Eddie Murphy's James Brown Hot Tub SNL Sketch Got a Surprising Reaction from the Icon

In November 2014, Eddie Murphy and Jimmy Fallon met for the first time when the actor and comedian made his debut appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. "I haven't been in this building for 25 years," Murphy said of visiting 30 Rock, where he worked as a Saturday Night Live cast member from 1980-1984.

As a fellow SNL alum and lifelong fan, Fallon had to ask Murphy about several moments from his time on the late night sketch series. He was particularly curious about one iconic 1983 sketch from Season 9: "James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub Party."

"You hear how loud the audience response is," Fallon told Murphy of the reaction to the sketch. "I know those things, when you're at SNL — I've seen it happen twice maybe, when it's that electric," he continued, and asked Murphy who originally had the idea for the "Celebrity Hot Tub" premise.

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Eddie Murphy during an interview with Jimmy Fallon on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Episode 534 on November 4, 2011. Photo: Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

Eddie Murphy says SNL's "Hot Tub" sketch inspired James Brown to suggest a biopic role

Murphy admitted he wasn't entirely sold on the concept at first.

"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," Murphy said of the sketch. "And that was one of those things that I didn't get 'til we did it."

James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party

Murphy delivers an exaggerated impression of the singer in "James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub Party" — but Murphy revealed to Fallon that the "Godfather of Soul" actually loved it.

So much so, in fact, that Brown told Murphy he should play him in a movie.

"James Brown actually told me,'You should do my life story.' And I was like, 'Well, I said people would be laughing,'" he continued. "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."

Aside from casting the comedian in his own biopic, Brown also gave the Shrek star some surprising financial advice: "He told me to bury my money in the woods."

"I went go see him, and he was backstage," Murphy told Fallon. "He had the curlers in the head and he said, 'When are you gonna start working clean? You gotta stop doing all that cursing... And you gotta make sure you get your money, any money you got, and bury it in the woods.'"

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When Murphy asked why, he said that Brown answered, "The government's gonna take your money. If you have it in a bank, the government will take your money. Get you a piece of land, you bury that money in the woods."

"And I said, 'But can't the government take your land?'" Murphy continued. "And he said, 'Well, they won't know where the money is!' It's a true story. I was picturing James driving around down South with his money in the woods in different places. 'Pull the car over. Give me the shovel.' He'd come back with some dirty 20s."

Watch Eddie Murphy's very first interview with Jimmy Fallon — in which he also explains why he hosted an episode of SNL when he was a cast member — above, and watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon weeknights at 11:35/10:35c on NBC, streaming next day on Peacock.