The 9th episode of Season 10 and 187th episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by former Ebersol-era cast member Eddie Murphy, with musical guest Robert Plant & The Honeydrippers, an English rock and roll band. It premiered on December 15, 1984. This is the only musical guest appearance for Robert Plant & The Honeydrippers on SNL.
Murphy's last appearance on the show until he hosted again on the December 21, 2019 episode, the tenth episode and the Christmas show of SNL's45th season, with musical guest Lizzo (not counting a brief appearance during the 40th Anniversary Special in 2015). This is also his 2nd hosting stint. Larry David also appears in the 2019 episode.
†Belushi was fired after the previous episode, but still received credit, because of the way these intros are set up.
Sketches[]
Cold Open Sketch Pre-recorded Weekend Update Music Performance Other
Title
Image
Summary
Buckwheat Lives! Cold Opening
Alfalfa (Mary Gross) sees Buckwheat in a crowd shot in a newspaper.
Opening montage
Monologue by Eddie Murphy
Monologue- Eddie Murphy Is Back to Host SNL - SNL
Former Ebersol-era cast member Eddie Murphy returned to SNL to host for the second time, and he talks about what it feels like to be back on the show, this time as a host, after acting in movies like 48 Hrs., Trading Places, Best Defense and Beverly Hills Cop.
White Like Me
White Like Me - SNL
In this short mockumentary, Eddie Murphy masquerades as a white man around New York City to explore existing racial inequalities.
Mister Robinson's Neighborhood
Mr. Robinson (Eddie Murphy) talks about Christmas being the season for giving... and taking. He shows us the word of the day, X-Mas, and another X word he knows: X-Con.
Lifestyles of The Relatives of The Rich and Famous
Plastic surgeon’s receptionist Denise Lewis (Martin Short) is as loud and slapsticky as her famous great uncle Jerry’s movie characters.
The End of Buckwheat
Alfalfa (Mary Gross) tracks down a disguised Buckwheat (Eddie Murphy), who faked his death to evade a threat on his life.
Robert Plant & The Honeydrippers performed "Rockin' at Midnight"
Gumby: Lishman's Deli
Gumby (Eddie Murphy) and fellow alter kakers Irving Cohen (Martin Short), Lew Goldman (Billy Crystal) and Mort Schmegman (Christopher Guest) bicker over lunch at a deli.
Newsmakers
Communist Party representatives (Mary Gross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) frustrate host Ben Chapman (Billy Crystal) by repeatedly performing an elaborate schoolyard chant whenever both talk at the same time.
Black History Minute
Shabazz K. Morton (Eddie Murphy) tells the story of how white people stole credit for peanut butter from George Washington Carver.
Climbing the Stairs
In 1944 France, it’s up to Lawrence Orbach (Martin Short) to save the others in his unit by climbing the stairs to use the phone, but the incompetent soldier doesn’t have that skill. With Billy Crystal as Sergeant Gurney, Rich Hall as Frankie, Gary Kroeger as Butterworth, and Pamela Stephenson as the injured woman.
Saturday Night News with Christopher Guest
After a one-episode hiatus for the news segment, Christopher Guest is back at the news desk, still too dry and fumbling his lines, though he seems to do better when interacting with the guests. He only has a pair of jokes tonight; one of them is a deliberately bad pun (Eddie Murphy stars as the young Frank Sinatra in “Old Blue Eyes is Black”), while the other (students not locating the USA on a map) died on arrival. Paul Harvey (Rich Hall) returns to tell The Rest of the Story about three brothers, working in plugs for different advertisers until Guest stops him and spoils the ending (they were the Kennedys). Nothing special, but decent. BBC journalist Angela Bradleigh (Pamela Stephenson) gives the British perspective on Reagan’s proposed spending cuts, though most of the commentary is obscured by the prosthetic teeth Stephenson wears (aside from choice lines like “tiny unpronounceable islands” and working in a sung “five gold rings”). Another bit that wasn’t anything special, but Stephenson does deserve praise for pulling it off. Eddie Murphy discusses the trends in Christmas toys, specifically shrinking GI Joes, Ken’s effeminate demeanor (probably the part of this that’s aged the worst), and all the celebrity lookalike dolls including the “anatomically-correct” Michael Jackson doll. This kills with the audience, and Murphy has many good lines all throughout (especially how the gremlin resembles the offspring of Miles Davis and Sammy Davis).
Robert Plant & The Honeydrippers performed "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
Killing Time
A timing issue with the show meant there was only 30 seconds between commercial breaks, so Eddie Murphy stalls and plays the piano.
Goodnights and Closing Credits
Eddie Murphy announces the retirement of longtime prop master Willie Day (who Murphy states had been with NBC for the past 38 years).
