*Noah Wyle has a soft spot for young autograph seekers, and he can thank Eddie Murphy for it. The newly crowned Sexiest Man Alive says the comedy legend cursed him out when he was 9 years old.
Wyle shared the memory on Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast, Variety reports.
“I met Eddie once when I was a kid. I asked him for his autograph, and I said, ‘I really like you on ‘SNL.’ And he goes, ‘What are you doing up that late?’ And I said, ‘Can I have your autograph?’ He goes, ‘F— off, man,'” Wyle recalled.
The brush-off shaped how he treats his own fans. “I always sign an autograph. Whenever a 9-year-old needs an autograph from me, I sign that so fast,” he said.
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The encounter eventually became a running joke at home, and one of his daughters turned it into a birthday gift.
“So, I’ve told this story in my house and last year for my birthday, my daughter didn’t know what to get me. My 10-year-old daughter printed up a picture of Eddie Murphy and then wrote on it, ‘Dear Noah, you’re a great kid, Eddie Murphy.’ And she spelled Eddie E-d-d-y,” Wyle said.
The fake autograph now hangs framed in his office. To make the gift more convincing, she told him she and her mom had run into Murphy. “And we got what you’ve always wanted, his autograph,” Wyle recalled her saying.
The podcast appearance comes during a big stretch for the actor. Last month, he won his second Emmy for playing Dr. Robby on HBO’s “The Pitt.” Now, the 55-year-old has been named PEOPLE’s 2026 Sexiest Man Alive.
“I thought that sounded like a prank,” Wyle told the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Charlotte Triggs.
His wife, Sara, 46, helped change his mind. “She thinks I’m a good guy and that the kind of person that I am and the kind of father I am, the kind of husband I am, is worth promoting,” he said. He joked that she “was very pleased that this reflects well on her taste.”
His children, Owen, 24, Auden, 21, and Frances, had their own reactions. His son warned, “Oh, this is going to make my life so much harder now. But that’s cool, Dad. But also, you invite a lot of haters too.”
Watch Wyle’s full “Good Hang” conversation with Poehler below.
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