Working With Eddie

Eddie Murphy Delirious HBO

This was the filthiest show I’ve ever worked on. HBO gave Eddie free rein to do his standup so off he went on the gays in the audience, did a piece on taking it up the A**, riffed on S#*t floating in the bath tub, getting high on heroin and other choice subjects. At the time, he was best known as the cute young comedian doing Buckwheat impressions on Saturday Night Live. Eddie had just been signed to a big multi-picture movie deal at Paramount. Ever the earnest innocent, I was so concerned that this show would ruin his career, that I called Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was running the studio at the time. I gave him a heads up on the content of the show and suggested that he consider buying it back from HBO to prevent it from being aired. Katzenberg was not at all concerned and the show aired many times and went on to be huge seller on video. Always wonder if that phone call is why Eddie Murphy Productions never paid me any residuals.