Eddie Murphy is one of the funniest men alive and since it is Black History Month, I've decided to highlight some of his funniest characters.

Murphy emerged in the early 1980's as a regular, cast member on SNL. By all accounts, he was an instant hit garnering widespread popularity for his unique talents. Throughout his career, he has been in close to forty movies and also hosted his own standup events while continuing to make various appearances on television shows.

Murphy has portrayed a slew of different characters, and what I love about that the most is how he oftentimes plays the role of several, differing people in the same movie. He went to great lengths in the hair and makeup department to become completely unrecognizable and used that to make his films even more hilarious. It became a Murphy-signature and ultimately, inspired later comics to follow in his footsteps.

The list below is my top 10 Eddie Murphy characters that I thought were the funniest, most breakthrough and memorable.

1. Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood

As previously stated, Murphy got his comedic start as a regular on SNL and this is the same place where Murphy created some of his most breakthrough moments.

Mr. Robinson was one of Murphy's best sketches from SNL. In Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood, he concocted a priceless spoof of the PBS character of Mr. Rogers from "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood." Instead of a pleasant and loving neighborhood like we knew in the land of PBS, Mr. Robinson gave us a view of what "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" would look like in a bad part of town or the ghetto. Murphy is seen illustrating life as a hustler and ex-con demonstrating crude, spelling lessons and scams that he undertakes in order to rip off his neighbors.

2. James Brown Hottub sketch

In another classic sketch that originated on SNL, Murphy is acting as James Brown. He uses Brown's super, soul funk and struts around in a blue, velvet robe adorned with sequins and gold writing. His muse is non-other than a hot tub: "Hot tub. Very hot. Full of water. Will it make me sweat? Well, well. Gonna get in the water."Each time he attempts to get in, he shrieks and repeats how hot it is. Truly so funny, that James Brown probably enjoyed it as much as we all did.

3. Buckwheat

In yet another SNL classic, Murphy impersonates Buckwheat from the "Little Rascals," and it's completely side-splitting listening to him butcher the lyrics to well-known songs. My personal favorite is Buckwheat swapping "Wookin' Pa Nub" " for "Lookin' For Love." Even better is the address in New Nork, New Nork.

4. White Like Me sketch

In this SNL sketch, Eddie goes undercover as a white man. It is truly uproarious watching his life drastically change once he metamorphosizes and this also gives us a glimpse of what was to come as Murphy became an expert at transformation and disguises. To prepare for the task, Murphy is seen reading "a whole bunch of Hallmark cards."

He is given a newspaper for free because nobody is around indicating that once he is white, he get things for free. I particularly like how the bus atmosphere becomes jovial and party-like once all of the black occupants leave. I also love how Murphy gets a 50k loan without any collateral or I.D. He leaves us with the persistent doubt that not every white person you meet is actually what they appear.

5. Coming to America

This is probably one of my favorite Eddie Murphy films. There are so many catch phrases and amusing moments that make this flick impossible to forget. From asking his future wife to bark like a dog to the McDowell's Golden Arcs and Soul Glo', this movie will make you laugh in so many ways.

In it, Murphy portrays Akeem, a crown prince from Zamunda, who is on a quest to find a bride that has not been pre-arranged and selected by his parents. Low and behold, he ends up in Queens where he pretends to be a poor, goat herder.

In this film, Eddie plays several characters including Akeem, an older, white man who frequents a neighborhood barbershop, the sassy owner of that barbershop and a singer in a group called "Sexual Chocolate."

I especially love Randy Watson's s exit after screaming "Sexual Chocolate!" followed by a foot stomp.

6. The Nutty Professor

In another complete transformation, Eddie portrays the sweet, yet overweight Professor Sherman Klump as "The Nutty Professor." As per his usual inclination, Murphy gets into costume and plays six, other people in the supporting cast. He also made a sequel due to the success of the first remake off of an original movie which starred Jerry Lewis.

I liked Murphy's portrayal of Mama Klump and her constant support of her children by clapping,"Hercules! Hercules!" There was something about him portraying a female that was particularly amusing.

7. Norbit

In the film "Norbit," Eddie portrays the mild-mannered Norbit who gets snagged by a domineering, unfaithful and exhausting spouse known as Rasputia, also played by Murphy. Perhaps one of his most amusing characters in addition to Rasputia is Mr. Wong, the orphanage owner who raises the orphaned, Norbit.

8. Beverly Hills Cop

In another one of my favorite Eddie Murphy movies, "Beverly Hills Cop," Murphy plays a cop known as Axel Foley. In the film, Axel goes to Beverly Hills despite the instructions given by his Sargent in order to find out who killed his best friend. Eddie's contrasting behavior with that of the officers and people in Beverly Hills makes this one of his funniest movies which also spawned several sequels. His agility and quickness to think on his feet with impersonations make it one that highlights his best abilities as a comic. One perfectly good example is in this clip below where Eddie pretends to be gay in order to get a message to the man he suspects killed his friend Mikey.

9. The Golden Child

Eddie Murphy as Chandler Jarrell appears in this flick and his role is to save the life of the Golden Child. I love the spirituality of this movie along with Murphy's well-interjected humor at times where it is unexpected, yet strikingly humorous.

10. Donkey in the Shrek movies

Well, technically Eddie wasn't in the Shrek movies as himself, but his voice and personality were lent to the comical character of Donkey. Donkey is the funny animal that befriends Shrek and helps him on his mission to save the princess. He and Mike Myers make this a very amusing series with the help of the supporting cast.