Eddie Murphy has been reflective as of late, and that’s in great part due to his new documentary, Being Eddie, which recently became available to Netflix subscription holders. The doc covers a myriad of topics related to Murphy’s personal and professional life, including his relationship to Saturday Night Live, the show with which he rose to stardom. Yet Murphy also recalled the moment the sketch comedy show took a shot at him years after he left and explained how that sparked some hard feelings.
What Was The Eddie Murphy Joke That David Spade Made, And How Did Murphy Say About It?
During his final season on SNL, David Spade used to host a segment called Spade in America, during which he’d share jokes about Hollywood-related developments. One particular edition of the segment, which aired in December 1995, saw Spade make a joke at Eddie Murphy’s expense. After a graphic of the Beverly Hills Cop icon appeared on screen, Spade quipped, “Look, children. It’s a falling star. Make a wish.” Those comments came after Murphy’s horror comedy, Vampire in Brooklyn, bombed at the box office. Check out the clip:
Watch On
As can be heard in the video above, a number of the people in the live studio audience weren’t too pleased with the Joe Dirt star’s comments. That also went for Murphy himself, who clarified his feelings in his new documentary. As Murphy explained, he felt hurt that his “alma mater” would make fun of him in such a way:
The audience there said, ‘boo’ and hissed him for saying it, right? I was hurt, my feelings was hurt. It was like, ‘Yo I’m from the same…‘ It’s like your alma mater taking a shot at you — at my career, not how funny I was. [They] called me a ‘falling star.’ If there was a joke like that right now, and it was about some other SNL cast member, and it was about how fucked up their career was, it would get shot down. The producers would look at it and say, ‘You’re not saying that joke.’ So the joke went through all of those channels that the joke has to go through, and then [Spade] was on the air saying, ‘Catch a falling star.’
What the Dolemite Is My Name star also made clear, though, is that his issue wasn’t specifically with David Spade. At the time, his displeasure was aimed towards the overall Saturday Night Live institution as a whole:
So I wasn’t like, ‘Fuck David Spade I was like, ‘Oh, fuck SNL. Fuck y’all. How y’all gonna do this shit? That’s what y’all think of me? You dirty mother…’ That’s why I didn’t go back for years.
This particular joke remains a widely discussed topic even nearly 30 years on, and that could very well be why Murphy was asked about it while being interviewed for the documentary. And, over the years, David Spade has shared his take on the matter as well.
What Did David Spade Say About The Murphy Joke?
Spade notably spoke about the Murphy jab back in 2015 and expressed regret over it for a few reasons. Aside from admitting that he “can’t take” criticism when it comes to his own work, Spade also said he’d since “come to see Eddie’s point” on the matter. The Tommy Boy star can understand how “everybody in showbiz wants people to like them” and that that’s how they build up their fanbases. With that, it “staaaangs” when a star takes a shot from someone making a pun at their expense.
All in all, any kind of animosity regarding the Murphy joke seems to have dissipated. Murphy notably returned for SNL’s 40th anniversary special in 2015 and, in 2019, he returned to host the show and reprised a number of his classic characters. On top of that, Murphy also appeared during the sketch series’ 50th anniversary special, later calling the experience of being around so many stars “a trip”
So it seems everything is copacetic between Eddie Murphy and Saturday Night Live at this point. That’s great, especially given Murphy remains one of the most impactful stars to ever grace the stage at Studio 8H. Anyone who’d like to check out the best moments from Murphy’s four-season tenure on the show can stream classic episodes using a Peacock subscription.