Poem 56 – Uncle Eddie

Uncle Eddie

That red leather suit
Zipper all the way down
Shiny chest topped with a gold medallion

Teeth so bright
Smile so urgent

That backthroat laugh
Sucking for air

Eddie Murphy in the living room
On the VHS
Play stop rewind play
Memorize the ice cream bit
Shakin’ my hips screamin’ and singin’ along

Little me fan-girlin’ for days

For years following him on screens big and small
Beverly hills cop
Golden child
Coming to America
SNL

Then with my kids
Mulan
Dolittle
Donkey
Daddy Day Care on repeat

That red leather suit though…
That laugh…
Epic
Iconic
Forever

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I was listening to the radio this morning and the DJ played a clip of Eddie Murphy talking about part of the production for Coming to America. He said that the studio had told him that there needed to be at least one white person in the film, so he cast the ‘funniest white guy around’ at the time, Louie Anderson. Coming 2 America comes out on Amazon Prime on March 5, 2021.

It got me thinking about Eddie Murphy and what a staple he was, and continues to be, in my life. As a kid, I watched all his stand-up (when I was way too young…), and watched his films as they came out over the years. He had a second coming when I had kids and we watched his movies together, some over and over. Now that my kids are older, we’ve begun sharing his stand-up and watching his break-out roles on Saturday Night Live.

Eddie Murphy makes me laugh and think and laugh some more. He’s like my dream uncle who visits on wild whims and stays as long as he wants. His conversation with Jerry Seinfeld on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is stellar. Thanks for making us laugh and think and laugh some more, Eddie!