Yet to believe that a whole group of people would be that vindictive is a shame. ![]() Perhaps the misconception was based on the idea that there were fewer women than men in the workforce then, and therefore women would be motivated to take advantage of their partner’s money. However, it is too stereotypical to say that every woman is after a man’s money. #4: Women are vindictive and will ‘take half of your shit.’ Eddie Murphy spent the better half of his routine explaining how he had just learned that women can take half of a man’s income after a divorce. What types of jokes am I referring to? Well, besides his leather suit, I have compiled a list of the top 4: If repeated today, they would have most likely been blown up by social media before Murphy could walk off the stage. While watching Raw, I noticed some topics that have changed meaning since the late 80s. He believed it was because everyone, regardless of culture, can relate at some level to difficulties in dating and romantic relationships. Chris Rock once mentioned in an interview in 2012 that out of all the things he talks about in his routines, his jokes about relationships were the biggest hit among his audiences worldwide. While comedy is heavily influenced by politics and by culture, there are also many jokes about sex and relationships. After watching Raw for the first time this year, I began to think about how comedy has changed over the past 30 years. To date, it is the highest-grossing standup movie of all time. Anyone as good as Eddie Murphy should have outgrown that years ago.This year marked the 30th anniversary of Eddie Murphy’s comedy special Raw. Most of the jokes in “Eddie Murphy Raw” (MPAA-rated R, for language) are the kind you regale buddies with to show off. It’s a rare human moment in the film, and it reminds us that all of Pryor’s greatest routines came from humanity, the ability to mock yourself as well as the world. Later on, he tells a story-not funny, but goofy and sweet-about watching his mother make hamburgers with green peppers and Wonder Bread. They’re both recollections of Murphy’s boyhood, one an imitation of himself imitating Pryor. Ceaselessly, we see Murphy, in his blue leather, prowling back and forth in front of a murky red curtain-in unvaried, banal, head-on medium shots. ![]() The movie has so little visual electricity, it almost drones. One plus: Murphy has hired two talented young black film makers-director Robert Townsend (“Hollywood Shuffle”) and Ernest Dickerson, Spike Lee’s regular cameraman-to shoot “Raw.” A minus: Townsend’s talents apparently aren’t for concert films. It’s as if he’s in a speed-swearing contest with Richard Belzer. And also, endlessly, the common Anglo-Saxon slang words for feces, sexual intercourse and assorted deviant acts. Here they seem wasted he’s like a musician with fabulous technique playing “Chopsticks.” He bombards us with what may be a Guinness record for non-stop, pointless scatology-plus offensively adolescent street “wisdom” on women, swishy gay routines and anecdotes about a dumb-sounding disco brawl. Murphy has great gifts and comic technique, a genius for mimicry. This material isn’t just raw, it’s scraped to the bone. Yet the machismo isn’t funny, until he twists it around to mock Italian-Americans hung up on “Rocky.” Murphy’s dressed here in a blue and black leather outfit that make him look like Disco Harry-an image reeking with machismo. His comedy is based on dazzling verbal ingenuity excessive street jive makes him comes across as a bully. ![]() When Pryor talks like a would-be pimp, it’s funny because he isn’t one: his eyes bulge with Angst and vulnerability.Īnd Murphy lacks vulnerability. Swearing and swaggering, he misses the soul of Pryor’s comedy: uncertainty, panic and pain covered up by nervous highs and transparent bravado. Murphy imitates Pryor now as Pryor once imitated Cosby-but it’s just a four-letter husk. And when Murphy gets Pryor consent for his profanity, it’s something of a cheat. Cosby comes across as a querulous meddler, his voice a near-senile venomous croak. Murphy can do a great Cosby imitation, but his mimicry here is choked with malice. There’s a symbolic angle: Cosby and Pryor are the godheads of black stand-up comedy, and Murphy invokes them as if in a struggle for his soul-which Pryor wins. It’s an interesting bit, though it isn’t very funny. ![]() Perturbed, Murphy calls Pryor (“Yo, Richard!”) and is told to tell Cosby, saltily, to butt out. Cosby supposedly calls him up and complains bitterly about Murphy’s foul language. Early on, in “Eddie Murphy Raw” (citywide), a surprisingly poor concert film of Murphy’s stand-up act, he does a double imitation of Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor-casting them in a private hagiography as his good and ba-a-a-a-d comedy daddies.
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