If Hollywood could adopt fantasy leagues that have become so popular in the sporting world, Charlie Murphy would be that all-around stud.

A versatile entertainer, Murphy has sampled a bit of everything at the Hollywood buffet including stand-up comedy, acting and writing. It’s a three-piece combo, which Murphy has totally embraced.

“They all tie in together,” says Murphy, the older brother of Eddie Murphy. “Currently, I’m doing two new movies: ‘The Hustle’ with Al Shear, really funny movie, and I also have one in production called ‘Frankenhood.’ I’m doing some webisodes for Sony’s web site, involving some sketch-comedy, and I’m also in the midst of writing a book, which is due next summer called the ‘Making of a Stand-Up Guy.’ But this is who I am, and what I do, meaning that when I do my stand-up, my acting and writing provide an added advantage to the performance, and vice-versa for the other two hobbies.

“They all compliment each other.”

Known for his sketch comedies on “Chappelle’s Show,” Murphy admits that was the Gatorade that kept him moving after he considered quitting entertainment early in this decade.

“That gave resurgence to my career,” Murphy tells andPOP. “At that time, I was really into martial arts, and I was going to open up a school, because I saw this wasn’t working. And then Dave Chappelle called me up and said, ‘can you come by and read through some stuff,’ and eventually it really took off from there. I became known at that point as Charlie Murphy. People knew me before as Eddie’s brother, but now I had my own work going on, which people knew me by.”

However, fame and fortune as a “somebody” has also landed Murphy with some unwanted side effects.

“Because of what I do, I lose a lot of time with my family,” Murphy says.

“Looking down that next five years, I’d like to be in a position where I can be more with my family. So that means I’m on the road for maybe 40 weeks out of the year, and it’s tough. So I want to get my film career, TV career and stand-up career to a point where I don’t just come home for 2-3 days and then rush back to work, but instead I’m only on the road maybe three months out of the year. So basically be able to take time off and be with family, but also provide for my family and that means trying to excel in my career.”

Having over 15 years of experience, Murphy agrees that sticking it out this long in the business can be attributed to his years serving his country in the US Navy in the early ’80s.

“Discipline is definitely something that I take with me to this day,” says the former Navy Seal. “I think over my career, it’s played an important part, because it reflects the fact that I have a job to do, and I have to get it done. For example, it doesn’t matter what time I go to bed. I’m up at 6:30 a.m., and it also helped me when I wrote the movie ‘Norbit.’ Wrote it in 21 days. Basically Eddie and I came up with the idea, and then I went to a hotel room, and stayed in there until I got it done.”

Aside from that, Murphy is also thankful for a priceless moment that helped him mature early in his career.

“Being booed off stage in St. Louis early in my career,” Murphy recalls.

Why? The experience presented the comedian with not only one of the greatest pieces of career advice he’d ever hear, but also served as his initiation into stand-up comedy.

“After the show, I was really psyched out by the whole incident. It was really getting to my head,” Murphy says. “So I called up my brother. It was probably 2 a.m., and I told him ‘Yo, Eddie they booed me off the stage,’ and he says to me, ‘So answer the question, who do you think you are?’ And I’m like ‘What?’ And he asks me the question again, and I’m like ‘What do you mean?’”

So he says, ‘Well Dave Chappelle got booed off the stage, Chris Rock got booed off the stage, I got booed off the stage…so I’m going to ask you again, who do you think you are?’ And at that point it hit me, because everyone goes through that experience before breaking into the scene. So my brother was trying to teach me basically that all the greats fall down once in their career. It’s a ritual that has to happen. That new outlook put me on a path, and I was able to see the whole thing differently. It was something that I needed to go through, to grow as a comedian.”






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