50 Fun Facts About Coming to America

Who directed Coming to America, reuniting with Eddie Murphy five years after their first film together?

John Landis directed it, five years after their first film together; the two fell out badly on set, yet reunited for Beverly Hills Cop III in 1994.

To test his arranged bride Imani, Prince Akeem first orders her to imitate which animal?

A dog: Imani, trained since childhood to please him, barks on command and then hops on one leg, which convinces Akeem to go looking for a bride with opinions of her own.

How does King Jaffe expect Akeem to spend his 40 days abroad?

Sowing royal oats is all King Jaffe thinks the trip is for, and when he later tells Lisa exactly that, adding that Akeem cannot be serious about her, she runs out on the prince.

In which New York borough do Akeem and Semmi settle, posing as ordinary students?

Queens: Akeem reasons that a place with that name must be where a future queen lives, so he and Semmi ask a landlord there for the shabbiest room he has.

Lisa's boyfriend Darryl Jenks is heir to which hair-care fortune?

Soul Glo is the Jheri-curl product Darryl's father invented, and Darryl, who lives off it, lets Lisa believe that the wad of cash Akeem slipped into the rally's collection came from him.

Eddie Murphy's soul singer Randy Watson fronts which band at the neighbourhood rally?

Sexual Chocolate get their shout-out when Randy Watson finishes his ballad, bellows the band's name and drops the microphone, a move Murphy had already pulled in his 1983 stand-up special Delirious.

Besides Semmi, which of these characters is played by Arsenio Hall?

Reverend Brown is Arsenio Hall, preaching that the God who saved Daniel from the lions' den also 'helped Gilligan get off the island'; Hall plays Morris the barber too, while Clarence and Saul are Eddie Murphy.

Who plays King Jaffe Joffer?

James Earl Jones gives King Jaffe one of cinema's deepest voices, yet as a boy he stuttered so badly that he barely spoke for years, until he reached high school.

Which actress plays Queen Aoleon, and would later voice Sarabi in The Lion King?

Madge Sinclair plays Queen Aoleon; she had been a schoolteacher in Jamaica before leaving for New York to try acting, and voiced Sarabi the year before she died.

Who plays Cleo McDowell, Lisa's father and Akeem's boss?

John Amos is Cleo McDowell, who swears his burger bar is nothing like McDonald's: they have the Golden Arches and the Big Mac, while he has the Golden Arcs and the Big Mick.

Which sport do Akeem, Lisa, Darryl and Patrice go to watch on their double date?

Basketball: Darryl has four tickets to a St. John's game, where a vendor who comes from Zamunda recognises his prince and almost gives Akeem's secret away.

Who plays Darryl Jenks, Lisa's obnoxious boyfriend, in Coming to America?

Eriq La Salle plays Darryl, who loses Lisa for good by letting her father announce an engagement she never agreed to; six years later La Salle became Dr. Peter Benton in ER.

According to Arsenio Hall, why did Louie Anderson end up playing McDowell's employee Maurice?

Paramount insisted on a white actor, Hall told Jimmy Kimmel in 2021: the studio handed over a list of three white performers, and he and Murphy picked Louie Anderson because they knew and liked him.

Which future star plays the armed robber whom Akeem and Semmi overpower at McDowell's?

Samuel L. Jackson is the robber, who has hit McDowell's five times; Cleo's reward for stopping him is an invitation to his party, where Akeem and Semmi find they are there to tend bar and park cars.

Which future Oscar winner made his film debut in Coming to America as a boy getting a haircut?

Cuba Gooding Jr. is credited only as 'Boy Getting Haircut' in his first film; four years earlier he had break-danced behind Lionel Richie at the closing ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympics.

The homeless men Akeem hands cash to are Mortimer and Randolph Duke, from which film?

Trading Places (1983) introduced the Duke brothers; Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy reprise them as the bankrupt pair who, handed Akeem's cash, exclaim 'Mortimer, we're back!'

Which South African choir sings 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' over the opening sequence?

