‘That’s why I didn’t go back for years’

Netflix’s new Eddie Murphy documentary, Being Eddie, chronicles the prolific comedian’s ascent to stardom — as well as some low points in his career, including the fallout from a hurtful joke that kept him away from Saturday Night Live for years.

Murphy skyrocketed to fame after joining the cast of SNL in 1980 at 19 years old, before moving on to a successful career in film with movies like Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop. However, he failed to secure a hit with the 1995 film Vampire in Brooklyn.

David Spade, an SNL cast member at the time, mocked the movie’s lack of success with a joke aimed at Murphy. “Look children, it’s a falling star. Make a wish,” he said.

Murphy likened the comment to “your alma mater taking a shot at you.” He said it was particularly hurtful because it insulted his career. “If there was a joke like that right now, and it was about some other SNL cast member, and it was about how f****d up their career was, it would be shot down. The producers would look at it [and say] ‘You’re not saying that joke.’”

Murphy said he didn’t blame Spade, specifically, for making the joke, as he knew that it had to go through multiple channels at SNL to get on-air. Instead, he remembered thinking, “‘F*** SNL, f*** y’all. How y’all gonna do this s***? That’s what y’all think of me? … And that’s why I didn’t go back for years.”

Murphy eventually returned to SNL in 2015 for a quick cameo during the show’s 40th anniversary special, giving a speech in which he spoke about how much he appreciated his time there.

“Hey, isn’t this an incredible night, this night?” Murphy said during the special. “This show is such a big part of who I am and my life. And I’m so happy to be back here. It’s a magical feeling. Actually it feels like going back to my old high school, kind of. It’s a good feeling.”

Murphy later took the stage again in 2019 for a hosting gig, during which comedians Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan joined him for his opening monologue. Chappelle said that seeing the Nutty Professor star back at SNL was like seeing a “lion in the wild.”

During the show, Murphy revived his Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood sketch as well as his beloved SNL character Buckwheat, who appeared in a Masked Singer-themed sketch.

Michael Che, a current SNL cast member, recalled in Being Eddie the pressure of putting on a good show, calling it the “most tense show” he had ever been a part of. “It was scary, almost. Like, this had to go well. We would be letting down Eddie Murphy if it was bad.”