Eddie Murphy returning to host...as Leslie Jones prepares to leave.  Black Jesus giveth, and He taketh away, too.

 

Meanwhile:

 

 

Edited August 27, 20196 yr by Khan

That (Dolemite) Rudy Ray Moore movie is coming up, gotta promote that, is my guess. 

Edited August 28, 20196 yr by DramatistDreamer

For once, I don't care, lol.  I'm just glad to see him back on SNL after all these years.

5 hours ago, Khan said:

For once, I don't care, lol.  I'm just glad to see him back on SNL after all these years.

 

I didn't mean to suggest that was a bad thing.  It's just the way it's done these days.  Why else would someone guest host SNL? 

Oh okay, he's hosting in December so it won't be for the Rudy Ray Moore biopic, perhaps the Richard Pryor biopic?  I'm not sure they're finished filming that though. I look forward to it too, nonetheless. 

If you saw him on Comedians in Cars (Getting Coffee), it was obvious that he wanted to dip his toe into live performance.  He might even try some standup down the road, I think this may be a way to test the waters.

I think getting back into live performance would be a terrific way to remind people of how funny Eddie Murphy once was, and still is.  His sense of humor has been buried for far too long in terrible, unfunny movies that were clearly ATM transactions for him.

16 minutes ago, Khan said:

I think getting back into live performance would be a terrific way to remind people of how funny Eddie Murphy once was, and still is.  His sense of humor has been buried for far too long in terrible, unfunny movies that were clearly ATM transactions for him.

 

People mostly tend to associate Eddie of the '80s with his movies and extremely controversial standup, but he was a very talented sketch performer, and his work has held up better than many, partly because he had the power to push back against some of the racist material that other black cast members haven't been able to push back on. I don't see him really doing much of that this time around (I have a feeling he may mostly do pre-taped films to air on the night and make a few live appearances), but I'd like to see him give it another whirl. 

21 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

(I have a feeling he may mostly do pre-taped films to air on the night and make a few live appearances)

 

IOW, he'll do what he did for his last season as a regular cast member (1983-84).

1 minute ago, Khan said:

 

IOW, he'll do what he did for his last season as a regular cast member (1983-84).

 

Yep.

 

I will say that the producer of that era was a d-bag, but he did a great job keeping Eddie Murphy as long as he did. It's a real contrast to Lorne Michaels, who has routinely fired or punished cast members for wanting to make an outside film.

On 8/28/2019 at 10:29 AM, DRW50 said:

I will say that the producer of that era was a d-bag, but he did a great job keeping Eddie Murphy as long as he did.

 

Unfortunately, others (excluding Joe Piscopo, who was too happy to ride Eddie's coattails) during that time felt that Dick Ebersol gave too much airtime to Eddie to the detriment of everyone else.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

 

Unfortunately, others (excluding Joe Piscopo, who was too happy to ride Eddie's coattails) during that time felt that Dick Ebersol gave too much airtime to Eddie to the detriment of everyone else.

 

You know I felt that way for a long time until I actually went back and watched some of the episodes this year, and, sure, he gets a lot of focus, but considering he was by far the biggest star ever to appear as a cast member, other people also got attention - well the women generally don't, but that wasn't down to Eddie Murphy, it was down to producers and executives, who, among other things, supposedly asked them to lift up their tops for cash, told them they would be better off selling shoes, and in the case of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, asked her to straighten her hair for an entire season because it made her look more fuckable. 

 

As for Leslie Jones (I know you didn't bring her up, just joining the posts together), I think the way she was treated by the far right was disgusting, and I'm glad that she was able to stay at SNL as long as she was to get more comfortable oncamera and find some projects (she's going to be hosting a new Supermarket Sweep). She really came into her own in her last season. She had a sketch with Emma Thompson which was kind of a mess (it was seen by many as racist, for one thing) but it was broad physical comedy, and she more than held her own with Thompson, which was a real feat. She also had a funny sketch with Matt Damon:

 

 

Edited August 30, 20196 yr by DRW50

 

 

 

 

 

IDK why SNL took issue with his comments.  Do they watch their own show?  Racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia have always run amuck, both on-screen and off.

Props to SNL for FINALLY including someone Asian. I just hope he isn't a "token hire" who isn't actually funny, like Sasheer Zamata and currently Ego Nwodim (there's still hope for her, but so far, pretty bland like Zamata).