Thursday, May 3, 2012

Eddie Murphy: Delirious (1983)


Director: Bruce Gowers

Starring: Eddie Murphy

More info: IMDb

Plot: Eddie Murphy's stand-up comedy movie debut.



My rating: 7/10

#1 on Stand-up Comedy Month, May 2012

Will I watch it again? Nah.

It's been about thirty years since I last saw this. Back then I laughed my ass off, glued it back on and this time I only laughed portion of it off. The first twenty minutes or so when he's doing impressions (very good ones, too) had me in stitches. His 'gay Honeymooners' routine is hilarious and his Jackie Gleason impersonation is frighteningly spot on (it starts at 5:45 above). I'd forgotten how good he was at shit like that. His Elvis and James Brown bits were good for a lot of laughs. But it's when he gets to the ice cream truck bit, and largely from there to the end, I just didn't find it all that funny. People cite the ice cream man routine a lot but it never struck a chord with me. Murphy owned the 80s. He was a rock star among comedians. It's nice to revisit stuff like this after a long absence but it's bitter-sweet. He used to be so good but then that's back when he often had good material to work with.

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