Since its premiere on October 11, 1975, Saturday Night Live has become one of the most influential television shows ever made. What many people don’t know, is that this iconic series almost never made it past season 6, and that it is really only because of one cast member that the show is still around today: 19-year-old then unknown comedian Eddie Murphy.
After its acclaimed first five seasons ended, the show had a complete change, both on and off camera, with its central cast leaving, as well as its showrunner, Lorne Michaels. NBC, however, was not ready to let the show go, so they hired a woman named Jean Doumanian to take over as showrunner.
Doumanian brought together a whole new cast, including Murphy, and launched the series’ sixth season in 1980.
To say this new direction for the show, was not well-received, would be an understatement. The show was not only panned by critics, but viewership plummeted as well.
During the second episode of the season, a sketch aired called “In Search of the Negro Republican.” This sketch, much like the season as a whole, was bashed. In fact, it is not only now considered to be one of the worst sketches in the history of the show, it has been basically wiped off the face of the earth. It can’t be found online, and was cut out of the episode if you stream it on Peacock.
Aside from its infamy, the sketch is also notable as being Murphy’s first appearance.
According the sketch’s writer David Sheffield, the young Murphy came up to him after the sketch, and for the first time really spoke to the writer about his own ideas for the show. The next week’s episode featured Murphy in a more prominent role, this time as a Raheem Abdul Mohammed on “Weekend Update” discussing white basketball players.
The sketch was the first of the season to actually be well-received. Audiences immediately took to Murphy, and before long, he began to get larger roles on the show, including his most famous characters; Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood (the only satire the real Mr. Fred Rogers not only approved of, but actually enjoyed), Gumby (whose real creator refereed to Murphy as a genius), and Buckwheat (a character so popular, Murphy himself asked the character be killed off, so he wouldn’t have to play it anymore).
Murphy was only one of two cast members brought back for the shows seventh season, and was considered to be the only thing really holding the show together, and was keeping audiences coming back every week.
Subsequently, Murphy’s own career exploded outside of SNL, with his films (48 Hrs., Trading Places & Beverly Hills Cop) and stand ups (Delirious & later Raw) becoming huge hits in their own rights.
Murphy would spend four seasons on SNL (even becoming the only person to host the show while still a cast member) before leaving in 1984 during the show’s ninth season.
Once again, it would take another few seasons before the show made it back on top, but it was in a comfortable place. The following year, 1985, also saw the exit of Doumanian, and the return of Michaels as showrunner.
Murphy had a falling out with the show in 1995, after then cast member, David Spade, made a joke about Murphy’s struggling career. However, years later, Murphy made amends with both Spade and the show, returning for its 40th anniversary special in 2015, where Chris Rock introduced Murphy, by saying “people didn’t know if Saturday Night Live was gonna last... out of nowhere Eddie saved SNL... none of these great cast members would have been able to do, you know, the funny things we do.”
Murphy would again return to the show in 2019, this time as host. His appearance was acclaimed, saw the highest ratings the show had seen in years, and earned Murphy an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
Eddie Murphy is a legend in the world of comedy, and while SNL is just another job on his resume, for SNL, he was the glue that kept it together when it was breaking apart.
So, if you ever were a fan of SNL, and have wanted to know how its lasted 49 seasons and counting, there’s only one man to thank.