During a press tour to promote his new Netflix comedy You People, Academy Award nominee Eddie Murphy talked to Collider about the movie, his career, and comedy in general. The story centers around Ezra (Jonah Hill), a guy who meets, falls in love, and wants to marry a Black girl who is Murphy’s character’s daughter—and what happens when the families meet.
In the laid-back interview, Murphy and Collider's own Steve Weintraub talked about the comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield, which ended up seeing the conversation head in a whole new direction. The comedian and Beverly Hills Cop star decided to tell a Rodney Dangerfield story from when he was a teenager and was just getting started as a stand-up comedian. He also revealed how their first encounter became a joke whose punchline only came years later:
"So I met Rodney Dangerfield. I'm 16, 17 years old, and I'm getting ready to go up on stage, and Rodney comes, and he bumps me, and he goes, 'Hey, you can't go up. Rodney's going on.' So Rodney goes on, and he kills, and I'm like, 'I'm going to go up after Rodney.' So no one to wanted to go up, so I went up after him and I do my stuff, and afterward, Rodney is like, 'Hey kid, where are you going to go with all of that stuff, all that cursing and using that language…' Basically told me I wasn't sh*t. So I was like, 'Oh.' I was crestfallen. My mind was blown. I was like, 'Rodney didn't like me. He thought I was too dirty.’ Long story short, maybe two, three years later, I blew up, and I'd become Eddie Hotshot, and I was in the bathroom of Caesar's Palace going at the urinal, and Dangerfield comes and stands right next to me. I look over, and he looks and says, 'Hey, who knew? Who knew?'"
The late Dangerfield was not only a legendary comedian but a beloved actor as well, appearing in classics like Caddyshack, Easy Money, and Back to School. He also, of course, appeared in Saturday Night Live, in addition to numerous other late-night programs where he made audiences laugh with his one-liners. If you've ever heard the phrase "I don't get no respect!" uttered—that was one of his most iconic catchphrases.
Everything You Need to Know About You People
You People was co-written by Hill with four-time Emmy nominee Kenya Barris, who also directs the movie. Even though this is Barris’ feature film directorial debut, the filmmaker became a household name after writing the script for movie and TV hits like long-running comedy series Black-ish and surprise box office hit Girls Trip. Barris worked with Murphy just a few years ago, when he penned the script for the long-awaited sequel Coming 2 America.
The upcoming movie is set to be both a funny and an uncomfortable watch, as it finds its humor with some situations Black people have to go through with white people who go out of their way to show they’re not racist. The cast also features Lauren London, Nia Long, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovny, Travis Bennett, and Elliot Gould.
Netflix premieres You People on January 27. Stay tuned for our full interview with Eddie Murphy soon.