"The hill that I'm willing to die on and there's not many of them is that Eddie Murphy is the greatest actor of our generation. First time I saw Coming to America, I want to say I was like 8 or 9, and I remember thinking, So this is the bar. If I'm going to do comedy and I'm specifically going to be like a Black actor doing comedy, this is the bar for how good it needs to be."
"People don't understand how difficult it is to have multiple characters, have unique voices all in the same scene, and they're all being played by one actor. Eddie's the best at that and has always been the best at that. The fact that Coming to America can feel like a bunch of different characters when he's primarily playing at least a third of them, is incredible. All-time favorite TV show would have to be the Fresh Prince."
"I actually find myself watching a lot of old reality television. There's something about watching human beings realize they're on camera, and they're being perceived and watching them adjust their behaviors episode after episode as they start to figure it out. Recently, it's been Flavor of Love, specifically Season 1 and 2. You see some real human beings in real moments there. So Flavor of Love, going back to old Survivor, old Top Model. This is really entertaining to me."
Tyler James Williams praises Eddie Murphy as the greatest actor of his generation and cites Coming to America as his standard for comedic performance. He recalls seeing the film around age eight or nine and setting that bar for Black actors in comedy. He emphasizes the difficulty of playing multiple distinct characters and voices within the same scene and credits Murphy for mastering that craft. Williams names The Fresh Prince as his favorite TV show for its committed comedic risk-taking. He also watches old reality television like Flavor of Love, Survivor, and Top Model to observe authentic human behavior and on-camera adjustment.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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