TV URBAN LEGEND: Eddie Murphy got his SNL gig because of another comedian's difficult reading.

After five seasons, the original cast of Saturday Night Live were ready for the show to be over. Stars like Chevy Chase, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd had already left the show before Season 5 and Bill Murray was similarly chomping at the bit to move on to a career in film. Not only that, but the show's creator and producer, Lorne Michaels, was also ready to take a break. Michaels tried to work out a deal with NBC where he could do a reduced number of episodes of the series for Season 6. NBC, though, was not about to agree to do less episodes of one of their few hit shows of the era. NBC President Fred Silverman and Michaels were still close to working out SOME sort of deal, though, when Al Franken (who would have been Michaels' choice to replace him if Michaels couldn't get a deal done) ripped into Silverman during a Weekend Update bit because Silverman had recently stood Michaels up for a meeting (Franken did not know that Michaels and Silverman had moved past that missed meeting when he did his Update bit). So now Michaels was definitely out and Franken was out, as well. In stepped associate producer Jean Doumanian, SNL's talent booker/coordinator. Doumanian was very well-liked and SNL famously never had a guest host ever turn them down for a repeat engagement, as they were always treated really well. However, she had never produced a TV series before and she was now in charge of one of the biggest shows in the world and had less than a year to replace the entire cast and writing staff (Brian Doyle Murray, Bill Murray's brother, was the only writer who stuck around).

Doumanian was brilliant when it came to keeping celebrities happy, but she appeared to be less adept at identifying talent. However, while no offense to Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried (who they didn't even let really be himself) and Joe Piscapo, the major exception, of course, was 19-year-old Eddie Murphy, who went on to become probably the most famous cast member in Saturday Night Live history.

However, Doumanian never really got to even take credit for Murphy's casting, as she did everything she could to NOT cast him on the show! When casting was underway, they sadly had a sort of "designated black guy" spot on the roster (as the show was more or less trying to replicate the original cast, with Garrett Morris as the only black member of the cast) and the first comedian that Doumanian wanted was noted New York City street comedian, Charlie Barnett.

Barnett's audition did really well, but the problem was that Barnett, who left home at age 11 and never finished middle school, grew up in reform schools and never really got much of an education. His upbringing left him effectively illiterate (as he told People a few years later, “I read good, but I read slow") and while his audition did really well, SNL shows all involve the reading of cue cards for all of the sketches and when Barnett was booked for a reading after his audition, he panicked and just never showed up.

Even after they were finished with Barnett and had then seen Murphy audition, Doumanian STILL wanted to go with another comedian (see which comedian in this recent TV Legends Revealed), but SNL's talent manager really went to the mat for Murphy and so he was hired.

Doumanian was fired before Season 6 was finished and most of her chosen cast were fired, but Murphy remained and obviously became a superstar.

Barnett eventually found some success in film (DC Cab) and TV (a recurring role on Miami Vice), but his problems with drug abuse led to him contracting AIDS and he sadly passed away in 1996 at the age of 41.

The legend is...

STATUS: True

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