'Chappelle' comic keeps it real (or close)

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Charlie Murphy, a breakout star from TV's "Chappelle's Show," will do a stand-up comedy show tonight at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Charlie Murphy and Friends 7:30 p.m. today Blaisdell Concert Hall $30, $40, $50 (877) 750-4400

Fans of Comedy Central's now mothballed "Chappelle's Show" are familiar with a couple of the actor/comedian's best, too.

• A "Purple Rain"-era Prince (played deliciously by Chappelle) and his oddly fey band The Revolution beating down Murphy and crew in a game of post-midnight b-ball.
• A corn-rowed and coke-fueled Rick James (also deftly played by Chappelle) cold-cocking Murphy's face at a party and offering no reason save, 'I'm Rick James, b____!"

Murphy's hilarious docudrama-style "True Hollywood Stories" sketches, detailing his '80s celebrity encounters while doing bodyguard duty for his more famous younger brother Eddie, made him "Chappelle's Show's" breakout star. The Rick James utterance is now a national catch phrase overused by septuagenarians and grade-school kids alike.

He's bringing his stand-up show, "Charlie Murphy and Friends," to the Blaisdell Concert Hall tonight.

But asked exactly how much of his seemingly too-outrageous-to-be-true stories are real, Murphy sounded a bit insulted.

"I'll put it to you this way," he said. "Would you ask Jay-Z how much of his rap is true? Would you ask 50 Cent that?"

Well, yeah.

Murphy moved on.

"Rap is entertainment. And that's the same instance for any story that I tell," said Murphy. "People ask, 'Well, did it happen just like that?' Well, I would think not. That's like sayin' I have zero talent, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Murphy laughed.

"I take real situations, I look at them, I re-filter them through my brain and they come out in a way where people can laugh about them.

"Is the situation real? Yes. Did it happen? Yes. Did it happen the way I explained it? No. If I told it to you exactly the way it happened, you wouldn't find it entertaining."

Murphy followed his protective duties for Eddie with 17 years of bit parts in films, including "Mo' Better Blues" and "Jungle Fever," playing, for the most part, thugs and heavies. Chappelle called Murphy to do a bit part in a sketch after seeing one of his more comical takes on the thug life in the 1993 cult classic rock-umentary "CB4."

The "Chappelle's Show" sketch was a spoof of MTV's "The Real World" that placed a white person in a house full of black roommates, reversing the series' usual modus operandi. Its title? "The Mad Real World."

Playing a menacing roomie named Tyree who, among other things, stabs his white housemate's father, steals his visiting girlfriend and terrorizes him at every opportunity, Murphy stole every scene he was in. He was hired as "Chappelle's Show" writer soon after.

The idea for "True Hollywood Stories" was born when Chappelle overheard Murphy recounting tales of his '80s Hollywood life with his suddenly famous brother.

Murphy and the cast had completed several new sketches for "Chappelle's Show's" third season when Chappelle suddenly and famously shut down production of the wildly popular show, citing stress and problems with the show's direction.

"We'd done eight shows," said Murphy, recounting several of the finished sketches. "Everybody was blindsided by what happened."

With a burgeoning stand-up career and several film roles in the can or near shooting, Murphy wasn't disappointed all that much by the end of the job.

"I'm disappointed that something great died prematurely," Murphy said. "This was something that was in the same bloodline as 'Saturday Night Live' and 'In Living Color' ... something that was gonna be great.

"'Saturday Night Live' has been on television for 35 years. With 'Chappelle's Show,' who knows how long he could've did that?"

Murphy's last conversation with Chappelle went down the day before the shutdown announcement. His "gut feeling" is that "Chappelle's Show" isn't over for good.

"Dave is cool," Murphy said. "He's still doing stand-up. He's in L.A. He's in New York. He's goin' on stage, and he's hilarious. ... If something had happened to Dave, I don't think he'd be in the mood to be on stage partying."

OK and fine.

But if you're a true "Chappelle's Show" junkie, the question you really want Murphy to answer is: Did Prince really make Murphy and crew pancakes after embarrassing them at basketball?

"He made the pancakes, man," said Murphy. "And he can play basketball. If you don't believe me, do some research on him and you'll see he played high school basketball.

"And he was good, too."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.