Eddie Murphy, come back to Stand Up!

Remembering the 80's is hard for me, mostly because I wasn't around back then. With all the stories I hear from my parents and all the movies; films; clips and pictures I've seen, it paints a great picture of the comedy back then. Just starting out alternative, with mixed new styles.

Back in the 80's, I find many people were more mellow when it came to comedy. There wasn't all this antagonism that we have nowadays, where a comedian is ranted about just because he gives a rough gig.

Comedians, for years, have been noted because of their outgoing comical stance on the toughest of subjects, such as homophobia; religion; race. In all subjects, some comics try to find light hearted approaches towards the subject; which will please the crowd and at the same time keep them entertained. This hasn't been the case for all comedians though, some comedians like taking things "a step too far". It's these comedians that are remembered, for being brilliant in their stand-up.

The one figure that comes to mind from the 80's for 'step-too-far' has to be Eddie Murphy. While other successful stand up artists provided the 80's and 90's with laughs, I think Eddie Murphy truly worked his way with the crowd, like no other comedian could.

With Murphy's incredible integrity on stage, he provided the crowds and viewers with endless topics to laugh at. Filled with brilliant sketches on all the rough topics, bringing skilled impressions and excellent performances when needed.

Ever since the 90's, Eddie has been slowly disappearing from the stage and losing popularity in his movies. Only recently, in the late 90's, has he found movie success again, with the release of the Nutty Professor and his voice-over roles in Shrek.

With this new found fame, I thought he may want to do more stand up. This isn't the case, as Eddie has neither hinted, nor created any more stand up material. Which is disappointing because with Shrek's finale earlier this year, Murphy fans have nothing to look forward to.

From 1980, Eddie Murphy has been on our screens, either in movies or on stand-up. He truly did have the 80's to build a career of success. When he emerged on our screens for the first time, on November 1979, he was quite a controversial but loved character. His first appearance on Saturday Night Live was something to be remember, as it was the first time people had seen Eddie's comedy. From the reviews he got on that night, he had established a place, even if it was just a slender place, in the comic world.

His first performance on The Tonight Show was even more memorable, from audience to comedians, it was the first time they had seen Eddie do true stand-up and talk about the things that he wanted to.

Instead of script work, it was said Eddie had done the Tonight Show on a mixture of re-written scripts from his old comics, mixed together with new ideas that had been brewing in his 'think tank'. This created a great seven minute stand-up, which was reviewed as "One of the funniest performances I've had the pleasure to watch and giggle at" - quoted by Variety.

From that performance, Eddie made his first step into stand-up performances, with Delirious. On Delirious, he divulged quite a few controversial topics, including homosexuality; different races and women rights. He did a large part on his family, especially his Father, at the "Cookout" - he would later use this as a part in RAW. The show lasted for 1 hour 50 (including sketches), and can be found on Youtube.

His awe of excellence in the way he presented every joke, was not only funny but well placed. Murphy made the comedy go on, even if the jokes were "too" hot, he didn't care; which was the best thing. You find with some comedians they'll look for laughs - Eddie didn't, he kept going until he was laughing as well.

On RAW, you seen a different side to Eddie, his sketches were more about 'marriage' and relationships. He used quite a lot of pessimistic views on marriage and relationships, describing how men cannot be loyal and marriages cannot work due to greed. While he ranted about this for 10 minutes, he used the remainder of his time to tie in some hilarious new comedy, while relapsing on some old sketches. All in all, I found delirious better than RAW, but the American viewers seen RAW as more of a success.