Take a Look Back at Eddie Murphy’s Impressive Comedy Career as He Takes on This Historic TV Appearance

BuzzMarch 18, 2020

By now, comedy giant Eddie Murphy’s anticipated return to the Saturday Night Live (SNL) stage would’ve already aired. Once a member of the long-running sketch comedy show’s roster, the actor came back to host it for the first time. To mark this historic occasion here’s a look back on his beginnings as a young comic to his current status as one of the most bankable funnymen in show business.

Career Start

Murphy as a young man on SNL (left) and during his latest SNL appearance at age 58

Born and raised in New York, Murphy became one of the many modern comedians inspired by the work of the late stand-up Richard Pryor. He reportedly became ‘obsessed’ with the art of comedy after listening to one of Pryor’s albums when he was just a teenager.

A few years later, Murphy began his career when he joined the SNL cast in 1980 at just the age of 19. With all of the show’s originals stars having already left, the newcomer was credited to saving SNL as it struggles at the time.

In total, he appeared in 65 episodes during his five-year stint in the NBC production. Throughout this tenure, Murphy was beloved for his comedy, which talked about many race-related issues in an edgy manner. Some of his most remembered sketches include ‘White Like Me’ and ‘Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood’, which are now considered to be classics.

Jumping to the Big Screen

Murphy and co-star Arsenio Hall in the 1988 romantic comedy movie ‘Coming to America’

Thanks to his appearance on SNL, many doors were opened for the talented entertainer. He managed to make the successful jump from the small screen to the big screen with films like the Beverly Hills Cop movie series, ‘Coming to America’, and ‘Another 48 Hrs’. His box-office reign continued on well into the 1990s and even the 2000s as he drew crowds to movie theaters with films like ‘The Nutty Professor’, ‘Mulan’, and ‘Dreamgirls’.

The now-58-year-old actor has made at least 50 movies with estimated total earnings of about $6.7 billion at the box office. Not surprisingly, Murphy is one of the actors to command large paychecks throughout their decades-long careers on the silver screen. He reportedly has amassed an impressive fortune amounting to $120 million. And he seems to show no signs of stopping just yet.

What the Future Holds

Murphy in the critically-acclaimed Netflix production, ‘Dolemite Is My Name’

The star is reportedly coming back to reprise his roles in the coming reboots of some of his most successful films ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ and ‘Coming 2 America’. What more, he joins the roster of other established actors and comedians like Adam Sandler and Dave Chappelle by inking a $70 million deal with the streaming platform Netflix.

The amount is for him to develop a series of comedy specials. There’s no doubt that Murphy would still be around to entertain the new generation of viewers for a long while.