After 40 Years, Eddie Murphy Wins His First Emmy Award

The comedy legend took home his first Emmy for his star-studded return to Saturday Night Live.

Four decades and five nominations later, Eddie Murphy is finally an Emmy winner.

The Television Academy awarded Murphy the Emmy for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series last night for his return to Saturday Night Live in late December, hosting the final episode of 2019 with a number of star-powered cameos from Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Tracy Morgan. In his comeback to the late-night sketch institution, Murphy reprised classic characters from his tenure during the early 1980s, including Gumby, Mr. Robinson, Velvet Jones, and Buckwheat. The episode earned the show its highest ratings in years.

Though he wasn’t present to accept the award (to be fair, nobody was,) Murphy thanked the Academy in a home-recorded speech. “This was a very, very special thing for me to come back and have the show turn out the way it did. I’m still floating from it,” Murphy said in the clip with trademark charisma and an ear-to-ear smile (see below.)

Murphy wasn’t the only SNL vet taking home the first statue of their career this week. Maya Rudolph was finally awarded a first (and second!) Emmy for her role in Big Mouth and a guest impersonation of Vice Presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, on Saturday Night Live. Rudolph managed an Academy first, being nominated twice in the same category. She contended against herself for another guest appearance in The Good Place, a role she claimed was modeled after the late Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the televised portion of this year’s ceremony is set to air tonight at 8pm on ABC. It will be simulcasted on Hulu and Youtube as well.