Arsenio Hall
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
My mother was a male barber, so I was able to channel her in the barbershop.
And they turned Coming to America down.
We went and pitched it at Paramount, and they said, no, thank you.
And they were like, we're not sure, but it's a fish out of water.
We've seen this a billion times.
And coming to America at that time didn't have the barbershop.
It didn't have Eddie as the old Jewish man.
It was a guy named Ned Tannen, I believe, who was running Paramount, who eventually gave us notes.
And he said, everybody wants to see Eddie do characters again.
How about if the people you meet in America are played by Eddie?
And I was sitting there saying, could I get y'all a drink?
And it's Eddie that said, hey, I saw Arsenio do stand up on this HBO thing.
And he does this thing about Jesse Jackson.
I know he can do a great preacher and we can come up with some barbers.