Eddie Murphy Returns to ‘Saturday Night Live’

It took 35 years, but Eddie Murphy came back to host “Saturday Night Live.”

The last time Murphy hosted the show, it was Dec. 15, 1984, just a few months after this one-time wunderkind (who joined “S.N.L.” when he was 19 years old) quit the program to focus on his flourishing film career. In the sketches that aired that night, he revisited several of his beloved characters, including BuckwheatGumby and Mr. Robinson.

Tonight, in an episode that also featured the musical guest Lizzo, Murphy returned to those characters once again. But first, in an opening monologue, he updated the audience on the last several years of his life and received tributes from a few surprise guests.

Taking the stage of NBC’s Studio 8H, Murphy told “S.N.L.” viewers: “This is the last episode of 2019. But if you’re black, this is the first episode since I left back in 1984.”

He then showed a photograph of himself when he was still an “S.N.L.” cast member. “Yeah, I look at least five years younger there,” Murphy said. “You know what they always say: Money don’t crack.”

Among the ways that his life has changed since then, Murphy said, is that “I have 10 kids now — 11 if you count Kevin Hart.” He added, “If you had told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring stay-at-home house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail, even I would have took that bet.” Slipping into his Cosby impersonation, Murphy said, “Who is America’s Dad now?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/22/arts/television/eddie-murphy-saturday-night-live-lizzo.html