Weekend Update: Eddie Murphy on a Fan Letter from President Reagan - SNL

Eddie Murphy is excited to read a fan letter from President Reagan in his Newsbreak commentary, but his enthusiasm falters when he reads the part where the President shares some racist jokes. [Season 7, 1981]


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[imari]

Eddie keeping a straight face and Brian trying to keep from laughing is hilarious.

[charlesyun]

That just went from 0 to 1000 real quick

[jtimes]

Considering Reagan's recently released transcript with Nixon I would say it's pretty accurate.

[gregmark]

Goddamn but this period of the show was WAY better than I remembered it. I haven't seen any of this stuff since it aired, and wow, Eddie was a hell of a lot more intelligent and insightful than I remembered him being. This was amazing. This may be some of the best writing SNL ever saw. I had no idea. I mean, apparently, all the drugs and alcohol made me a complete idiot in the early 80s. So glad you guys put up clips from the "lost years". So much better than I recalled. Damn!

[rotkzfu]

Eddie keeping a straight face through all of that means he is either one hell of an actor, or that letter was real. Good laughs

[shizzam]

Offensive but hilarious and I’m black, Eddie keeping character was brilliant!!😂😂

[stonent]

Weekend update host is Mr. Shirley from Christmas Vacation. Brian Doyle Murray, Bill Murray's brother.

[blockmasterscott]

The 8 legged elevator joke had me laughing out loud in front of my monitor. Good grief, that was funny.

And how the heck did Eddie keep a straight face?

[jrellis]

Eddie is amazing. that is old news. What gets lost is his power and incisiveness as an political humorist. We think of him as a rare comedic actor, and that is true. There is much there - much more.

[aiberlane]

I guess that's before the "Reagan is my dad" sketch.

[jimmyplenderleith]

Bryan Doyle Murray is losing it while Eddie reads that deadpan

[Diggy]

1:47 So that's where the writers of Guess Who got that joke from 🍵

[Michael-etuj]

0:43 "Dear Mister Murphy..." 😊😊😊

[mortyfromthed]

You should of heard the one he told Nixon.

[ZackSmith]

SPOILERS FOR “GAME OF THRONES”

I cannot believe Hodor’s origin stole from the first joke here

[geraldshields]

I love the way that Eddie gave that newscaster that “STFU” look....

[stevenschwartzhoff]

I wonder if he had seen the letter before, or was in on the writing. If he was not in on the writing, who did write it?
(I would not entertain the idea that Reagan wrote it without clear evidence. Many of his policies had extremely racist motivations and results and he is know to have made problematic jokes in private, but this is not his writing style.) Considering the usual makeup of SNL writing rooms, I wonder who had the nerve to write that.

[echo-trip-]

This is a way to politically correctly tell racist jokes. The audience is able to laugh at these jokes that would normally be taboo, because SNL/Murphy set them up so that we can imagine Reagan telling them and therefore the blame for their bad taste is deflected. Most of America totally misses this sinister aspect of a lot of Eddie Murphy's and Dave Chappelle's humor because they don't want to think of it as anything more than humor. Which it essentially is in principle. But both comedians know how much mileage they can get by playing off of racism and stereotypes, and they both know how to make it look like it's in the name of courage to reveal those stereotypes and confront them. The truth is, all intentions and claims aside, it only amplifies these racial stereotypes in the end, because that's what our subconscious minds pick up and keep from them.

[tricatfilms]

OMG.... back when SNL was hilarious. Never again. Thank god for Eddie Murphy.

[crittoneida]

I’m mad at myself for laughing at them jokes……