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Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder Duet
The setup
The premise
Here’s the bit.
In this Saturday Night Live sketch from the May 22, 1982 episode, Frank Sinatra (Joe Piscopo) and Stevie Wonder (Eddie Murphy) meet in a recording studio to cut a revised version of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder's hit "Ebony and Ivory." Sinatra pushes the song away from its soft pop message and toward his own brash lounge-singer persona, producing comic lyrics about their differences while Wonder gamely sings along. The sketch is built around the contrast between Piscopo's swaggering Sinatra impression and Murphy's exuberant Stevie Wonder, culminating in the memorable parody lines "You are blind as a bat and I have sight" and "Side by side you are my amigo, negro, let's not fight!"
The funny people
Meet the cast. 2
Say it with us
Highly quotable.
I am dark and you are light.
You are blind as a bat and I have sight.
Side by side you are my amigo, negro, let's not fight!
We're talking Salt & Peppa, Sammy and Dean, Stevie and me are peachy keen.
Behind the scenes
The people who made it.

Barry W. Blaustein
Writer

David Sheffield
Writer


The SNL Band
Musician
A little extra
Notes from the archive.
The sketch aired in SNL Season 7, Episode 20, hosted by Olivia Newton-John, and is commonly listed under the segment title "Ebony & Ivory." Contemporary SNL review sources call it an undisputed classic and highlight it as a peak pairing of Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy. The official SNL YouTube upload was posted July 13, 2019, runs 4:42, and identifies the sketch as Season 7, 1982. YouTube audience comments frequently cite the "blind as a bat" lyric as the standout line and repeat trivia that Piscopo later apologized to Sinatra, who reportedly took the parody in good humor.
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