By Tribune staff
The return of Eddie Murphy to prominence continues. Not only will he be featured in the upcoming Netflix film “Dolemite Is My Name” and also in “Coming To America 2,” but this week it was announced he will be hosting “Saturday Night Live” this season. His December 21st hosting stint will be his first since 1984, though he did appear in a show retrospective in 2015.
Murphy’s 1984 hosting stint was historic because he was a cast member at the time. Very few cast members are given the additional duties or spotlight of being a host. But in a 2011 Rolling Stone interview Murphy also acknowledged his longtime feud with SNL and the reasons for it. He held SNL executive producer Lorne Murphy directly responsible for a joke about his career told by David Spade.
“What really irritated me about it at the time was that it was a career shot,” Murphy said as reported by IndieWire. “…I’m one of you guys. How many people have come off this show whose careers are really f***** up, and you guys are s******* 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.”
However things began to improve when he made the 2015 appearance on the 40th anniversary special. Now that he’s going to be a host, apparently everything has been patched up between him and the show.
