Ron Howard had been off Happy Days for two years when he hosted SNL in October of 1982 so the monologue was a good way to cut loose when he decides to use words like "doo-doo" and "prophylactic"! From there we go to the "Opie's Back" sketch where after his father died in a fishing accident, Opie returns from 'Nam to bring order back to Mayberry after Aunt Bee (Robin Duke) runs a prostitution ring and Floyd (Eddie Murphy) becomes black! Opie summons his dad (Andy Griffith in either taped or live cameo) who tells his son to "hit Aunt Bee upside the head like I used to do". Howard later mistakenly calls Murphy's Floyd, Otis (actually Joe Piscopo). Floyd corrects him to which Howard says,"I told you I didn't recognize you!" Sketch ends with the entire cast (which includes Brad Hall as Gomer, and Gary Kroeger as Barney Fife) whistling "The Andy Griffith Show Theme". The more famous sketch (included on "The Best of Eddie Murphy" tape) is Focus on Film which has Murphy's character Reheem Abdul Mohammed interviewing Howard as he plugs Night Shift which he mentions is about pimps. "Are there any brothers in it?", Reheem asks. "No.", replies Howard. "I don't know whether to thank you or punch you in the mouth!" Murphy mainly asks about his Opie and Richie Cunningham days and shouts out "Opie Cunningham" with some audience members joining along! (Wouldn't it be funny if Steve Martin-when plugging Parenthood-and Tom Hanks-when plugging The Da Vinci Code-had referred to their director that way. It would've been like Chevy Chase constantly saying,"Generalisimo Francisco Franco is still dead!") Harry Anderson does a trick in which he sticks a needle through his arm (eww!). The Clash perform two songs of which the second one, "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" is an instant SNL classic! There's also a hilarious sketch about a school that teaches Sylvester-talk and a funny Whiners sketch with Doctor Howard suggesting artificial insemination for a "real Whiner" and mentions moving to Puerto Rico when Doug and Wendy ask if he'd help with the birth. For all of the above sketches, I highly recommend you seek this episode out!
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