Overview
Unlike his acts on Saturday Night Live, this performance was very profane, with the word "fuck" used a total of 230 times, and "shit" is used 171 times.
The routine was infamous for its stereotypical depiction of a homosexual Mr. T, followed by a depiction of Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton as a gay couple. Though his portrayal brought on raucous applause from the audience in the performance, these comments were retracted by Eddie Murphy in an interview several years later.
The performance is also known for Murphy's making fun of James Brown's singing mannerisms, particularly the scratchy nature of Brown's voice and the nearly indecipherable nature of his lyrics; Murphy does a spoof of Brown's song "Sex Machine". Other musical spoofs include comment on Mick Jagger's lips, Murphy's imitation of Stevie Wonder and the resultant unfavorable response from the African-American community, a spoof of Elvis Presley complete with an imitation of Presley's gait in his late years (which brought some of the performance's loudest and longest applause), a version of Teddy Pendergrass, and an imitation of Michael Jackson complete with reference to his emotional sensitivity. Eddie also makes a parody of Desi Arnaz (Ricky Ricardo) from the show, 'I Love Lucy' about his famous laugh.
Towards the end of the stand-up, after Murphy remarks "I'm winded, I'm out of breath... I'm sweatin' and shit", alluding to the heat in the venue, a woman in the crowd shouts "Do Mr. Rob!", referring to his famous SNL character. A male audience member very quickly shouted back to the woman, "Shut up, bitch!". The exchange between the two caused Murphy and the audience to break up with laughter. Murphy had everyone give the member a standing ovation. After Murphy composed himself, he commented on the incident with, "Y'all didn't know I was a ventriloquist too."
Brown repays Murphy for his impersonation of him in the album track of "Living in America". Towards the end of the album track, Brown yells out, "Eddie Murphy, eat your heart out." The song was used in the movie Rocky IV.
Highlights from this concert were released as a comedy album entitled Comedian.
Read more about this topic: Eddie Murphy Delirious