Eddie Murphy Returns To Saturday Night Live This Weekend And He Is ‘Down For Whatever,’ Including Possible Buckwheat, Gumby, & Bill Cosby Sketches

Eddie Murphy is returning to host Saturday Night Live this weekend for the first time in 35 years, and he says he is “down for whatever.” His only condition is that it has to be “really really funny.”

Murphy told Al Roker on the Today Show that there is a strong possibility that fans will see some of his classic characters that he made famous during his stint on the show in the early 1980s.

“We’re talking about a Gumby thing, we’re talking about a Buckwheat thing, and I told you a Bill Cosby thing maybe, it’ll be very funny,” said Murphy. “I don’t know if he would think it was funny.”

The 58-year-old admitted that going back to studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Center has been “kind of surreal” after his absence that lasted more than three decades – with the exception of a brief appearance during SNL’s 40th anniversary celebration in 2015.

Murphy also described his return as feeling “kind of dreamy,” and he also revealed that all ten of his children have flown to New York and will be in the audience during the show so they can watch their dad perform live.

According to Entertainment Weekly, this will be the third time Murphy has hosted SNL. He started as a cast member in 1980 when he was just 19 years old, and he hosted the show once in 1982 when he was part of the cast. Murphy hosted again in 1984, just six months after he left the show to focus on his film career, which was taking off at the time thanks to Trading Places, 48 Hours, and Beverly Hills Cop.

Murphy ended up staying away from SNL for decades because he had a falling out with some of the cast and crew that came after him. He really took offense to a sketch titled “Hollywood Minute” that starred David Spade in the early 1990s.

The celebrity-gossip spoof featured Spade at a news desk, and when a picture of Murphy came on the screen Spade said, “Look! A falling star,” to mock the fact that Murphy’s film career had taken a nosedive after Coming To America.

But now, all of that is behind Murphy, and everyone has made amends. The comedian is creating Oscar buzz with his performance in the Netflix film Dolemite Is My Name. And, Coming 2 America will be in theaters soon, and Eddie Murphy says he is extremely proud of that project.

Eddie Murphy will host Saturday Night Live on December 21st, along with musical guest Lizzo.