Eddie Murphy opens up to Oprah: 'I'm the most comfortable I've ever been in my own skin'

"What was it about, do you think, Prince Akeem that people just—there's a connection they just love so much," Winfrey posited. "A lot of people think of him as the first Black prince charming. What do you think that is?" 

"The movie is escapist," Murphy said. "Usually, when we tell our stories—because we have such dark history in this country, when we tell our stories, lots of times the themes are really heavy. So, when we go to the movies, it's not just escapism when we go to the movies. We gotta see some heavy stuff. We gotta have some buttons pressed, and it's not just entertainment. We're getting educated, and all this stuff is going on."

The Saturday Night Live alum continued: "We have to make those movies. Coming to America is none of that. Coming to America is a modern fairy tale, and it's got these powerful Black images of kings and queens and princesses."

A separate clip provided exclusively to People revealed a portion of the conversation will veer into how Murphy and Winfrey are experiencing turning 60 years old. Murphy's 60th birthday was Saturday (April 3), while Winfrey is 67.

"I am the most comfortable I've ever been in my skin," the iconic comedian said. "I feel great and optimistic and totally comfortable being Eddie." 

Murphy had been hot on the press circuit leading up to Coming 2 America's release, and while he is perfectly content with aging and being a father of 10, he detailed on the Marc Maron podcast his wish to "bookend" his legendary career by returning to stand-up comedy for the first time since he was 28 years old once its safe to do so. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed his initial plan to hit the road in 2020 after starring in Dolemite Is My Name and returning to SNL as a host in December 2019.

"What will it be like?" he said. "I was a baby when I did it before. When I get some structure to my little thoughts and go and get on stage and do it again, I want to see what it's gonna be like. ... Then, if I wanna go sit on the couch, cool."

If anybody can get more information out of Murphy about what he has in the works, it's Oprah. So far, her other guests on The Oprah Conversation have included Matthew McConaughey, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Dolly Porton, Barack Obama, and Amanda Gorman. 

Additionally, the former daytime talk show host pulled off the interview heard around the world with her CBS primetime sit-down with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle:

Murphy's episode will be available to stream for Apple TV Plus users beginning Friday.