Being Eddie Ending Explained: Inside Yul Brynner’s Risqué Offer to Murphy

A wild late-night offer from Yul Brynner to a young Eddie Murphy sets the tone for Being Eddie, Netflix’s new documentary released November 12, 2025. Directed by two-time Oscar winner Angus Wall, it delivers a candid, low-key portrait of Murphy’s rise and the whirlwind around it.

Netflix just dropped a new Eddie Murphy doc, and it has everything: the rise, the jokes, the bruised feelings, and yes, a truly bizarre celebrity proposition that teenage-me could not have processed either.

The doc in a nutshell

'Being Eddie' is a laid-back, candid look at how a kid from Brooklyn turned into one of the biggest names in comedy. Directed by two-time Oscar winner Angus Wall, it went live on November 12, 2025, and it mixes vintage footage, behind-the-scenes bits, and fresh interviews with the people who know Murphy best. The tone is funny and nostalgic, with a surprising amount of personal stuff that actually adds up instead of feeling like PR fluff.

• Release: November 12, 2025 on Netflix
• Director: Angus Wall (two-time Oscar winner)
• Who shows up: Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld
• What it covers: From Brooklyn beginnings to SNL dominance, movie superstardom, and the bumps along the way
• Vibe: Relaxed, honest, funny, with a few stories that sound too wild to be real

The Yul Brynner story you did not expect

This is the one that made me pause and rewind. Right after Eddie hit big on SNL, he turned 21 and celebrated at Studio 54 - peak New York nightlife, the place where people like Mick Jagger and Diana Ross casually partied. At that birthday bash, Eddie says he ran into Yul Brynner - yes, the iconic bald star of 'The King and I' - who approached him with his wife and invited him back to their place to 'party.'

Murphy, being 21 and assuming this was just a normal afterparty, passed. Only later did he realize the invite was not about cocktails and conversation. In the doc, he cracks the kind of line only Eddie can deliver:

'Did he want me to go fuck his wife? And then I wish I would've went. The story would end better you know.'

He laughs it off now, but the whole thing is a perfect snapshot of how surreal his early fame actually was.

So what actually happened with SNL?

The doc also gets into Murphy's long chill with Saturday Night Live, which started over one quick joke that cut deep. In 1995, on David Spade's 'Hollywood Minute,' Spade held up a photo of Eddie and said:

'Look, children - It's a falling star. Make a wish.'

Murphy's movie run had slowed a bit at that point, but he was hardly washed. He says the line hurt - not because it came from Spade, but because SNL let it on air. From his perspective, he had helped keep the show alive during the early '80s slump when ratings were rough, and he felt blindsided by the shot. So he stayed away. For years.

The ice finally thawed: he popped in for SNL's 40th anniversary special in 2015 and fully hosted again in 2019 - his first real return since the 1980s.

Worth the watch?

Yeah. It is funny, revealing, and packed with stories that are somehow both ridiculous and weirdly grounding. 'Being Eddie' is streaming on Netflix right now.

Seen it yet? Drop your take below.