Arsenio Hall, a seasoned comedian known for his vibrant personality and infectious energy, shared a fascinating story during an episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle. The 70-year-old entertainer revealed that he was on the verge of a memorable evening when an unexpected call disrupted his plans.
The conversation began with host Jenna Bush Hager praising Hall for his role in Coming to America, a film that almost didn’t come to fruition. Hall recounted how Paramount Pictures initially raised concerns about director John Landis, who they believed had quit the project. “They called me and said, ‘We’re worried because we think [director] John Landis just quit.’ And I’m like, ‘Ouch.’ But they worked it out, as they always do,” he explained.
Hall emphasized that he wasn’t involved in Landis’s decision, but he did take matters into his own hands by visiting Eddie Murphy’s house with a joint. “I was like, ‘Relax,’” he said.
Guest co-host Willie Geist then asked Hall to elaborate on a “rude interruption” he experienced before heading to Murphy’s home. Hall humorously described how he was about to have his first ménage à trois when Paramount called him. “And I had to leave. But the ladies had fun without me!” he joked.
Bush Hager responded with a light-hearted remark, “They were patient.”
In his memoir Arsenio: A Memoir, Hall expanded on the incident. He mentioned that he had been gifted “outrageous New York weed” and spent the evening 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 told Hall that Murphy had “choked” Landis “on Queens Boulevard, in front of an entire crowd,” prompting Landis to “f—— quit.”
To ease the tension between Murphy and Landis, Hall left the women and took a limo to Murphy’s home in Englewood, NJ. He advised his friend on how to stay calm amid conflict.
“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.
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