And it wasn’t even the highlight of the episode…
While the power of Saturday Night Live isn’t really present on this side of the pond (mostly because, well, we don’t get it on our tellys over here), we’re all still aware enough to know that it was the jump off for a huge number of famously funny people.
Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Adam Sandler, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Farley, Amy Poehler, Chevy Chase, David Spade, Mike Myers, Andy Samberg, Bill Murray, Seth Meyer, Bill Hader, Kate McKinnon, Molly Shannon, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudekis… the list goes on and on.
However, only Eddie Murphy can really lay claim to being a comedian who helped save the show from the doldrums, turning the ratings around and making it the American institution it is today.
A regular cast member from 198o to 1984, Murphy returned on Saturday night for the first time in 35 years, and for his opening monologue, he was joined by some of the other big SNL names who followed in his footsteps.
There was also a surprise appearance from another comedian he bowed out of the world of TV just as he was becoming the biggest star of the medium…
However, while that was quite a way to kick the show off, it wasn’t the highlight of the actually pretty funny episode.
In the running for the top spot was a series of old characters that Murphy brought back to the stage, as well as a very funny take on the awful working conditions that elves have to put up with at this time of year.
But just in terms of pure weirdness, we have to give the highlight award to Holiday Baking Championship, which begins by seemingly just being a joke about how these bakers don’t appear to be very good at baking.
That is, until, Eddie Murphy’s cake catches fire in an apparent suicide attempt…
All clips via Saturday Night Live
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