Wrapped in candy-colored leather, Eddie Murphy ushered in the age of the rock-star comedian. In the '80s, he was the living embodiment of brashness—a powder keg of politically incorrect humor who could flip between voice-contorted stories of his troubled childhood (“Drinking Fathers”) and tastelessly hilarious impersonations of Michael Jackson, James Brown, and Mick Jagger (“Singers”). But underneath all of the graphic sex jokes and curse words, Murphy is an epic storyteller capable of painting cartoonish images of American family life that have a universal relevance (“The Barbecue”).