Analysis of Two Comedians: Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler
This essay will compare and contrast two of America’s famous comedians, Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler. Murphy is an African American comedian while Sandler is a Jewish American comic. The career path of both Murphy and Sandler are similar in that they both started as stand-up comics and both were members of the cast of Saturday Night Live. Aside from being a comedian, musician and writer, Murphy also directed and produced his own films. However, unlike Murphy, Sandler does not direct movies and sticks to being a comedian, musician, screenwriter and lately a producer too.
Murphy was a huge star during the 80s while Sandler’s career started its uphill climb in the 90s, continuing through the 2000s. Murphy has received several awards including Critic’s Choice Award, Screen Actors’ Guild Award, Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination in 2007 for his role in Dreamgirls. He also has three People’s Choice Award. For his role in Nutty Professor, Murphy earned a Golden Globe nomination and an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Award. On the other hand, Sandler has yet to be recognized by any of the prestigious award-giving bodies.
In terms of domestic box office statistics where they had starring roles, Murphy tops Sandler, garnering approximately a total of $3. 7 billion in box office revenues while Sandler accumulated approximately a total of $1. 9 billion[Fac11]. Shrek 2, the highest grossing film of Murphy earned $436. 7 million in the box office while Sandler’s top grossing film, Big Daddy only earned $163. 5 million[Fac11].
Sandler is known for his slapstick and goof-ball humor while Murphy is famous for his voice over works. In Saturday Night Live, Sandler was remarkable in doing impersonations of famous personalities such as Bruce Springsteen, Axel Rose, Tina Turner and Bono. Like Sandler, Murphy did impersonations in Saturday Night Live too. His famous impersonations were those of Bill Cosby, Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Jerry Lewis and Stevie Wonder.
Sandler has received criticisms for taking on roles which are almost similar such as his roles in Happy Gilmore, Mr. Deeds, and Billy Madison[AETnd]. Murphy on the other hand, received negative comments for his mocking depiction of black stereotypes.
Murphy’s comedic style was influenced by Richard Pryor, while Sandler is often compared with the style of Jerry Lewis. Murphy’s style of comedy was personal and observational, raunchy and has a lot of profanity and swearing.
One other quirk of Sandler is his preference for working with his friends. Rob Schneider, his best friend has appeared in cameo roles in most of his movies[AETnd].
Murphy had a career slump from 1989 to 2000 while Sandler’s career seems to be still moving up.
Both Murphy and Sandler remain to be in the list of America’s top comedians. Each one has his unique comedic style; thus, having their own following of viewers. Both comedians have earned their stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a testimony to their prowess as great comedians.
Works Cited
Fac11: , (The-movie-times. com 1),
AETnd: , (AETN UK , par 14),
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