Eddie Murphy hosted this weekend episode of Saturday Night Live and it already seems like it's going to be remembered as a classic. According to Deadline, the “fast official” Nielsen numbers ordered by NBC show that this was the highest-rated and most-watched episode of Saturday Night Live since May 13, 2017, with a 2.5 rating in adults 18-49 and 9.921 million viewers overall.
Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Tracy Morgan, Alec Baldwin, Larry David, Maya Rudolph, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, and Rachel Dratch all made guest appearances in the episode, and Lizzo, who has been one of the most popular artists of the year, was the performer. Lizzo sang her hit songs "Truth Hurts" and "Good As Hell."
Murphy brought back several of his most popular characters from his original time working on the show. These included Mister Robinson, Gumby and Buckwheat. Murphy also did his famous Bill Cosby impression during his monologue.
The last highest (The May 13, 2017 episode) was hosted by Melissa McCarthy with musical guest HAIM. There, SNL drew a 2.7 rating in 18-49, with 10.382 million viewers overall.
The previous high for this season was the episode hosted by Will Ferrell on November 23rd. King Princess was the musical guest.
SNL resumes in 2020 with Adam Driver hosting the first episode.