It seem like more information about Eddie Murphy‘s return to stand-up comedy comes with each passing month.
The first official confirmation about his big comeback came in July when he appeared on Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”
It was also reported around that time that Murphy was in talks with Netflix to do a series of comedy specials for a payout in the $70 million range.
His last comedy special was 1987’s “Raw,” and before that he performed in the special “Delirious,” released in 1983.
And in September of this year, the 58-year-old said he’d be going on a comedy tour in 2020 when he visited the Netflix podcast “Present Company with Krista Smith.”
Murphy also stopped by CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” on Friday, Oct. 25, where he not only talked about hitting the comedy stage again, but he revealed that Barack Obama encouraged him to do so.
“I got this Mark Twain prize when I saw him in the White House,” Murphy explained. “And the first thing he asked me was ,’When you gonna do stand-up again?’ So I said ‘Maybe it’s time to do stand-up again.'”
The legendary actor and comedian then talked about returning to “Saturday Night Live,” the comedy sketch show that he was a member of from 1980 to 1984. The news of his return to the long-running series first came in August.
Meanwhile, on Colbert, Murphy said he’d more than likely be reprising some of his famous “SNL” characters, like Gumby and the Mister Rogers-like role he played in the sketch “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood.”
“I look forward to going back and doing that stuff,” he said. “I hope it’s funny, though. You want the show to be really funny. If you’re going back, you want it to really be good, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Murphy can currently be seen in the Netflix film “Dolemite Is My Name,” where he plays comedian Rudy Ray Moore.
And he’s also going to reprise his role of Prince Akeem for the sequel to “Coming To America,” that’ll also star original cast members like Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley and James Earl Jones.
