Flip thanks everyone individually and gives the women kisses before jokingly telling the control room "...Y'all can just fade to black". Eddie Murphy appears on stage a bit later and gives Flip a big hug; he and Piscopo seem to be keeping their distance.

Dave Weckl continues to fill in for Buddy Williams on drums.

Don Pardo thanks the viewers for another wonderful year and gives individualized holiday greetings for different groups (with another dig at Alan Thicke).

The credit roll ends with "Nine Years of Thanks to Heino Ripp", SNL's technical director, who left SNL after this show to direct Lorne Michaels' ill-fated sketch series The New Show. For more information about The New Show, check out Dennis Perrin's excellent article for Splitsider.

FINAL THOUGHTS

An enjoyable, if somewhat unmemorable episode, with nothing really terrible to weigh it down, but Eddie Murphy's presence doesn't really provide the boost Dick Ebersol was expecting. This was actually a night where the rest of the cast had more of a presence on the show (save for the perpetually unused Robin Duke); Jim Belushi in particular rebounds nicely from last week's show. Flip Wilson was a good host, but was mostly out-of-the-way and not really in the fabric of the show, much of which was overshadowed by Stevie Nicks' performances (particularly on "Stand Back").

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:

Crazy Weinstein

Shoe Tier

Hello, Trudy!

SHOW LOWLIGHTS:

Reverend Leroy

MVP:

Stevie Nicks

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:

cast

Jim Belushi : 3 appearances [Hello Trudy!, Crazy Weinstein, Subterraneans]

: 3 appearances [Hello Trudy!, Crazy Weinstein, Subterraneans] Robin Duke : 1 appearance [Unrequited Sex]

: 1 appearance [Unrequited Sex] Mary Gross : 4 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Older Sisters Of The Young, Saturday Night News, Subterraneans]

: 4 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Older Sisters Of The Young, Saturday Night News, Subterraneans] Brad Hall : 3 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Saturday Night News, Subterraneans]

: 3 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Saturday Night News, Subterraneans] Tim Kazurinsky : 4 appearances [Unanswered Questions of the Universe, Shoe Tier, Saturday Night News, Subterraneans]

: 4 appearances [Unanswered Questions of the Universe, Shoe Tier, Saturday Night News, Subterraneans] Gary Kroeger : 3 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Shoe Tier, Subterraneans]

: 3 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Shoe Tier, Subterraneans] Julia Louis-Dreyfus : 2 appearances [Shoe Tier, Subterraneans]; 1 voice-over [Hello, Trudy!]

: 2 appearances [Shoe Tier, Subterraneans]; 1 voice-over [Hello, Trudy!] Eddie Murphy : 2 appearances [Dion's, Pudge & Solomon]

: 2 appearances [Dion's, Pudge & Solomon] Joe Piscopo: 4 appearances [Dion's, Unrequited Sex, Hello Trudy!, Pudge & Solomon]

crew and extras

Andy Breckman : 2 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Shoe Tier]

: 2 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Shoe Tier] Andy Murphy: 2 appearances [Airplane Restroom, Shoe Tier]

guests

Flip Wilson : 5 appearances [Dion's, Monologue, Airplane Restroom, Reverend Leroy, Shoe Tier]

: 5 appearances [Dion's, Monologue, Airplane Restroom, Reverend Leroy, Shoe Tier] Stevie Nicks : 2 appearances ["Stand Back", "Nightbird"]

: 2 appearances ["Stand Back", "Nightbird"] Joel Hodgson: 1 appearance [Guest Performance]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:

May 26, 1984

Known alterations:

Dion's and Monologue edited

Older Sisters Of The Young removed

Man On The Street (11/19/83) added

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.