Aries Spears is opening up about a humbling moment he experienced earlier in his career at the hands of Academy Award winner Denzel Washington and legendary comedian Eddie Murphy. During a recent appearance on Vlad TV, for reasons unknown, the “MadTV” star opened up two moments in his career where he may have been a bit overzealous in the presence of Hollywood greatness.
Spears did not note when the incident occurred but admitted, “I was f–king with Denzel.” He added, “I think he was eating some barbeque, and he might’ve been eating some pork, and I said to him, ‘Hey, brother, what you doing eating that pork? Didn’t you just play Malcolm X?’”
However, the standup comedian didn’t get the response he expected. He continued, “Thinking I’m going to get a laugh And he looked at me with the most serious face and said ‘You don’t have to be a killer to play a murderer, brother.’”
Things only got worse, the actor revealed. “I kept trying to be funny, and it wasn’t working,” he said. “So finally, he said to me, “Why don’t you stop while you’re behind.’” The star joked, “In my mind, I heard the PacMan noise,” he joked.
Still, it wouldn’t be his only teaching moment. Spears then recalled sharing a similar experience with Murphy. “I was doing ‘Suns of Sunset’ on CBS, the hour action cop drama show with Glenn Frey from the Eagles, and my stunt double on that show happened to be Eddie Murphy’s stunt double on ‘Beverly Hills Cops 3,’” he recalled.
Spears, a self-proclaimed Murphy superfan, claimed that his stunt double invited him to hang out on the film set of the cult classic sequel. “I go to the studio, and they got the big circus tent with the big huge bus in it with Eddie’s trailer, and Fruity is there at the time, Eddie’s bodyguard, Uncle Ray Murphy, and Eddie’s people,” he said.
“I go in, and I sit down at the table with all of them, and Eddie comes out, you know, strumming his guitar — he’s on break before a shot — and again I tried to, you know, take over the room and be funny and I’m cracking jokes,” he continued. Once again Spears said he got ahead of himself and claimed, “at one point Eddie just turned to me, and he goes ‘Hey man, you keep doing material — just stop. Just be organic. Take it in and relax, man, but you’re doing material. You’re trying to be funny. Sit down.’”
Spears acknowledged that he may have overstepped, “but it was my first time introduced to that world, so you know. I was trying to navigate best I could, trying to score.” He added, “It’s like you get in front of Michael Jordan, and you’re a baller. You want to show him your best moves; show you my crossover, my fade away, my step back, you know. So, I learned.”
Folks on social media were cracking up as the clips made their way around the internet. “My stomach would’ve dropped,” wrote one Instagram user. “The older folks just say exactly what’s on their minds,” commented another. “He’s still soooooooo behind,” quipped a third person. “Denzel knew something wasn’t right with him from the jump!”
Neither actor has responded to Spears’ claims.
