All right, y'all. So now that we've gone there, man, now it is time for us to hit the top five Eddie Murphy performances, at least between you and I. Right, So, from the streets of Beverly Hills to the Kingdom of Zamouonda, as we break down the top five performances that define Eddie Murphy's incredible career. Now we're gonna take a close look at the roles that just weren't performances. They were pop culture earthquakes, and we're gonna talk about that. So
we're gonna eat Off and Charles. I'm gonna go in reverse order because I know they have these ranked. I didn't rank them in any order. But let's start man at number five. And what made the top five to me was Donkey, now Charles with nothing but his voice, because we never see Eddie Murphy do any of this stuff, but in his voice he created one of the most beloved animated side kicks of all time. Donkey is funny, loyal, and wildly endearing, his comic energy balancing shreks gruffness perfectly.
Murphy's voice work brought the character to the life so with so much charm and humor that it earned him a bath denomination and see minute Donkey as the pop culture icon in his own right. And oh, by the way, Charles, they're doing a Donkey spinoff that Eddie Murphy is starring in thirty years later. What do you think about Donkey as one of the five definitive Eddie Murphy performances.
This is the one performance which I mean and for consistency's sake, we've talked about him performing inside of Troops before, where he's with in trading places with with Dana Ensembles. Uh. This is one of the He is not the star of Shrek and Donkey is is like you said, he's
a sidekick. I respect and understand how much of an icon the performance is and how people love the move that role because it was been in several films, But I think I would have put this outside the top five as an honorable mention and move and put Marcus Graham at the number five spot.
In you to put Marcus Graham over over his.
Dolomite, Yes, yes, because and here's the reason why. Because Dolomite and and the other character we will be speaking about soon are really close performances and that they kind of of troll the same genre in the themes, so you know, it's kind of the same person a little bit to me in that in the in those, but the Marcus Graham is completely different, kind of original to that performance.
All Right, I got you man. All Right, Well that's interesting and and this is good because we should have some conversation around this. But coming in at number four, Charles Shermy Clump, Murphy's boldest character experiment turned into one of his greatest triumphs as the gentle insecure Professor Shermy Clump, which was based on what Jerry Lee Jerry Lewis had done years earlier in The Nuttie. Professor Murphy brought warmth and vulnerability, then turned around and you know, to your point,
we already put his family in as audible mentions. But this role Man earned him universal praise, massive box office success. Eddie Murphy Man showed that that sketch comedy work he did years early on SNL, he was able to take that translated into multiple films man where he was able to make us laugh and didn't make us laugh with
different perspectives. But we'll concentrate on Sherman Klump and what he does in this film, and then it becomes even funnier, I think in the sequel when he has to play the oversize Sherman Clump, and then I think it's the young Buddy Love is all to ego, right right? Yeah, man, So thoughts on Sherman Clump Man at number four.
I like this pick, I really do, because again, Eddie Murphy is all over this film, the nuety Professor, Sherman Clump and Buddy Love and all his family and he's really the heart of this movie. And just to see him doing different things, being having to put on those pathetics to play Sherman and it was really it was really groundbreaking for Eddie Murphy and who he was and what kind of the style of comedy he had done in the past. He just really stepped out again and
broke boundaries for himself. And I really I was one of the people was like, how is it, Why is he going to do that old Jerry Lewis thing? Why is he gonna do that? But he really made it his own and it was special.
Yeah all right, man, Now we get into the top three, and this gets us back to the conversation about the dramas, right and I felt that of all the dramatic roles he's had. You talked about Marcus Graham, you talked about him playing Rudy Ray Moore. I thought James thunder Early and dream Girls was something special for Murphy. Man. To your point, Charles, he is a member of an ensemble, but this is a performance that blended soul, legend, charisma
and personal tragedy. Murphy delivers one the most dramatic terms of his career as the explosive, heartbroken James thunder Early. Murphy brought the house down with his vocals and vulnerability. The role won him a Golden Globe, earned him an Oscar nomination, should have earned him an Oscar win. For the reason we talked about earlier. Proven see I won't gonna say it once all that he could bring just as much weight to a tragic downfall as a punchline. Now this is just me and I'll let you speak
in a second. I loved this performance and dream Girls. I thought that with Jamie Fox and Jennifer Hudson, who wins the Oscar and the soundtrack and the screenplay and the production design, everything that works, Murphy stands alone to me, Despite the fact that he didn't win. He's the tragic heart and soul, the tragic figure out of him and Fie.
Fie is really the true dramatic figure. But if there's a dramatic figure A or B, he's got to be B next to Fie and the way he plays it, it's just heartbreaking.
The watch fan. We joke about Norbit a lot about how it was responsible for but there's really no there's really no explanation as to why they really didn't give him the award that year for the Oscar that year, because despite whatever anything else he does, this was his and I was close to making this his number one performance because of the recognition that he received just globally
for what he did in this film. Like you mentioned, he won the Golden Globe, he was nominated, he really should have won, and a lot of people this was almost before Chadwick Boseman was shocked, was shocked, you know, when he didn't get that award. So and people want to use Norbit as the explanation, but there really is no really good explanation as to why he didn't win for that, for that Oscar.
