SEATTLE — Eddie Murphy has been a king of comedy for more than four decades, and this week he’s back in the new movie "You People."
Murphy plays a father struggling with his grown daughter's interfaith and interracial relationship.
Entertainment reporter Kim Holcomb talked with the legend about his new role, and a lifetime of making us laugh.
HOLCOMB: “I just realized today that ‘Delirious’ is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. And I kid you not, to this day when I get ice cream, the song runs through my head.”
MURPHY: “It's melody! (starts humming the song)”
HOLCOMB: "After this many years, are your jokes and dialogue still kicking around in your mind?”
MURPHY: “I still have a sense of humor."
HOLCOMB: "Can you remember everything you've done?”
MURPHY: “No sometimes, there will be a sketch on — Saturday Night Live will show old sketches sometimes — and I'll be watching and I don't even remember making this. I'll be like, 'What is this?' And that's strange. You know it's you, but you have no idea what it is, you don't know where it's going."
HOLCOMB: "This film, there were certain scenes that I watched like I was in a horror movie, because it was so incredibly cringey, it was hard for me, I was pulling my sweater over my face. Does that mean you guys got it right?"
MURPHY: "If you were like that sometimes, and then you were laughing sometimes, then yes we got it right. But if you were just cringing in horror, no — the movie didn't work for you.”
HOLCOMB: “No, I got both, for sure. Was there anything that came naturally to you playing Akbar?”
MURPHY: “It came really naturally to me. I'm closer to him than I am to Axel Foley, as a person. (laughter)"
HOLCOMB: "Why do you think comedy is so powerful?"
MURPHY: "It's powerful because it's primal. Babies smile when they're three weeks old. And you can make a baby, one month old, two month old baby, you can make it laugh."
"You People" is now playing in select theaters (Landmark's Crest Cinema Center in Shoreline and IPIC Theater in Redmond.) It debuts on Netflix Friday, Jan. 27.
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