael (December 21, 1987). 'MOVIE REVIEW : Eddie Murphy Stands Up--In the 'Raw''. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
11. ^Cooper, Daniel (February 15, 2019). 'The 'Fortnite' Dance Lawsuits Are Close to Falling Apart'. Entrepreneur.

External links[edit]

• Eddie Murphy Raw on IMDb
• Eddie Murphy Raw at Rotten Tomatoes

Keenen Ivory Desuma Wayans Sr. (born June 8, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and a member of the Wayans family of entertainers. He first came to prominence as the host and the creator of the 1990–1994 Fox sketch comedy series In Living Color. He has produced, directed and/or written several films, starting with Hollywood Shuffle, which he cowrote, in 1987.

A majority of his films have included him and one or more of his brothers and sisters in the cast.

One of these films, Scary Movie (2000), which Wayans directed, was the highest-grossing movie directed by an African American until it was surpassed by Tim Story's Fantastic Four in 2005. From 1997 to 1998, he hosted the talk show The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show.^[1] Most recently, he was a judge for the eighth season of Last Comic Standing.

Life and career[edit]

Wayans was born in Harlem, New York City, son of Howell Stouten Wayans, a supermarket manager, and his wife Elvira Alethia (Green), a homemaker and social worker.^[2]In the show Finding Your Roots it was revealed that he has heritage of Madagascar in his paternal line, thus making his sisters and brothers also sharing the heritage.^[3] His father was a devout Jehovah's Witness.^[4][5][6] The family later moved to Manhattan's Fulton housing projects,^[7] where he primarily grew up. He attended Seward Park High School during his teenage years, and attended Tuskegee University on an engineering scholarship.^[7] He entertained his friends at college with made-up stories about life in New York.^[8] One semester before graduation, he dropped out of school to focus on comedy.^[9]

During his first set performing at The Improv in New York, Wayans met Robert Townsend, who helped him learn about the comedy business.^[8] Townsend and Wayans drove cross country to Los Angeles together when Wayans moved to Los Angeles in 1980.^[8] They did not speak for a year afterward. Wayans worked there as an actor. He had a regular role as a soldier on a television series titled For Love and Honor.^[8] He also appeared on Hill Street Blues as a famous NFL linebacker.

Townsend wrote, directed, and starred in the movie Hollywood Shuffle; Wayans was costar and cowriter.^[8] The movie's success allowed him to raise the money to make I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.^[8] Fox Broadcasting Company approached Wayans to offer him his own show.^[10] Wayans wanted to produce a variety show similar to Saturday Night Live, with a cast of people of color that took chances with its content.^[7]

Fox gave Wayans a lot of freedom with the show, although Fox executives were a bit concerned about the show's content before its television debut.^[10] Wayans created, wrote, and starred in the show, titled In Living Color, a sketch comedy television series that originally ran on the Fox Network from 1990 to 1994.

Wayans is a vegetarian, and has promoted the diet in a public service announcement of 2006 for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.^[11][12]

In Living Color[edit]

Characters[edit]

• Death Row Comic (Prison Cable Access)
• Frenchie
• Ice Man (Homeboy Shopping Network)
• Tom Brothers (The Brothers Brothers)
• Wes (Wes & Les)

Impressions[edit]

• Milli (Rob Pilatus) of Milli Vanilli
• Morgan Freeman (such as Hoke Colburn from Driving Miss Daisy, Principal Joe Clark from Lean on Me)
• Carl Weathers (as Apollo Creed)

Filmography[edit]

Writing/producing/directing credits[edit]

• Hollywood Shuffle (1987) (writer)
• Eddie Murphy Raw (1987) (writer and producer)
• I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) (writer and director)
• In Living Color (1990–1992) (executive producer, director and creator/writer)
• The Five Heartbeats (1991) (writer)
• A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994) (writer and director)
• Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996) (producer)
• The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show (1997) (executive producer)
• Most Wanted (1997) (executive producer and writer)
• Scary Movie (2000) (actor and director)
• Scary Movie 2 (2001) (director)
• White Chicks (2004) (producer, director)
• Little Man (2006) (producer, writer, director)
• Dance Flick (2009) (producer, writer)
• The Boo Crew (2017) (creator, producer, writer)
• The Last O.G. (2020) (writer, episode: 'Lookin' at The Front Door')
• Mo Money

References[edit]

1. ^Braxton, Greg (August 3, 1997). 'Will 'Hip' Equal 'Hit'?'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
2. ^Stated on Finding Your Roots, January 19, 2016, PBS
3. ^PBS
4. ^Keenen Ivory Wayans Biography (1958–)
5. ^Stein, Joel (September 11, 2000). 'Marlon Wayans'. Time.
6. ^The Movie Chicks – Interview – Marlon Wayans
7. ^ ^abcLaurence, Robert P. (April 13, 1990). 'Is prime time ready for rudeness? Fox's new comedy 'In Living Color' will offend some, tickle others'. The San Diego Union. p. E1.
8. ^ ^abcdefHughes, Mike (April 13, 1990). 'Laughing with 'Living Color''. USA Today.
9. ^McIntyre, Mike (February 16, 1989). 'Keenen Wayans gambles and wins on an offbeat 'Sucka''. The San Diego Union. p. E3.
10. ^ ^ab'New Fox Show Pokes Fun at Black Stereotypes'. Associated Press. Greensboro, North Carolina: Greensboro News & Record. April 12, 1990. p. B6.
11. ^'Keenen Ivory Wayans'. TV Guide. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
12. ^'Do It for Someone You Love: Keenan Ivory Wayans'. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2018.

External links[edit]

Eddie Murphy Raw Full Free

• Keenen Ivory Wayans on IMDb
• Keenen Ivory Wayans at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

Eddie Murphy Raw Online