Eddie Murphy's enduring mark on 'SNL,' the show helped save from …

At this lunch, I was looking to meet up with the program’s newest executive producer, Dick Ebersol, whom I already knew a bit.

Dick spotted me and walked over with a cast member he was ushering around.

I knew the cast member, because in the just-concluded season he had emerged as the first potential break-out star since the Belushi-Murray-Radner cast.

“This is Eddie Murphy,” Dick said introducing what looked like an astonishingly young man.

Looking to light a spark, I asked him if he was doing anything in LA—thinking he might talk about his stand-up act.