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Eddie Murphy, the iconic stand-up comedian, was cast on the weekly sketch series Saturday Night Live in the 1980s. Since then, he has appeared in several successful films and launched into the Hollywood A-list stratosphere.

Murphy, the father of ten children, is returning to host Saturday Night Live in December. The comic also just finished working on a sequel to his 1988 film Coming to America. He admitted in a recent interview that filming Coming to America 2 involved a great deal of time doing something he never wants to do again.

Eddie Murphy is returning to host ‘SNL’ in December 2019

Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy attends SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations Presents The Career of Eddie Murphy | Vincent Sandoval/Getty Images

Murphy joined SNL in 1980 when he was 19 years old, and appeared on the series for four years. He will now return to SNL on Dec. 21, 2019, to serve as the host. During an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in December, she asked Murphy why it has taken him so long to return to the show.

“They had the 40th-anniversary thing a few years back,” he explained. “I saw all the other actors and actresses and the people in the crew and I got this big burst of nostalgia, and I started feeling like ‘Oh, I want to go back.’”

Murphy has been itching to get back there since, but he “wanted to go back at the right time.” However, now that he has released his Netflix movie Dolemite Is My Name, the timing is ideal.

The stand-up comedian’s new Netflix movie ‘Dolemite is My Name’

“Dolemite made it the perfect time ’cause we got a funny movie,” he said. Earlier this year, Murphy talked to Entertainment Weekly about his new Netflix film.

“It’s great to be in a movie that works and that’s funny,” he said. “That’s the only reason why I’m making movies.” After his 2016 picture Mr. Church suffered at the box office, this is especially important to Murphy.

“This is a well-made movie and it’s f*cking funny—and that’s a good feeling,” he said.

Murphy told Degeneres that when he returned to SNL, he would most likely revisit his popular characters from the 1980s. He imagined that Mr. Robinson, his Mr. Rogers parody, Gumby, and Buckwheat, would all make an appearance. But he knew that many people in the younger generations wouldn’t recognize these names.

“Young people are going, ‘Who are these characters?'” Murphy joked.

Murphy talks about the sequel to one of his most iconic movies: ‘Coming to America 2’

The Shrek voice actor also told Degeneres about filming Coming to America 2.

“I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out,” Murphy said. “We’ve gone above and beyond what anybody would think; I’m really really happy with it.” He said Coming to America struck a very particular chord with audiences.

“That movie more than any picture that I’ve done … I don’t know what it is in the culture.” Fans of the original comedy had very high expectations for the sequel, Murphy explained.

“A lot of people had this expectation … people would say to me when they found out I was doing it, ‘don’t f*ck that movie up.'”

Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy speaks on stage at the Hammer Museum | Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Degeneres, noting how many characters he had in the first Coming to America, asked Murphy how many different roles he played in the sequel.

“I have all the old characters from the first one,” Murphy started, trying to count. “Maybe it’s five or six now.”

Degeneres commented that must have meant hours spent in makeup.

“You know,” Murphy said, “every time I do a makeup movie I always say, ‘This is the last time I’m doing this sh*t.’ And then I always wind up back in the makeup chair.” He says it’s not that he forgets, he just always finds another project where the logic for it checks out.

“Years later,” he told Degeneres, something will come up where “it kinda makes sense.”

“So I’m never doing it again, now,” Murphy said jokingly.

“We’ll show you this tape,” Degeneres retorted.

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