Eddie Murphy to Return to SNL Stage for 40th Anniversary Special

Saturday Night Live and Eddie Murphy needed each other back in the day. The show gave Murphy the platform he needed to become a superstar. Murphy gave the show the genius it needed to remain relevant into its second decade. And yet, after Murphy left the show in 1984, he made just one more appearance on the SNL stage. Which was also in 1984.

Now, though, 31 years later, Murphy is finally returning to Studio 8H at 30 Rockafeller Plaza. On Sunday, February 15, Saturday Night Live is having a three-hour 40th anniversary special featuring cast members from throughout the show's epic run. And Eddie Murphy has officially confirmed he will be there.

"It's just timing," Norbit recently told News One. "It just never worked out where the timing was right for me to do it. . . They're actually having a 40th anniversary I think in two weeks. I'm going to that, and that'll be the first time I've been back since I left."

Of course, if you really believe the only thing keeping Murphy from returning the SNL stage these past 31 years is timing, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you. It's well-known that there has been bad blood between Eddie and SNL going back to at least 1997, when David Spade made that crack about his career being on the decline. Murphy himself said they were "shitty" to him.

But hey, water under the bridge. Eddie is going back. I'll tune in just to see that.

[via Rolling Stone]