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Eddie Murphy announces return to stand-up comedy: 'I am going to tour next year'

Comedian has barely been in the public eye for the past eight years, calling himself a 'semi-retired gentleman of leisure'

Roisin O'Connor
Saturday 07 September 2019 08:06 BST
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Dolemite is My Name trailer

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Eddie Murphy has announced he is set to return to stand-up comedy, with a full tour in the works.

The actor and comedian has a number of projects on the go, including a Rudy Ray Moore biopic titled Dolemite is My Name; a sequel to Coming to America, and an SNL hosting slot on 21 December, which will mark his first time hosting the show in 30 years.

He confirmed his tour intentions in an interview with Krista Smith on the Present Company podcast for Netflix, commenting: “Next year, in 2020, I’m going to go on the road and do some stand-up.”

His last stand-up special, Raw, took place in 1987 and earnt more than $50 million. Murphy practically disappeared from the public eye after 2011, when he said he had no interest in making more family films.

“I don't have any interest in that right now,” he told Rolling Stone at the time. “There's really no blueprint, but I'm trying to do some edgy stuff. And I only want to do what I really want to do, otherwise I'm content to sit here and play my guitar all day.

“I always tell people now that I'm a semi-retired gentleman of leisure, and occasionally I'll go do some work to break the boredom up.”

At the time of writing, no further details of Murphy's stand-up tour had been revealed.

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