While nobody is saying that a comedy has to be funny in order to use curse words or jokes of a more adult nature, it definitely doesn't hurt it.
Case in point is 'Coming To America', in which some of the funniest scenes involved the barbershop and the barber's free-wheeling, over-the-top cursing just made the entire scene. It's part of what made 'Coming To America' so much fun. Sadly, it seems that the sequel, 'Coming 2 America', won't have quite the same punch.
In an interview with CinemaBlend, Murphy was out promoting his upcoming Netflix movie, 'Dolemite Is My Name', and explained the thinking behind age ratings in comedy and why he drifted away from R-rated comedies in his own career. "I think what happened was, there was a period when Hollywood was on some PG-13... that’s how you reached most audiences. And there was, maybe, a 15-year period where that’s all everybody was doing. So I got caught up in that shit. But no, doing ('Dolemite Is My Name') we went, ‘This movie has to be rated R because of the way Rudy Ray Moore was.’ But I’m doing 'Coming 2 America', and that’s PG-13."
To be honest, that's pretty upsetting. Then again, trying to get a studio to back an R-rated comedy sequels - even if it is to one of the most successful comedies in Eddie Murphy's career - is always going to be a big ask in this day and age. Who knows, maybe it'll be funny?
You won't get moments like this, though.
