Eddie Murphy

Murphy’s hiring was the true coup of SNL cast member hires in the 1980s. Without him, there is a real chance the show would have been canceled. Hired in 1980, Murphy was a teenager when he became, at that point, the youngest of SNL cast members. He would come to dominate the show in terms of sheer airtime, and once even once served as a substitute host while still an SNL cast member.

His four-season run features such memorable characters as Gumby, Mr. Robinson, Buckwheat, and more. Murphy had star presence. Indeed, in 1984, the year he left the show, Murphy starred in Beverly Hills Cop, which was already his third starring role in a movie.

SNL’s brightest star was en route to becoming perhaps Hollywood’s brightest star.