(Credits: Best of Netflix / YouTube Still)

If you think you know Eddie Murphy, you really do not. Not until you watch Being Eddie. Well, it is the first time in years that Eddie has spoken without slipping into a character or a bit, and honestly, doesn’t it feel surreal?

Because here is a man who has been famous longer than most people have been alive, and yet the new Netflix documentary on him, Being Eddie, keeps dropping surprises every ten minutes. You sit there wondering how someone this iconic managed to keep so much of himself out of public view, and then he starts talking and everything clicks.

The story starts rolling fast. The first thing that you learn about Eddie that shocks you is how Eddie did not “rise” to fame… he shot straight into it. He was 19 years old when he first entered the world of television. 19. That young and already on SNL, already doing characters that people quote decades later. And he talks about it in such a simple way that it almost makes you laugh. He says it like he was just going to work. Meanwhile, the entire country was glued to the TV, waiting for Gumby or Mr Robinson to pop up.

Being Eddie gently reminds you of the people around him back then. Huge names. Legends, if you may. And many of them did not make it out. Eddie talks about how he survived an environment that destroyed so many others. The mess, he watched from the front row, and for a second, you realise how strange it was that he kept his head down through all of it. No drinking. No smoking. No drugs. Nothing. He stayed clear while everyone around him was drowned in it. What’s so great about him is how he talks about it without sounding self-righteous. He just knew the cost. And it is rare to hear someone say it so plainly.

And then he takes a turn that I swear nobody expects. The third shocking thing that he revealed was his lifelong struggle with OCD. He starts talking about the routines he developed when he was younger, the checking and re-checking, the quiet worry running in the background of everything he did. Suddenly, the jokes, the timing, and the precision in his performances all make sense. He explains his OCD in the most Eddie way possible… So much so that you forget you are listening to someone who has been famous for half a century.

Just when the film feels heavy, he does something completely unexpected. He starts bringing out puppets. Actual puppets of Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Paul Mooney, and Val Young. Turns out, he is a ventriloquist and collector, and he has been doing that for years. And he handles them with this mix of pride and mischief that feels so classic Eddie Murphy, you cannot stop smiling. You get the sense that these little creations have been part of his private world for years, pulled out whenever he felt like entertaining the room. It is such a warm, chaotic glimpse into the way his brain works that you forget you are watching a documentary.

And then he shifts into the future. As calm as ever. As confident as ever. He talks about taking years off, resetting, walking back into SNL like he never left, and then suddenly listing the projects he is about to start. The George Clinton biopic. A new Pink Panther. More Shrek. And then the one that clearly lights him up: the remake of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. You can hear the excitement in the way he describes it. It is not just a film for him. It is the passion project he has been quietly building for a decade.

By the time the documentary ends, you realise something important: people talk about Eddie Murphy as a legend because of the characters, the jokes, and the performances. But the man underneath all of that is far more interesting. Someone who grew up too fast, survived an industry that destroys people, kept his mind steady, kept his humour sharper than ever, and still has enough creative energy to plan the next ten years.

Being Eddie is not about nostalgia. It is about clarity. About seeing someone who has been in the spotlight for fifty years without ever actually letting the spotlight touch the real version of him.