Eddie Murphy Got an Epic Job Offer After SNL's "James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party"
"Too hot in the hot tub!" The legendary comedian transformed into James Brown in SNL's wild Season 9 sketch.
In the weeks leading up to February 16's three-hour 50th anniversary celebration on NBC, the team behind Saturday Night Live has selected one sketch from every single season — 50 seasons in 50 days — to reflect the show's rich legacy across five decades. Presenting the sketch chosen to represent Season 9: "James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party” starring cast member Eddie Murphy.
Plenty of Saturday Night Live sketches just sound bizarre on paper. And that’s exactly the reaction Eddie Murphy had when the writers told him about their idea for “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party.”
The James Brown? Doing what in a hot tub? Thankfully, the SNL alum trusted the process and delivered one of the most hilarious (and quotable) sketches in the show’s history.
RELATED: Eddie Murphy Tells the Real Story of Playing Basketball at Prince's House
Eddie Murphy starred in SNL’s “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party” in 1983
When Murphy was a cast member on SNL from 1980 to 1984, the comedian transformed into James Brown multiple times. But his impression of the soul singer in Season 9, Episode 4’s “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party” sketch is perhaps his most memorable rendition.
Donning a velvet bathrobe with a sparkly lapel and “Hot Tub Man #1” written on the back, Murphy dances around a hot tub while he sings like the master of funk himself.
“Hot tub! Full of water! I said hot tub!” Murphy sings with few inaudible words peppered in throughout. “Gonna get ya hot, gonna make ya sweat! Hot tub! Rub-a-dub, baby, hot tub!”
“Should I get in the hot tub?” Murphy sings to one half of his band, who all enthusiastically reply, “Yeah!”
“Will it make me sweat?” he asks the other.
“Yeah!” they shout back.
“Should I get in the hot tub?” Murphy asks once again.
“Yeah!” they respond yet again.
“Will it make me wet?” Murphy asks.
“Yeah!” they answer.
“Well, well, well…,” Murphy says with a pause before dancing away and singing his little “Hot Tub” song again.
Murphy eventually rips off his bathrobe and reveals his gold speedo underneath, dipping in his toes in the hot tub. “Ayyy! Too hot in the hot tub!” he sings. “Burnt my flesh! Make it cooler! Good god!”
Just as Murphy finally gets himself in the hot tub, he electrocutes himself with his microphone and a narrator announces a quick commercial break before he welcomes his first guest — famous psychologist, advice columnist, and television personality Dr. Joyce Brothers.
RELATED: How Justin Timberlake Convinced Beyoncé to Do SNL's "Single Ladies" Sketch
Eddie Murphy worried SNL’s “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party” sketch wouldn't be funny
While “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party” is certainly considered a classic SNL sketch today, Murphy initially wasn't sure it would be a hit. During a 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show, Murphy told Jimmy Fallon he didn’t “get” the idea at first.
“I actually didn’t think that was funny until we did it. Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield — who wrote Coming to America with me, and Boomerang and The Nutty Professor, a lot of the stuff on Saturday Night Live, that really classic stuff — those guys wrote that. And that was one of those things that I didn't get 'til we did it,” he told Fallon, who agreed it was a “weird” sketch. “I was like ‘James Brown in a hot tub?!’”
Fortunately, Murphy went with along with it and, in turn, gave SNL fans a hot tub ritual. “I can’t get into a hot tub without doing this ceremony,” one commented on YouTube, while another said, “Every time I've gotten into a hot tub since the '80s I sing this song.”
RELATED: How Christopher Walken "Truly Surprised" Will Ferrell During SNL's "More Cowbell" Sketch
James Brown “loved” Eddie Murphy’s SNL impression of him
Not only did Brown enjoy Murphy’s impression of him, the “Godfather of Soul” wanted the SNL alum to play him in another project.
“James Brown actually loved it," Murphy told Fallon. "He told me ‘You should do my life story.' And I was like, ‘Well, I said people would be laughing.’ He said, ‘No, no! They’d be laughing if you was playing around, but if you’re serious, people will take it serious ... because you got all that in-between stuff.’ Whatever that means.” (Murphy also hilariously revealed that Brown told him to “bury my money in the woods” to hide it from the government.)
Ultimately, the late Chadwick Boseman portrayed Brown in the musical biopic, Get On Up. Murphy joked in a 2014 interview with BlackTree TV that if he were ever to take on the role himself in another film, it’d better happen soon. “My split days are coming to an end very shortly,” Murphy laughed before adding, “His story is incredible."
