Velvet Jones
| Velvet Jones | |
|---|---|
| Saturday Night Live character | |
| First appearance |
Season 7, episode 3 (17 October 1981) |
| Last appearance |
Season 7, episode 9 (23 January 1982) |
| Created by | Eddie Murphy |
| Portrayed by | Eddie Murphy |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Author, entrepreneur |
| Nationality | American |
Velvet Jones was a recurring character created and performed by Eddie Murphy for the seventh season of Saturday Night Live, a long-running American sketch comedy television series.
Velvet is a pimp who speaks in African American Vernacular English, wears a garish leisure suit, and has hair arranged in a sleek pompadour.
Velvet Jones' first appeared in the episode dated 17 October 1981 (guest hosted by George Kennedy and Miles Davis). In his first skit, Jones introduces himself as the president of the Velvet Jones School of Technology, and promotes his new how-to book, I Wanna Be a Ho. In a later episode, Jones endorses his Harlequin romance novels, including Velvet Love, A Touch of Velvet, and Kicked in the Butt by Love.[1]
In an episode hosted by Robert Conrad in January 1982, Murphy portrayed Velvet Jones for the last time. Velvet Jones appeared in the teaser and in the first two sketches, but after the first commercial break Eddie Murphy informed the studio audience that Velvet Jones would not appear in any more sketches, as the character had just died of overexposure.