Four decades after he first stole the show on Saturday Night Live, Eddie Murphy won his first Primetime Emmy Sunday in the Guest Actor Comedy Series category for guest hosting the NBC sketch comedy series.
The comedian and actor has received five Emmy nominations throughout his acting career, and now he can finally add that golden award to his mantel.
Murphy was previously nominated for his work on SNL for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Variety or Music series in 1983; a year later he was nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program and Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. He was also nominated in 1999 for Outstanding Animated Programming, Hour or Less for The PJs.
Since the Creative Arts Emmys were held virtually this year over five nights, Murphy virtually accepted the award in pre-recorded video.
“Thank you to everybody at the Emmys. Thank you so much for giving me an Emmy. I don’t have an Emmy. It’s been 40 years since I started Saturday Night Live. This is my first Emmy, so thank you so much,” he said during his acceptance speech.
“I want to thank Lorne Michaels for putting this whole thing together, and making this happen. And I want to thank, the cast, the writers and the crew at SNL,” Murphy added. “This was a very, very special thing for me to come back and have the show turn out the way it did. I’m still floating from it. And thank you to everybody for giving me an Emmy.”
When he returned on December 21, 2019, Murphy reprised several of the characters from his most memorable Saturday Night Live sketches, including Gumby, Buckwheat and Mr. Robinson during the appearance. He also brought out Dave Chapelle, Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock and Kenan Thompson during his memorable opening monologue.
Murphy beat out Brad Pitt and Adam Driver, who were each nominated for guest hosting episodes of Saturday Night Live as well. Modern Family’s Fred Willard, Modern Love’s Dev Patel and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Luke Kirby were nominated in the category as well.
Congratulations Eddie!