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On Tuesday, April 12, we found out that Chappelle’s Show great Charlie Murphy had died at the age of 57. In honor of Murphy, we’re re-running this look at the memorable sketch where he told the world about his encounter with Prince and his reaction to the loss of Prince.
By now, you’ve probably heard the news that the creative unicorn Prince was found dead today at Paisley Park, his personal compound in Minnesota. The precise circumstances of the successful, award-winning icon’s death remain something of a mystery at this time, but that hasn’t stopped President Barack Obama, NBA athletes, fellow artists and the rest of the world from mourning the loss while celebrating such a monumental career. Chief among Prince’s saddened admirers is comedian Charlie Murphy, who famously honored the musical god with one of Chappelle’s Show‘s greatest sketches — second only to its analogous treatment of Rick James.
On Twitter, Murphy wrote that Prince’s music “was the soundtrack to a special time in my life.”
#RIP Prince. Your music was the soundtrack to a special time in my life.
— Charlie Murphy (@charliemurphy) April 21, 2016
Murphy and Chappelle’s Show star Dave Chappelle targeted the musician in 2004 with a hilarious recreation of the former’s chance encounter with the ’80s star at a night club. Their supposed meeting led to a battle on a basketball court, where Prince and his cohort — still dressed in the period’s preferred androgynous style — kicked the crap out of Murphy and his friends.
After Murphy’s crushing loss to the well-dressed Prince, the latter offered him and his crew pancakes. The story became a pre-virality viral joke, and even inspired Prince’s 2013 song “Breakfast Can Wait.”
This is an updated version of a post that originally ran on April 21, 2016.
