1. Black Faces in Early Hollywood
(Chris Rock, SNL 40th Anniversary Monologue).
Chris Rock then leaves the stage. The backstage door in the center of the legendary Studio 8H door opens, and Eddie Murphy comes to center stage. The crowd, made up of some of the most recognizable and respected faces in entertainment, rose to their feet and erupted into applause. Eddie Murphy's powerfully relaxed smile and casual yet demanding stage presence stayed intact after all the years. "Thank you. Let's keep it going for Eddie," Eddie says as a joke. And somehow, it's funny and not cocky. He speaks to the audience as if it's a dinner party; casual. Just as Eddie is getting into what he is saying the camera cuts to commercial break. Eddie Murphy, after 35 years of silence, is cut off. .
Fans were confused as to why Eddie was not given any material to perform; sketch or stand-up. A few days later, legendary SNL alum Norm McDonald revealed the truth on Twitter: McDonald had written Eddie a sketch in which he would play Bill Cosby, one of Murphy's most recognizable impressions, but Murphy nixed the idea at the last second, not wanting to kick Cosby while he was down. Accusations against Cosby have reached shattering numbers and action was justifiably demanded to be taken by the public and the victims. Eddie, in an interview with The Washington Post, revealed why he didn't follow through with the sketch: "There's nothing funny about it. If you get up there and you crack jokes about him, you're just hurting people. You're hurting him. You're hurting his accusers. I was like, 'Hey, I'm coming back to SNL for the anniversary, I'm not turning my moment on the show into this other thing'" (Edgers, "The Real King of Comedy"). Strange, the normally no-boundaries Murphy had set himself a boundary. In the Washington Post article, Eddie lays the truth down nicely and cleanly as to why he stopped performing stand-up.