Ladysmith Black Mambazo sing it as 'Mbube', the 1939 Zulu original by Solomon Linda, who sold the copyright that same year; his family won a share of the song's royalties only in 2006, decades after he died.

Taking a break from cleaning McDowell's, Akeem impresses Lisa by quoting which philosopher?

Nietzsche: Akeem tells her that 'he who would learn to fly must first learn to stand and walk', and Lisa replies that the other men who work there don't quote philosophers.

After Akeem's over-keen small talk about American football, Cleo McDowell warns him to stay off what?

Drugs: told to charm Lisa's father, Akeem raves about the Giants kicking 'an oblong pigskin ball through a big H', and Cleo decides only a man who is high could be that excited.

Coming to America received two Academy Award nominations, one for costume design and one for what?

Makeup: Rick Baker's work turned Murphy and Hall into an old Jewish man, a soul singer, two barbers and a woman in a bar, but the Oscar went to Beetlejuice.

Which humourist successfully sued Paramount, claiming Coming to America was based on a story treatment he had sold the studio?

Art Buchwald's treatment was dropped by Paramount and picked up by Warner Bros., which abandoned it in turn once Paramount announced Coming to America, with its strikingly similar story.

Hiding that he is royalty, Akeem tells Lisa that he and his family back home are what?

Poor goat herders is his cover story, and when Lisa says he seems too educated for it, he explains that goats look after themselves, which leaves a herder a great deal of time to read.

Where does Akeem finally catch up with Lisa to explain himself and propose?

On a subway car, Akeem renounces his throne in front of the other passengers and asks Lisa to marry him; a stranger urges her to take a chance, but she gets off at the next stop.

Which summer 1988 hit out-grossed Coming to America domestically?

Who Framed Roger Rabbit opened a week earlier and, despite playing in far fewer cinemas than Coming to America, finished the year well ahead of it.

Which future pop star choreographed the dance numbers in Coming to America?

Paula Abdul, a former Laker Girl who had been choreographing Janet Jackson's videos, staged the palace dances; her own debut album came out the same year and turned her into a chart-topping singer.

In the barbershop, which boxer does Clarence insist was the greatest who ever lived?

Joe Louis could have beaten them all, says Clarence; when Saul points out that Rocky Marciano knocked him out, Clarence snaps that Louis was 75 years old when they fought.

Randy Watson's big number at the rally is a cover of which Whitney Houston hit?

Greatest Love of All is Randy Watson's showpiece, and once he has left the stage Lisa steps up to say the song makes a good point and asks the crowd for donations to rebuild a local park.

In 2022, Paramount took legal action against a company over which unlicensed Coming to America venture?

Opening pop-up McDowell's restaurants brought a copyright claim from Paramount, although the film's own McDowell's was a borrowed identity too: a real New York Wendy's, redressed for the shoot.

What happens to the royal luggage minutes after Akeem and Semmi arrive in their New York neighbourhood?

Stolen off the street: bystanders carry the trunks away while Akeem and Semmi are indoors asking about a room, which leaves the prince with exactly the bare life he came looking for.

What do palace attendants scatter in Prince Akeem's path wherever he walks in Zamunda?

Rose petals: Akeem tells his father he could do without them, and later a trail of them on the steps of his New York building is what tells him the king has come to fetch him.

Which gift does Akeem send Lisa anonymously, with a card signed only 'from an admirer'?

Earrings: the ruby pair arrives with no name on the card, and when Lisa finally learns who sent them she pulls them off and throws them back at Akeem.

Who directed Coming 2 America (2021)?

Craig Brewer got the job after directing Murphy in the star's previous film, which left Murphy eager to work with him again.

Coming 2 America was meant for cinemas but ended up premiering on which streaming service in March 2021?

Prime Video premiered it in March 2021, after Paramount sold the distribution rights to Amazon during the pandemic rather than hold the film for cinemas.

Who plays General Izzi, the sabre-rattling dictator of neighbouring Nexdoria, in the sequel?

