1. Black Faces in Early Hollywood
Strangely, Raw, Eddie Murphy's theatrical "stand-up special," does not start out with Eddie coming out to tell jokes. Raw starts out in a suburban house, with kids running around. A little boy looks to his mother and says "Mom, I got a joke to tell." The child's mother looks to her husband and family and tells them "shhh, little Eddie has a joke to tell." Eddie then stands right in the center of the room and starts to speak: "Once there was a lion and a monkey. The monkey said, 'I can make the weather change.' And the lion said, 'No, you can't.' So the monkey started climbing up the tree." The family smiles, not to let Eddie's confidence slip up, but also confused as to what the joke is. Eddie continues, "And then he started peeing on the lion's head. Now it's raining!" An older woman looks shocked. Eddie then flips positioning, with his butt stuck out to his entire watching family: "Then he started farting.".
Eddie's mom grimaces as Eddie makes fart sounds with his mouth as he shakes his butt to everyone. She didn't raise her child this way. Eddie then turns around: "'Now there's thunder!' Then he started doo-dooing," and as fast as he turned to face his family he turned back, butt stuck back up in the air. Eddie strains his face and body as the imaginary turd falls out, his family watching in disbelief and disgust. Eddie turns to his family: "So the lion said, 'Oh, yeah? Well, I can make the stars come out.' And then he kicked him in the ding-ding. Thank you!" Eddie has his hands up in the air as if he's about to take a bow, a giant smile on his face. Crickets. Suddenly a man and a woman start to burst into laughter. The man taps Eddie's father and tells him "I love that doo-doo line. That boy's got talent." The stand-up special then begins. Eddie Murphy comes onto stage, a grin as wide as his talent, and a purple leather jumpsuit that, quite literally, becomes his skin on stage.