Watch the Trailer for Eddie Murphy's 'A Thousand Words'

OK, so in more ways than one, a big Oscar-night moment probably isn't in Eddie Murphy's cards.

Look on the bright side: he does have a new comedy coming March 23, 2012, and now a trailer to hype it.

"A Thousand Words," directed by Brian Robbins, tells the tale of a chronic bore of a literary agent named Jack played by Murphy - odd casting, for an actor so notoriously charismatic - who learns that his time left about the living won't be measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, nights, midnights or cups of coffee . . . but instead, that he'll die after the next thousand words he speaks.

That's all the "time" he has to work on his strained relationship with his wife Caroline (Kerry Washington),  the guru-author he represents (Cliff Curtis) and his annoyed assistant Aaron (Clark Duke.)

Hopefully, it will be a bright spot for Murphy. After landing a plum gig as the 2012 Academy Awards host, Murphy recently bowed out in close proximity to his "Tower Heist" director Brett Ratner catching hell over the very public use of a homosexual slur.

Watch the trailer for "A Thousand Words":