"Saturday Night Live": The Eddie Murphy Years Pt.1 Quiz

Answer: False

On November 15, 1980, "Saturday Night Live" debuted for its sixth season with a whole new cast. Gone were the original group of Gilda Radner, Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, et al, and in their places were unknowns like Denny Dillon, Gail Matthias, Joe Piscopo, and a 19 year old up and coming comedian named, Eddie Murphy.

Initially, Murphy was just a bit player who didn't even appear in a sketch on that first show, but he would would appear in a sketch the following week in a cameo role. Murphy would get his chance to shine in a segment on the December 6 edition of "Weekend Update" along with Joe Piscopo, during his sports update as Raheem Abdul Muhammed, a high school kid from Cleveland.

The bit was well-received and Murphy soon became a regular cast member and from there a "Saturday Night Live" legend.

Answer: Nick Nolte; 1982

On December 11, 1982, Eddie Murphy became the first "Saturday Night Live" cast member to host the show while still being on it. This event probably would not have occurred if the scheduled host, Nick Nolte, had not taken ill. According to legend, Nolte had thrown up on Murphy and was just too inebriated to go on. Having starred with Nolte in the soon-to-be released movie, "48 Hours", Murphy was the obvious choice as the emergency replacement.

Answer: Firing Line

On February 11, 1984, Eddie Murphy (Dr. Phillip Holder) and "Saturday Night Live" host, Robin Williams (William F. Buckley), performed a skit about the spontaneous combustion of African-American singers on the talk show entitled, 'Firing Line'. The parody was a dig at Michael Jackson and the unfortunate accident he'd had of getting his hair caught on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. Who could have imagined that only two weeks later, Murphy would leave "SNL" and not return for over three decades?

Answer: Buh-Weet Sings

"Buh-Weet Sings" is the album Buckwheat performed songs from on the October 10, 1981 episode of "Saturday Night Live". With such memorable hits as "Wookin' Pa Nub" (which was actually Mickey Gilley's, "Lookin' For love"), "Fee Times a Mady" (The Commodores' "Three Times A Lady"), and Kim Carnes' "Betty Davis Eyes", which was was listed with only question marks ('?????') because no one could actually understand what Buckwheat was saying, this sketch has to go down in "SNL" history as one of its funniest.

Answer: Cill

Debuting on October 3, 1981, Tyrone Green recited his poem, "Images", from behind bars in the maximum security wing of Rockland prison. The piece was the winning submission in the institution's creative writing contest.

Here are the last few lines....

"Slip in his window, break his neck,
Then his house I start to wreck.
Got no reason, what the heck?
Cill my landlord, cill my landlord!
C-I-L-L my landlord!"

Tyrone's verbal misspelling of the word 'kill' at the end of the piece is what took this sketch from being just ok to being great. Without a doubt, it was one of Eddie Murphy's most memorable moments on "SNL".

Answer: Dr. Joyce Brothers

"Celebrity Hot Tub Party" debuted on "Saturday Night Live" on November 5, 1983, and is one of Eddie Murphy's most beloved skits. Murphy channeled singer James Brown in the sketch almost perfectly. He teased us by dancing around the hot tub and dipping his toe into the water a couple of times before finally settling into it. Once settled, he told us to stay tuned for more of the show at which point we were told that noted psychologist, Dr. Joyce Brothers, would be the next guest. Obviously, that did not happen as this was just a funny sketch, but it would've been nice to have seen it.

Answer: 25

Velvet Jones was just a 'businessman' who was looking for girls between 16-25 for enrollment at his School of Technology. There they would learn the 'skills' they needed which would allow them to potentially earn up to $1500 per week in the 'world's oldest profession'.

Debuting on November 7, 1981, the sketch was a bit more appropriate for that time period than it would be now, but it is still a very funny piece of comedy despite the questionable subject matter if only due to Murphy's performance.

Answer: Focus on Film

Raheem Abdul Muhammed was a character Eddie Murphy premiered on December 6, 1980, during Joe Piscopo's sports portion of 'Weekend Update'. Although the character is mostly remembered for being a film critic, he didn't begin as such. Initially, Muhammed was a high school kid who was brought onto the segment to comment on his basketball team's having to integrate a couple of white players onto the squad.

Murphy's first portrayal of Raheem Abdul Muhammed as a film critic wouldn't occur until Halloween, 1982, when Raheem would provide his feedback on the various horror movies of the day. Murphy would reprise the role many times afterwards, eventually landing Muhammed's movie critique show, 'Focus on Film', on February 20, 1982.

Answer: The Beatles

Since 1963, Clarence Walker had been looking for John, Paul, George, and Ringo (The Beatles) in order to "take a chunk out dey behind" because they had stolen his songs and kicked him out of the group...or, at least that's what he claimed in the skit, "Rock and Roll...and Then Some", during the February 11, 1984, episode of "Saturday Night Live".

Another masterful performance by Murphy with help from Joe Piscopo as the skeptical talk show host.

Answer: He was promoting his new book, "I'm Gumby, Dammit!"

Gumby was promoting his tell-all book, "I'm Gumby, Dammit!" on the "Tom Snyder Show". Apparently, the cartoon community had been ravaged by scandalous behavior throughout Gumby's career and he was exposing it going so far as to call Wilma Flintstone a 'loose' woman (although he was a little more crass with his description).