Eddie Murphy hints he might do some signature skits during ‘SNL’ return

Comedian may play characters like Gumby, Buckwheat or Bill Cosby that became his trademarks on the show

Eddie Murphy's anticipated return to 'Saturday Night Live' this weekend and said he wouldn't mind playing some of his signature characters.

Melanie Eversley

Dec 20, 2019

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When it comes to Eddie Murphy‘s anticipated return to Saturday Night Live this weekend, the 58-year old actor and comedian said he wouldn’t mind playing Gumby, Buckwheat or even Bill Cosby – characters that became his trademarks on the show.

For all the people too young to relate — Gumby was a mythical, pliable, asymmetrical green person who was the star of a children’s show. Buckwheat was a Black character on TVs Little Rascals played by late actor William Thomas Jr. Both were on the air when Murphy was growing up. On SNL, Murphy portrayed the innocent Gumby as a wisecracking cigar smoker and Buckwheat as a messy headed wide-eyed man of the world. Murphy’s portrayal of Cosby predated the entertainer’s fall from grace and 2018 imprisonment on a sexual assault conviction.

“We’re talking about a Gumby thing; we’re talking about a Buckwheat thing and I told you a Bill Cosby thing, maybe,” Murphy told the Today show’s Al Roker on Thursday.

“I don’t know if (Cosby) would think it was funny,” Murphy added. “I’m down for whatever, as long as it’s really, really funny.”

Murphy told Roker that all 10 of his children, who range in age from 1 up to 30, will be in the audience.

“My kids have all flown in for this — they’re all flying out,” Murphy said. “So they’ll watch it.”

Murphy certainly was not the first Black comedian to grace SNL. Actor Garrett Morris was part of the initial cast in 1975. But Murphy was the first Black SNL cast member to break out in a big way, evolving into one of the show’s headliners, going on to star in broadcast solo comic shows and evolving seamlessly onto the big screen.

Murphy, who was born in Brooklyn, was only 19-years-old when he debuted on SNL on Dec. 13, 1980, according to the New York Daily News. Four years later, he left the show to concentrate on his movie career.

Murphy’s portrayal of blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore in the movie Dolemite Is My Name has been well-received by critics and is generating Oscar buzz.