I'm still I'm still burnt up about him not winning and which gets me to number two. And Charles, we talked about this film earlier, Coming to America, his Prince IQM. In what many consider his sweetest and most universally adored role, Murphy became Prince I Kim of Zamunda thirty years before Black Panther hit the screen, a noble royal in search of love, navigating Queens, New York with wide ey wonder and humility now beyond his heart. Murphy's tored the force
of multiple characters, which we already talked about. Trans showed his range, transforming Coming to America into a cultural cornerstone that remains as quotable and loved decades later. And Charles, before I throw it to you as a point, I remember almost twenty years ago, one day we were at beet. I was working at bet dot com, and the whole office set around for at least half hour to forty five minutes with everybody throwing out their favorite lines from Coming to America.
And you probably went thirty minutes before somebody repeated the line, because there was there that many lines in that film. Look, I still use that one every now and then I'll be like good.
He all right, good and terrible. I loved this film. Man. What do you have to say about Coming to America? Man?
You know, I can't complain. I believe that that film is one of the top black movies ever made. Coming to America. I mean people have I mean you just said it. Before there was Black Panther, there were there was Prince Akim, and people looked up to Prince Akim and respected that role in all of his fallacies and foibles, but he was fantastic and he was an inspiration. Love and loved Ruthy Carter's work.
Costume, yeah, Ruthy, Yeah, the costumes and Coming to America. The only one every time I think about this movie that really stands out is when James Earl Jones came to New York and they were at the Waldorfer Story and he jumped out of that that limousine with that lion's head, was like, look, we're not worthy. Ruthie Carter is a She's a beast, man. I mean, and I say that with all the love and respect. I loved
me from Ruthie Carter. All right, man, So let's get the number one man, and number one this one, this movie. When you talk about him becoming a phenomenon ac so Foley in Beverly Hills Cop. Charles. The easiest way to really think about this just being I think his third movie, because he had done forty eight hours trading places and then he exploded in Beverly Hills Cop. This movie, made in nineteen eighty four, made three hundred and sixteen million
dollars worldwide. If we adjust that for today's dollars, imagine an actor who came out of a show like SNL Sketch Comedy, he had two smaller films. In his third film made seven hundred and thirty three million dollars, he would be celebrated the way Eddie Murphy was celebrated forty years ago. Huge. It just changed everything for Murphy. It changed everything for black characters because people were like, Wow, who is this kid? What was he like wanted twenty two when it.
Was I think it was twenty two when he did this, when he did this film, and you know he had cut he had cut his teeth in SNL. He developing characters being I mean, I'm surprised. You know a lot of people will say, well, what about delirious and raw and all those other things, But those aren't acting performances, but I mean Delirious and Raw were also instrumental in
in this performance. So, I mean when we got Beverly Hills Cop, we were like, we've never seen this before where a black man is just hilarious, he's got charmed, he's he's super smart and he's solving crimes. Yeah, this was this was the film to watch. It was. It was like you said, it was a moment when this film came out. Everybody was like, I want to be like alex axl Foley. The music was everywhere, people were dressing like him. It was. It was crazy.
And the other part that I don't think we talk about enough, And Eddie Murphy had said, the quiet power, the quiet part out loud. He created. He's a part of the creation of the action buddy comedy genre that we have when he did forty eight Dollars with Nick Nolty. Of course later on with Beverly Hills Cop. Like that gyre didn't exist, Like we had action films and we had buddy comedies, but they weren't buddy action films. Eddie Murphy.
In our generation, we were the first to see this with now we see it all the time, like now, which Schwartz nigger, I'll be back. You know, like everybody took that formula, Bruce Willis, all of those guys took that formula and ran with it. Eddie Murphy truly a trailblazer, which is why I'm glad that we were able to give Eddie his flowers. Man uh, And we'll give him more flowers because we'll talk about his movie and a
little bit. Man. But any closing thoughts man on the top five, and we'll go through that top five one more time. Coming in at number five, of course, was Donkey from Shrek. Number four was Sherman Klump from The Nutty Professor. James thunder Early from Dreamgirls comes in at number three, Prince I Keen coming to America coming into number two, and from Beverly Hills Cop Act, so Foley at the top spot. So yeah, go ahead, Charles. Any last thoughts man before we move on and review.
Well, like I said before, I don't think Donkey would have made my top five, but I recognize how it brought a new generation to Eddie Murphy then had been before. So yeah, I respect it all.
Right, man. Well, you know, so to read this this list. You can go over to the film Gordon dot com. The list is there. And again, let us know how you feel, man, because sometimes we in the vacuum and we doing stuff. Give us some comments, man, Let us know if you agree with the list, if you like Charles Kirkling. Man, I don't know why you put that donkey in there. I would have put Marcus Graham in there. Respect, I got you, all right,