James Brown Told Eddie Murphy to Bury All His Money in the Woods

James Brown, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, was an Eddie Murphy staple, both in his stand-up comedy…

…and on Saturday Night Live, where Murphy played Brown multiple times — most famously on James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party. Originally, Murphy wasn’t convinced the sketch was a good idea. “I actually didn't think that was funny until we did it,” he told Jimmy Fallon in 2011. 

The concept was the brainchild of Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, two SNL writers who would go on to co-write several Murphy movies, including Coming to America, Boomerang and Nutty Professor. “You know, I think it was an herb-induced sketch,” Murphy said, remembering the pitch going something like this:

BLAUSTEIN/SHEFFIELD: (inhaling a joint) You know, if he was James Brown in a hot tub…

MURPHY: James Brown in a hot tub?!?!

BLAUSTEIN/SHEFFIELD: No, listen. (Taking another hit and holding in the smoke) If James Brown's in a hot tub, that'd be some funny (bleep).

“Back then, I hadn't smoked a joint,” Murphy admitted, “so I didn't get the joke.” 

But the sketch was a hit — both with audiences and Brown himself. While filming the “horrendous film” Holy Man, Brown approached Murphy about starring in his life story. Murphy thought that wasn’t such a good idea. “People would be laughing.”

"No, no," Brown replied. “They'd be laughing if you was playing around, but if you're serious, people will take it serious. Because you got all that in-between stuff.”

What did Brown mean by “that in-between stuff”? Murphy figures it’s all the signature grunts and scats — Heh! Unh! — that passed for Brown speech, at least in the way Murphy impersonated him. 

On another occasion, Murphy went to see Brown backstage after one of his concerts. “He had the curls in the head, and he said, ‘Eddie Murphy. When are you gonna start working clean? You gotta stop doing all that cursing, you know? And you gotta make sure you get your money, any money you got, and bury it in the woods.’”

Murphy wanted to know why.

“The government gonna take your money,” Brown warned. “If you have it in a bank, the government will take your money. Get you a piece of land, you bury that money in the woods.”

Murphy was understandably dubious about the advice. Couldn't the government just take his land?

“Well, they won't know where the money is.”

Murphy told Fallon he always pictured Brown driving around down south looking for the money he buried in different places. “Pull the car over,” he’d tell his driver. “Give me the shovel. Ha! Unh! Heh! Unh!”

It sounds nuts, but no one would be laughing when a triumphant Brown returned with a fistful of dirty twenty-dollar bills.