It wasn’t the nastiest joke, but Eddie sure didn’t like it…
PublishedNovember 18, 2025 8:32 PM EST•UpdatedNovember 18, 2025 8:32 PM EST
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The new Netflix documentary about Eddie Murphy — titled Being Eddie — and we’re learning a lot about the comedy great from it.
And, believe it or not, we’re learning more than just the fact that Hollywood legend Yul Brynner propositioned him at Studio 54 while he was celebrating his 21st birthday.
In the documentary, Murphy sheds some light on his decades-long feud with Saturday Night Live, a show that he pretty much saved from cancellation in the early 1980s.
The feud famously centered on a single joke David Spade told on the show back in 1995.
“Look, children, a falling star,” Spade said as a picture of Murphy appeared on screen. “Make a wish!”
That joke came during a lull in Murphy’s film career, and he sure didn’t appreciate it.
In fact, he later called it “racist.”
I can’t for the life of me figure out how, but okay.
Anyway, still not fun to be on the receiving end of it, with Murphy saying in the film that it was like “your alma mater taking a shot at you.”
In the new documentary, Being Eddie, Eddie Murphy explains his side of the infamous, decades-long beef between himself and Saturday Night Live. (Getty Images)
“If there was a joke like that right now, and it was about some other SNL cast member, and it was about how f–ked up their career was, it would be shot down. The producers would look at it [and say] ‘You’re not saying that joke.’”
That’s a fair point, but give it enough time, and someone will do the exact same joke about Pete Davidson.
Murphy said he didn’t hold a grudge against Spade because he knew that joke had to get through a lot of people before it hit the airwaves.
“‘F–k SNL, f–k y’all. How y’all gonna do this s–t? That’s what y’all think of me?” Murphy said. “And that’s why I didn’t go back for years.”
Of course, things eventually mellowed, and Murphy made his first appearance on the show in 35 years when he hosted it in late 2019.