Eddie Murphy says returning to ‘Saturday Night Live’ feels like high school

TORONTO — Eddie Murphy is ready to return to Studio 8H, and it feels like a nice walk down memory lane.

Thirty-five years after saying goodbye to “Saturday Night Live,” the sketch show that helped launch his career, the comedian is set to guest host in the coming 45th season. Woody Harrelson, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Kristen Stewart are also on the bill to serve as emcees later this year.

“I’m excited to go back,” he told The Times during the Toronto International Film Festival. “I had the feeling you would have if you were going back to your old high school.” And those are powerful memories for the Oscar-nominated actor; he proudly shared that he still remembered his high school locker combination.
Murphy made a brief return to “SNL” for the 40th anniversary in 2015, but he did not participate on the show. So, the chance to do so this fall gives him “those feelings of, ‘Wow this is a big part of who I am and this is where I came from.’

“And I feel a kinship to everybody who’s ever done that show. I’m looking forward to going back.”

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Director Todd Phillips, left, and actor Joaquin Phoenix, from the film “Joker,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Willem Dafoe, from the film “The Lighthouse,” in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Jennifer Lopez, from the film “Hustlers,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer and Jennifer Lopez, director Lorene Scafaria and actor Constance Wu, from the film “Hustlers,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Constance Wu, from the film “Hustlers,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Wesley Snipes, from the film “Dolemite Is My Name,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Alfie Allen and Beanie Feldstein, director Coky Giedroyc and author/screenwriter Caitlin Moran, from the film “How to Build a Girl,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Alexa Demi, from the film “Waves,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Lucas Hedges and Noah Jupe, director Alma Har’el and actor Shia LaBeouf, from the film “Honey Boy,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Director Pedro Almodóvar, from the film “Pain and Glory,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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“The Friend” costars Jason Segel and Dakota Johnson photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Kerry Washington, from the film “American Son,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Alfie Allen, Roman Griffin Davis and Stephen Merchant, director-actor Taika Waititi, and actors Thomasin McKenzie and Sam Rockwell, from the film “Jojo Rabbit,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Antonio Banderas, from the film “The Laundromat,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Jamie Dornan and Shailene Woodley, and director Drake Doremus, from the film “Endings, Beginnings,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Betty Gabriel, from the film “Human Capital,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Joely Richardson and director Richard Stanley, from the film “Color Out of Space,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Director Ladj Ly, from the film “Les Misérables,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Jennifer Ehle, director Rose Glass and actor Morfydd Clark from the film “Saint Maud,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Shailene Woodley, from the film “Endings, Beginnings,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Director Roger Michell, second from right, with actors Susan Sarandon, Rainn Wilson and Sam Neill, from the film “Blackbird,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Priyanka Chopra Jonas, from the film “The Sky Is Pink,” in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Leslie Odom Jr., director Kasi Lemmons and actor Cynthia Erivo, from the film “Harriet,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Jamie Lee Curtis, from the film “Knives Out,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Director Noah Baumbach, left, and actor Adam Driver, from the film “Marriage Story,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, from the film “Knives Out,” and actor Eddie Murphy, from the film “Dolemite Is My Name,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne, from the film “The Aeronauts,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Isla Fisher and Steve Coogan, from the film “Greed,” in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Aneurin Barnard and Ansel Elgort, from the film “The Goldfinch,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Craig Robinson, from the film “Dolemite Is My Name,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Song Kang Ho, director Bong Joon Ho and actor Choi Woo Shik, from the film “Parasite,” in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Kristen Stewart, from the film “Seberg,” in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Anthony Mackie and actor Jamie Dornan, from the film “Synchronic,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

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Actor Alex Wolff, from the film “Castle in the Ground,” photographed in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Peter Sarsgaard, Alex Wolff, Betty Gabriel and Maya Hawke, from the film “Human Capital,” in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors George Mason, Kelly MacDonald and Julia Stone and director Gregor Jordan, from the film “Dirt Music,” in the L.A. Times Photo Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Season 45 premieres Sept. 28 on NBC.