SNL Lessons: Eddie Murphy was a genius

I've talked about this concept of edginess (edgyness).

Basically look at the first cast of SNL... they brought racism, sexism, spousal violence, death... everything was up and front. They dealt with it head on.

Now what Eddie Murphy brought to the table at SNL was that same edginess. Here's a great example...

Eddie talks about moving into his own apartment.



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Eddie was finding opportunities to play himself (a trick that Chevy Chase and Bill Murray also took to the bank in their film careers).

This bit dealt with animal violence, racism, and it was even touching on child abuse there at the end. But it's funny. It's blatantly sarcastic, so you don't take it seriously.

That's the edginess. That's what that Lifetime Gameshow skit had, and that's often missing from SNL. That's what the Dear Sister digital short had, and what most of Andy Samberg's digital shorts do with sexual topics.

SNL would do well to focus on that more.

Any thoughts on this topic?

I'll start a new SNL category/tag/label called "SNL Lessons." Enjoy!

- TAE