Barry Blaustein, the former Saturday Night Live writer who helped Eddie Murphy create some of the show’s most memorable characters, has died at the age of 71. Blaustein was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017, and had recently been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Blaustein was hired for the famous sketch comedy show in 1980, during a tumultuous period in SNL history. Producer Jean Doumanian had taken over from show creator Lorne Michaels, resulting in extreme tension behind the scenes. Despite the circumstances, Blaustein clicked with another of the show’s new writers, David Sheffield. Together, the two became formidable...