  Standup comic Charlie Murphy appears tonight through Saturday at the Comic Strip in West Edmonton Mall. Every show is sold out. |
Contrary to what many people might think, being “Eddie Murphy’s big brother” carried little currency with casting directors in Hollywood.
If anything, Charlie Murphy says it made things harder.
These days, Charlie holds court as a celebrated stand-up comic in his own right, appearing tonight through Saturday at the Comic Strip in West Edmonton Mall.
According to the comedy club’s website, every show is sold out.
But back in the day, Charlie, now 47, says he didn’t want to trade on his brother’s name, determined to make a go of acting on his own.
He’d hit 6 a.m. cattle calls, crashed on the couches of friends and generally met with a lot of directors who hoped he might be Eddie on the cheap.
“Can you laugh like Eddie?” they’d ask.
So, maybe there was a sense of frustration that inspired Charlie to bring an actual handgun to the audition for CB4, the 1993 “rapumentary” which starred Chris Rock.
“I got the script from casting, read it at home and saw that the character Gusto pulls a gun out,” Charlie recalls.
“This was before I knew any better about method acting.
“But you’re never supposed to touch the reader that you read lines with – that’s a firm rule. You are definitely not going to get the part if you touch the reader.
“I broke all those rules when I went in.
“I grabbed him, I pulled a gun out. I wanted people to believe that I could be the character … it wasn’t loaded.”
Charlie then lets out a big, hearty and rather un-Eddie-like laugh at landing the role of Gusto the gangster, saying he was lucky as the insane ploy could have easily landed him in jail or, funnily, at least “blacklisted” in Hollywood.
Very wry. So much so, I can’t help but wonder if he’s spinning another of Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories.
Even if it weren’t entirely true, it was still a great yarn.
Such tall tales, like the one about basketball and pancakes at Prince’s house or hanging with late Superfreak Rick James, made up two of the more memorable sketches from the Emmy-nominated Dave Chappelle Show.
Its success saw frat boys across North America making “I’m Rick James, bitch!” their bender battle cry, but racial and financial scrutiny would see Chappelle leaving the show amidst controversy.
It also left Charlie with a tempting proposition: stand-up comedy.
“I thought it was absurd, that there was no way the public would allow it,” Charlie says.
“But they kept on saying that was who wanted to pay me. They just said I had to go out there, say ‘Hi. I’m Charlie Murphy,’ wave and then collect a cheque.
“But I’d never do that; I’d feel like a whore if I did that. And also to what my brother means to the world of standup comedy, it would be a disgrace.”
Regardless, it’s an experiment that has obviously taken hold and one Charlie says he takes seriously as an art.
His tour dates have routinely sold out and this summer he and Eddie may even be making impromptu appearances together at a few clubs.
Eddie Murphy back out doing standup comedy?
That’s right, says Charlie.
For those who do have tickets to Charlie’s shows at the Comic Strip and are expecting to hear some tested favourites from the Chappelle show, don’t – he has moved on.
But don’t worry, either.
“I don’t give them what they’re expecting, but they don’t leave missing it,” he says, laughing.
“The show is good enough to make you forget why you actually came in the first place.”
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