When They Were Cool: Eddie Murphy

In the 1980s, cool was still cool. In successive decades being uncool defined what was cool. Grunge made the high school loser into the heroic icon of cool. An anti-pop movement started, probably influenced by Radiohead's growing control of what is accepted as cool in music, and it was no longer cool to like anything on mainstream radio. By the turn of the Willennium, the heroes of the modern movie were incredibly skinny or incredibly overweight awkward boys who like eclectic music from the 70s and 80s like Michael Cera. If asked, "When was such and such cool?" the likely answer is, "the 80s." Some have posited that this is related to the death of Miles Davis, the inventor of Cool, in 1991.

Eddie Murphy used to be cool. What? You don't remember him ever being cool? Well, he sure was. When?

Pay attention. The answer is the 80s.

Murphy's appearances on Saturday Night Live and his comedy special Delirious (1983) made him into an overnight sensation, and quite frankly, his influence on the acceptance of blacks in show business is probably largely overlooked. In a world without Richard Pryor, one might even go so far as to say that Murphy is the most important black figure in comedy movies, commanding America and setting the tone of comedy to follow. That's something that you can't take away from Murphy. Unfortunately, Murphy is not allowed to rest on his laurels. You have to keep performing. Eddie Murphy is important, but he sure isn't cool anymore.

In the 80s Eddie Murphy talked about flatulence, and it was cool. He didn't call it farts. He said "fahts." And it was cool. He was homophobic. He wasn't politically correct. He's probably part of the reason that everyone became so hyper-PC in the 90s. But regardless of what you think about this, he made it cool. And that made things difficult for 90s politicians. Murphy also had glorious teeth and an impressive body, so women loved him. And women loving you makes you cool.

Maybe you disagree. Here's an indisputable proof. The Golden Child and Coming to America. You don't get it yet? IN The Golden Child (1986) Eddie Murphy and a little boy get chased by a giant flying demon. A GIANT FLYING DEMON! In Coming to America (1988) Murphy is a king from an African nation who really doesn't get American customs. He's basically a wealthy black version of Uncle Travelling Matt from Fraggle Rock. Many of his films are even socially aware and sensitive to ideas of class and race, especially Trading Places (actually, that movie may just be about Jamie Lee Curtis's breasts... Can you remember anything else about Trading Places? Hmmm...).

 A decisive end to Eddie Murphy's coolness is not completely clear. Remember that Miles Davis died in 1991, so it must have been pretty close to that time. Tom Cruise survived until 1992 as a cool dude, after all, so its possible to be cool in a world without Cool. Murphy's dignity was certainly gone by the time he did Nutty Professor (1996). The combination of putting on a fat suit and playing multiple characters is the epitome of lame comedy, a fact that some people really don't understand (ahem... Martin Lawrence... Tyler Perry...).

This article ought not to end on a negative note. After all, its very possible that Murphy passed the torch of coolness to Will Smith. In 1990, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air premiered on NBC. As we all well know, Fresh Prince set Will Smith up for Blockbuster Independence Day films, and these films set us up for the Willennium. It's Thanksgiving, so let's be thankful for all that Eddie Murphy has given us, thankful for the dude who hasn't been cool for two decades.