Murphy snaps the "SNL" curse?

If everything proceeds apace, Eddie Murphy will become, believe it or not, the first “Saturday Night Live� acting alumnus to win an Academy Award.

Few, I’d say, could say they saw this coming, with Murphy squandering so much of his career on broad comedies like “Daddy Day Care,� “Dr. Doolittle 2,� “The Nutty Professor 2,� "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," “Showtime,� ad nauseum – another, “Norbit,� is coming soon.

Howard Shore, the show’s first musical director, won three Oscars for his music (two Best Score, one Best Song) for the “Lord of the Rings� movies.

Other “SNL� veterans to earn Oscar nominations, by the way: Albert Brooks, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Marc Shaiman, Randy Quaid (though his Oscar nomination came a decade before his “SNL� tenure), Joan Cusack and Robert Downey, Jr.