Arsenio Hall, the renowned comedian and television host, shared a humorous anecdote during an episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle on Friday, April 3. The 70-year-old entertainer revealed that he was in the middle of a romantic evening when his plans were abruptly interrupted.
The conversation began with host Jenna Bush Hager praising Hall for his role in the film Coming to America. Hall recounted how the movie almost didn’t come to be. He explained that Paramount Pictures called him and expressed concerns that director John Landis had quit the project. “I was like, ‘Ouch.’ But they worked it out, as they always do,” he said.
Hall emphasized that he had no involvement in Landis changing his mind. However, he did admit to going to Eddie Murphy’s house with a joint, telling his friend, “Relax.”
Guest co-host Willie Geist asked Hall to elaborate on a “rude interruption” he experienced before heading to Murphy’s home. Hall humorously revealed that he was about to have his first ménage à trois when Paramount called. “I had to leave. But the ladies had fun without me!” he joked.
Bush Hager responded with a playful remark: “They were patient.”
In his memoir Arsenio: A Memoir, Hall expanded on the incident. He described how he was given “outrageous New York weed” and spent the night partying with two women after dinner in his suite at the Waldorf Astoria. “I have long dreamed of having a ménage-à-trois,” he wrote. “Call it high on my bucket list, maybe in the top three, and tonight’s the night. I am about to fulfill my dream.”
As the women were “making out on the couch” and “turning him on,” Paramount Pictures president Ned Tanen called him. Tanen informed Hall that Murphy had “choked” Landis “on Queens Boulevard, in front of an entire crowd,” which led Landis to “f—— quit.”
To resolve the tension between Murphy and Landis, Hall left the women behind and took a limo to Murphy’s home in Englewood, NJ. He helped his friend understand the importance of breathing and staying calm during conflicts.
“We drink and smoke and get high as mother——,” he wrote. “The next day, Landis has returned to work, he and Eddie have met, agreed to a truce, or made up, or — I never do find out exactly what happened that afternoon on Queens Boulevard.”
Coming to America was released in 1988 and became a massive box-office hit, grossing $288 million worldwide.