Wesley Snipes plays General Izzi, who has never forgiven Akeem for jilting his sister Imani thirty years earlier and now demands a marriage between their children to settle the score.

Akeem's long-lost son Lavelle is found hustling tickets outside which venue?

Madison Square Garden is where the old barbershop regulars send Akeem: they know Lavelle as the kid always out front, and he is found there trying to shift tickets for that night's St. John's game.

Who plays Lavelle's mother Mary in Coming 2 America?

Leslie Jones plays Mary Junson, whose one night with a drugged Akeem on his first trip to New York produced the son he never knew about; she moves to the palace in Zamunda along with him.

At the end of Coming 2 America, Akeem changes the law of succession in favour of whom?

His eldest daughter Meeka becomes heir when Akeem scraps the rule that only a man may rule Zamunda, the same rule that had sent him across the world to find a son he had never met.

Principal photography on Coming 2 America took place mainly in which city?

Atlanta hosted the shoot, with rapper Rick Ross lending his Georgia mansion as a location; the actor playing the dying king could not travel, so his scenes were filmed separately in New York.

Which of these acts appears as themselves at King Jaffe's pre-funeral in the sequel?

Salt-N-Pepa perform at the king's 'pre-funeral', a send-off he insists on attending alive; En Vogue and Gladys Knight sing too, while Morgan Freeman delivers the narration.

Which Oscar-winning costume designer created Zamunda's wardrobe for Coming 2 America?

Ruth E. Carter, who had won her Oscar for dressing Wakanda in Black Panther, took over from the first film's designer and slipped modern jokes such as Puma logos into the royal dashikis.

Semmi's telegram to King Jaffe, which brings the royal family to New York, asks for what?

More money: Akeem has handed Semmi's cash to two beggars, so Semmi wires the palace that their funds are depleted, and the king answers by flying in to see what his son is doing.

Which organisation named Coming to America Outstanding Motion Picture and Arsenio Hall Outstanding Supporting Actor?

The NAACP gave it the top film prize at its Image Awards, a warmer verdict than that of the New York Times critic, who wrote that the screenplay seemed to have escaped its doctors before it was entirely well.

Which Chic co-founder composed the score of Coming to America and its hair-care commercial jingle?

Nile Rodgers, the man behind 'Le Freak' and David Bowie's 'Let's Dance', has said that spoof hair-product jingle just may be the single proudest moment of his long career.

What did a judge call the formula by which Paramount showed Coming to America earning no net profit?

Unconscionable was the judge's word in a case that put studio bookkeeping, or 'Hollywood accounting', on trial; Paramount later paid to settle on terms that wiped the judgment from the record.

To qualify as a prince in Coming 2 America, what must Lavelle take from a sleeping lion?

Its whiskers: the ritual is one of the traditional tests Lavelle has to pass, and his first attempt is over the moment the lion lifts its head and roars at him.

Who plays Lavelle's uncle Reem in Coming 2 America?

Tracy Morgan plays Uncle Reem, who has Lavelle selling tickets for him in New York and later turns up at the palace to coach him on mixing street sense with royal manners.

Which comedian cameos in Coming 2 America as a newsreader on the Zamunda News Network?

Trevor Noah plays anchor Totatsi Bibinyana, who opens his bulletin with 'Good evening, my neighbors', an echo of the greeting Akeem shouts from his fire escape in the first film.

In Coming 2 America, Lavelle falls for Mirembe, who works at the palace as what?

The royal groomer: Mirembe, who cuts his hair, tells Lavelle how Akeem once crossed the sea to choose his own bride, which persuades him to turn down the princess picked for him.

Which Netflix film had the sequel's director made with Eddie Murphy before Coming 2 America?

Dolemite Is My Name cast Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, a Los Angeles record-shop worker whose profane, rhyming comedy records later earned him the title 'Godfather of Rap'.

Which two artists released 'I'm a King', the lead single from the Coming 2 America soundtrack?

Bobby Sessions and Megan Thee Stallion had already struck gold together: he co-wrote her number one hit 'Savage' before the two shared this single, which was first heard in the film's trailer.