To answer your question, explain to me what you thought of the Austin Powers movies.
I’ll accept all of the examples of white “altered” folk in movies but, each time I see Eddie Murphy these days, I think “Eddie Murphy in I Still Have Five More Payments On This Fatsuit”
At least, that’s the only explanation I can think of to explain why he keeps making them.
Oh, and to take us to what I think of when I hear the phrase “Black Comedy”, didn’t Peter Sellers play three different roles in Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb?
It appears that others have made the same observation as the OP and feels that it is in fact a trend, with some feeling that that the phenomenon is somewhat degrading: From What is so funny about a black man in a dress?
On the edge of my memory I can barely recall a recent skit on Saturday Night Live in which one of the black comedians complains about why he always has to dress in drag and then jokes about where black comedians get their drag clothes. Anyone else remember something like this?
Not from SNL, but I remember it was a theme in an episode of 30 Rock last year.
Almost four, from what I’ve heard – he almost played the role that went to Slim Pickens as well as Dr. Strangelove, President Muffley, and the British officer Mandrake.
Sellers also played multiple roles in
**the Prisoner of Zenda ** (3)
**The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu ** (2)
**The Mouse that Roared ** (3, including a woman)
**Soft Beds, Hard Battles ** (6 !)
**The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Hofn ** (4)
Let’s go Crazy! (6 !)
I’d be really interested in knowing what Flip Wilson thinks of that analysis.