Saturday Night Live Fans Are Over the Moon That Eddie Murphy Will Host For the First Time in Decades

Morgan PhillipsAug 26th, 2019, 3:31 pm
 

Saturday Night Live has just announced its season 45 details, and Eddie Murphy will host a December episode for the first time in 35 years.

Murphy has been in a feud with the SNL crew since 1990 when series newbie David Spade cracked a joke about Murphy’s back-to-back film flops. Murphy quickly rose to fame when he joined the SNL cast in 1980. He left the late night comedy in 1984 and has only made one brief appearance since in 2015. He’ll host the December 21st episode.

In a 2011 Rolling Stone interview, Murphy explained his reason for staying away. “What really irritated me about it at the time was that it was a career shot. It was like, ‘Hey, come on, man, it’s one thing for you guys to do a joke about some movie of mine, but my career? I’m one of you guys. How many people have come off this show whose careers really are fucked up, and you guys are shitting on me?’ And you know every joke has to go through all the producers, and ultimately, you know Lorne or whoever says, [Lorne Michaels voice] ‘OK, it’s OK to make this career crack…'”

Other big names in the lineup include Woody Harrelson with Billie Eilish on Sept. 28, Phoebe Waller-Bridge with Taylor Swift on Oct. 5, David Harbour with Camila Cabello on Oct. 12, and Kristen Stewart on Nov. 21.

Waller-Bridge, who stars in Fleabag and is a writer for Killing Eve, and Harbour, better known as Jim Hopper in Stranger Things, are making their SNL debuts.

However, fans seem particularly excited for Murphy’s return:

[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!

Tags: