Prince and Dave Chappelle fans have been frequenting the Comedy Central website in the past few days to get a chuckle in an otherwise sad time.
The Chappelle’s Show skit in which Dave portrays Prince for “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories” has been watched nearly 600,000 times since Thursday, according to a Comedy Central spokeswoman.
The skit, an instant classic, first aired Feb. 18, 2004, and revolves around a crazy basketball game that actually took place one night in the mid-1980s between Prince’s crew and Murphy’s buddies.
Charlie Murphy is the older brother of Eddie Murphy and got to hang around a lot of superstars when Eddie became famous. Chappelle turned those stories into hilarious skits.
Chappelle’s Show castmember Donnell Rawlings recently told The Hollywood Reporter that Prince was a fan of that material.
“He thought it was hilarious,” said Rawlings. “And I think [Chappelle and Prince] really built a friendship after that sketch.”
Chappelle was crushed when he learned of Prince’s death, and he almost canceled a show in San Francisco, but decided to do his stand-up routine anyway because that’s what Prince would have wanted. Chappelle turned the show into a four-hour tribute to Prince, talking about their time together and what the legendary musician meant to him.
Prince has since been cremated and a private, intimate service was held over the weekend.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
