Eddie Murphy: Raw

Offensive, crude, infantile, empty. Sure, 'Raw' is all these things. It's also laugh-out- loud funny. This is Eddie Murphy at his best, when he still knew how to make people laugh. He takes the stage and commands for the duration of the film. He's so in control and confident it's amazing. I saw it again recently. It aged well.

This movie came out late 1987, and people were dying for a sequel to "Delirious" which was 1983. If you go back and watch Richard Pryor's "live in Concert" or "Here and Now" you see that Eddie used some of Pryor's stuff, but gave it its own shot of himself (In delirious, Murphy does the "bARBQ scene/story" and he describes his aunt falling down the steps. It is the exact same description Pryor does in "Live in Concert" when he describes black women at funerals.) RAW used all the things that made Eddie Murphy famous; his deadon imitations, and his gift for telling stories. I can't even watch Martin Lawrence, DL Hughely, Cedric the Entertainer and a few others without noticing Eddie Murphy's influences right away. People forget how big he was, and how good- wayyy before he started doing bad talking animal movies. There are some debates over which was better Raw or Delirious....they are both hilarious, but you can tell the mindset was much different only 4 years later. In RAW, Murphy compares himself to Johnny Carson, while in Delirious he was just the most popular guy on Saturday Night Live. RAW is one of the best and funniest concert comedies ever, and I dare someone not to laugh out loud when watching it......NOTE: This movie was reviewed in 1987 when it came out by Siskel and Ebert "AT The Movies", which was when they were getting really popular in syndication, and it spurred one of the best on-air disagreements between the two EVER. Siskel likened RAW, and Eddie Murphy overall, as being as funny (or funnier)and outrageous as Pryor, Carlin or Lenny Bruce. He loved the movie. Ebert despised it, and chastised Siskel for being "immature" and he also felt that Murphy's attitudes toward women were patronizing, damaging and even went so far as to call RAW a "pale imitation of a good comedienne". I thought Ebert was nuts at the time, and now that Siskel is dead, I can't find any review of RAW on Ebert's website. I've emailed him numerous times about it, trying to figure out why a movie that was so popular, and not even that long ago, would not be in his database. Does anyone else thinks that sounds fishy?

I have grown up to know Eddie Murphy as the funny guy who plays multiple people in one movie, but I also knew that some time ago he was a comedian to which no ground was sacred and who wore some crazy outfits. Luckily I was able to watch one of his classic comedy routines recently, Raw.

The greatest part of Eddie's routine was his impersonations. The voice, mannerisms and stuff the people speak about are all done perfectly. Another great thing is that he tells the humorous truth about things like relationships and how people act and think.

This movie/performance proves that Eddie Murphy is one of the greatest comedians out there. It is definitely one, for all those mature enough, to see. I will be looking out for more old Eddie Murphy stand up DVDs and I hope he goes back to his old ways.

This is not quite as funny as Delirious, but nothing could be. However, it is still is one of the funniest stand-ups around. The first half an hour is on par with his previous stand-up. The first half an hour he does impressions of some of the same people he did impressions of in DELIRIOUS. This includes Michael Jackson and Mr. T again. He also does impressions of what I can only surmise has to be a real life phone call from Bill Cosby. This is one of the funniest parts of the show as his voice and idiosyncrisies of Bill are right on. His ensuing conversation with Richard Pryor is also quite funny.

There is also some great bits in here about women, dating, and marriage. And while many people have claimed that Eddie is nothing but a misogynist with his rantings now, it has to be said that there has to be some truth to what he is ranting about.

The show does lack a little near the end but that is okay because the rest of the show is one hilarious skit after the other. He even takes on his parents again and does quite a good job.

Raw is not quite as funny as Delirious but it is a great follow up to his first one.

7 out of 10

Live in New York, Eddie Murphy may well look quite ridiculous in his purple jumpsuit but he holds the stage really well in this large arena. It goes without saying that his material is relentlessly foulmouthed and occasionally offensive but it rarely bothered me because he does manage to be consistently funny throughout the show. His topics are mostly in the realm of relationships in regards sex and women generally. This worried me a little bit because these topics hardly offered much in the way of originality but actually he did really well with it.

It wasn't that he avoided clichés (because he doesn't) but more that he manages to inject energy into his whole show. At times his material is very strong but even when he is being obvious and crude, his energy lifts it, engages the audience and makes it feel better than it is. I wasn't rolling with laughter all the time but I did really enjoy the show so, even when I didn't laugh at some bits, it wasn't really a problem but he was generally still amusing. Director Townsend doesn't really help him by having the camera tight on him so much either; Murphy's energy is in his whole body so the close shots reduce this somewhat – plus the whole setup makes it hard to appreciate the audience being in the room.

Overall though a funny and energetic show from Murphy. It isn't a classic by any means and his material is hardly original but he has stage presence and energy and that helps a lot. Maybe too crude and foulmouthed to be to everyone's tastes but if it is your thing then it is worth a look.