Eddie Murphy Names The Most Naturally Funny Person Ever
Eddie Murphy, no slouch himself in the comedy department, was asked by Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday to name the most naturally funny person he ever met. (Watch the video below.)
“Redd Foxx,” Murphy said.
“That’s a great answer,” the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host replied.
“Without even trying, just naturally funny,” Murphy said. “Just everything that came out of his mouth was funny.”
Foxx, the stand-up comic and “Sanford and Son” (1972-77) star who died in 1991, would likely be touched by the shoutout.
Murphy offered a macabre postscript to his praise: Foxx met his demise on the set of “The Royal Family,” a sitcom Murphy was producing. The bawdy funnyman collapsed during a rehearsal of the CBS comedy and later died at the hospital, The New York Times reported in its obituary.
“He had a heart attack on the show,” Murphy said. “That’s how funny he was. They thought he was joking.”
Kimmel noted the irony because part of Foxx’s shtick as a grumpy junk dealer on “Sanford and Son” was to feign heart attacks.