SNL surprise: Can Eddie Murphy finally make a comeback?

I've made no secret about my intense fandom for Eddie Murphy -- particularly his early work. It was very problematic,  but as a performer he was an undeniable force, first on Saturday Night Live, where he was one of the biggest stars in the show's history -- and in his run of '80s hits.

He stumbled a bit in the early 90s, even though his films almost always made solid money, they were considered disappointments relative to his past box office dominance and by 1996 he was considered to be on a real downswing, but then came that year's remake of The Nutty Professor -- a smash hit -- that not just resurrected his career but also started a new phase of his work that leaned heavily on Murphy playing multiple characters and wearing a lot of prosthetics.

Murphy's performance in that movie was a true comic tour de force (he even got some longshot buzz as a potential Oscar nominee for it) but some of the subsequent films relied to heavily on fart jokes and some unfortunately off-putting characterizations. And then things got even worse, when Murphy decided to cash in on his A-list status to star in a series of toothless, forgettable 'family' comedies that often made money but didn't make much of a mark.

He briefly flirted with dramatic critical acclaim with a very good Oscar nominated performance in the musical Dreamgirls, but his work over the last 10 years has become very, very spare. He stopped making movies, only briefly re-emerging to make the poorly reviewed Driving Miss Daisy rip-off Mr. Church.

Captured from the 'Coming to America 2' shoot

As a huge fan of his brash, bold early persona, it was hard to see this aging, too genteel version. There was a case to be made that as Murphy entered his 50s it was no longer tenable for him to play a cocky know it all, and again, it's worth conceding the fact that as funny as his early films were at the time of their release, they haven't aged well in the wokeness era.

And yet I wanted to see something, anything from him that had a glimmer of the old Murphy charm.

Well, this year has become a promising teaser to what may be a great last act of his career. He's appearing a biopic about the iconic blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore for Netflix, penned by the authors of Ed Wood and directed by the man who made Hustle & Flow. With that pedigree, and an all-star supporting cast stocked with great black comic actors, this film could be a brilliant showcase of Murphy's gift for mimicry and underrated dramatic chops.

He also turned up in .a muted (at first) episode of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. I had no idea the two comics were once colleagues, and for a while Murphy appears to be the same reserved, somewhat shy character he's often shown off in public (see his strangely humorless cameo at the SNL 40th anniversary special). But then with some time and prodding from Seinfeld, Murphy starts to show flashes of his peerless wit and yet again hints at a long delayed return to stand up.

The latest bit of encouraging news is the announcement today that he'll be hosting the December 21st episode of SNL this season. His first time officially appearing on the show in 35(!) years. Murphy's always had a love/hate relationship with the show and so for him to embrace coming back and potentially resurrecting some of his most beloved characters is very exciting for fans like me.

And then there's a long delayed sequel to arguably his most beloved film -- Coming to America -- which is actually in production as we speak.

I still believe Murphy has a fastball left. And unlike some of my other most beloved black pop culture icons of the 80s (you know who I'm talking about) he hasn't done much to completely diminish his reputation as an icon. Now, he just has to prove he still is one. I can't wait to watch to find out.