Eddie Murphycame back toSaturday Night Liveover the weekend and brought some of his most iconic characters with him. It’s been over 35 years since Murphy was on the show that launched his career in the 1980s. Murphy is back in the public eye after putting outDolemite is My Nameon Netflix earlier this year and has his eyes set on a busy 2020. As he mentioned in his monologue, Murphy has finished work onComing 2 America, which will be released next year.
Mister Robinson was an inevitable comeback, so it was not a shock when Eddie Murphy reprised the character forSaturday Night Livethis weekend. The character still lives in the neighborhood, but a lot has changed since we last saw him. The word of the day is “gentrification,” and Murphy gives us some insight on what it’s like to be Mister Robinson these days. Ultimately, the sketch was one of the night’s best and it seemed like Murphy really enjoyed getting a chance to bring the character back after all of these years.
Buckwheat was another character that Eddie Murphy was going to have to bring back. Murphy did not disappoint as he reprised the role in a funny sketch about theMasked Singer. Gumby is also one of Murphy’s best-known characters, so it was great to see him bring that character back for the Weekend Update portion of the show. Gumby hasn’t lost a step, though he could have benefitted from some green face makeup in the hilarious sketch. Regardless, Eddie Murphy came back and dominatedSNLand one would hope his next visit won’t have such a long wait attached to it. Velvet Jones even came back for Black Jeopardy.
During his monologue,Eddie Murphy commented on being a stay-at-home-dad. It’s here that he threw in adig at Bill Cosbyand even brought back his iconic impression of the comedian, who is now behind bars. Murphy then brought out Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, and Dave Chappelle. Each comedian pretended to pitch Murphy a new sketch for the night, and while they sounded ridiculous, they probably would have actually made for some excellent TV. Murphy is the comedian that Chappelle, Rock, and Morgan looked up to when they were first starting out.
While Eddie Murphy hasn’t been in the public eye for quite some time, he appears to be ready for a lot more work. WithDolemite is My Namereceiving accolades, the comedian is poised for a big year in 2020, which will also include a trip back to the stand up stage. It has been rumored for months thatEddie Murphy is working with Netflixto deliver a new comedy special, which Chris Rock alluded to during the monologue when he said that half of the of the streaming platform’s budget was standing on the stage. If you missed last night’sSNL, you may check out all of the best sketches below, thanks to the Saturday Night Live YouTube channel.
