Eddie Griffin
Eddie Griffin is an actor, born 1968.
Eddie Griffin is a stand-up first and everything else second. Comedy Central ranked him at number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time, and the specific thing he does on stage, a fast, physical, impression-heavy style that keeps stacking voices on top of each other, is what every screen role has tried to package.
The sitcom did it most straightforwardly. Malcolm & Eddie gave him Eddie Sherman and a weekly platform for the riffing. The film that did it best is Undercover Brother (2002), where the pastiche of 1970s blaxploitation gives him a target for the impressions and an actual character to play at the same time, and where he is genuinely charming rather than just quick. He is also very good in a way nobody expected in John Q, where the tone requires him to stop performing entirely.
The rest is a comedian's filmography, which means the material is frequently below the performer. He was T.J. Hicks in both Deuce Bigalow films, Orpheus in Scary Movie 3, Pope Sweet Jesus in Norbit, and a long list of studio comedies that wanted his energy and gave him nothing to spend it on. He voiced Richard Pryor on Black Dynamite, which is the most flattering and the most demanding thing anyone has asked of him. The early bit parts are worth noticing too: the master of ceremonies in The Last Boy Scout in 1991, a customer in Coneheads, Rat in Jason's Lyric.
Movies (32)
- Scary Movie 3 (2003)
- Norbit (2007)
- Armageddon (1998)
- Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)
- John Q (2002)
- A Star Is Born (2018)
- Coneheads (1993)
- The Last Boy Scout (1991)
- Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999)
- The New Guy (2002)
- Date Movie (2006)
- The Comeback Trail (2020)
- Redline (2007)
- Undercover Brother (2002)
- Urban Justice (2007)
- The Meteor Man (1993)
- Double Take (2001)
- Beethoven's Big Break (2008)
- Blast (2004)
- How Bruce Lee Changed the World (2009)
- House Party 3 (1994)
- Jason's Lyric (1994)
- Picking Up the Pieces (2000)
- Brain Donors (1992)
- The Mod Squad (1999)
- Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy (2009)
- Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!! (2003)
- My Baby's Daddy (2004)
- The Walking Dead (1995)
- This Is Stand-Up (2020)
TV (6)
Where to start with Eddie Griffin
The film to see is Undercover Brother, and it is better than its reputation: a spoof with real affection for what it is spoofing, built entirely around his timing. Then Malcolm & Eddie for the sitcom version, which is where his fans actually met him.
If you want proof that he can do something other than turn the volume up, John Q is the surprise on this list; he plays it small and it works. Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo is the mainstream comedy hit and T.J. Hicks is the only character he has played twice on film, so the European sequel is only worth it if you liked the first. Scary Movie 3 and Norbit are broad and take him at face value. For the archaeology, The Last Boy Scout has him on screen in 1991 doing a single scene at full throttle, and A Star Is Born is the recent one where he shows up quietly and leaves.