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Ask anyone how they feel about Jamie Foxx and they’ll probably tell you how they love his music, acting, and comedy chops but if you ask the same thing about Eric Marlon Bishop, you’ll probably be met with blank stares!
Little do most people know, Eric Marlon Bishop is the real name of the 49-year-old Academy Award winner we’ve all come to know and love!
Jamie — or should we say Eric — has been using his stage name since 1989, when he began doing standup after accepting a dare from his girlfriend at the time. He opted to use the name “Jamie” after realizing that female comics would often perform first, and has since explained that the second part of his moniker is paying homage to noted comedian Redd Foxx, whose work he admired.
“I changed it — to be honest with you — because I was a standup comedian; I changed it to do standup in the club, in LA, at the Comedy Store, and I went up and I had a great set. And when I had a great set, I couldn’t get back up for like six weeks because the comedians ran the list,” he explained on a 2014 appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman. “So when I went to another place, I noticed it would be like a thousand guys who showed up and only, like, three girls. And the three girls would get a spot on the list. So I went to the list and wrote down a unisex name — Jamie Foxx — and I was the first guy called.”
He added that people thought he was arrogant that night because after getting a standing ovation, people were calling out “Jamie,” to him and he didn’t respond — while they thought it was because he was so stuck up, it was actually because he forgot his own stage name!
“Foxx is a little bit of an ode to Redd Foxx,” he added, before joking that he’s his “cousin,” even though they’ve never met it.
If you didn’t know that “Jamie Foxx” wasn’t Jamie’s real name — don’t worry, you’re definitely not alone! Check out how some people on Twitter hilariously reacted to the news!
