Eddie Murphy Says He Was “Forced” To Stop Using His Signature Laugh For This Reason

Eddie Murphy says he stopped using his famous laugh after fans and comedians began mimicking his guffaw during the height of his career .

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The comedic icon recently appeared in an interview for CBR , in which he says he was “forced” to stop using his laugh due to the public “making too much of it.” According to Murphy, his laugh, which garnered attention via his performance in the original Beverly Hills Cop film, was natural and not dramatized for comedic effect.

“Not Axel’s laugh, it was my laugh,” the New York native said when asked of his notorious chuckle. “That was my laugh.”

However, Murphy says that the buzz surrounding his signature cackle would soon grow a life of its own, with many impressionists keying in on that particular mannerism. “In the ’80s, I was like, I don’t wanna be known for a laugh,” he said. “I noticed some people would do an impression of me, and if somebody was doing an impression, that’s all they did was they’d laugh.”

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In an attempt to curb the attention to his laugh, the 63-year-old began to alter his laugh, a process he says has proved and remained successful to this day. “It was like, you know what? I’m gonna stop laughing [like that],” Murphy explained. “I forced myself to stop laughing [like that], which is really an unnatural thing. You laugh and say, okay, I have to stop laughing like that. And now, I don’t laugh like that anymore.”

Eddie Murphy is preparing to reprise his role as Axel Foley in the new film Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F , a reprisal of the popular Beverly Hills Cop franchise. The fourth installment in the series, Axel F features a cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Kevin Bacon, with Mark Molloy serving as director.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F releases on July 3 on Netflix.

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