When Black Jesus first premiered last year on Adult Swim, there were a number of reasons to tune in. Aaron McGruder’s follow-up to The Boondocks promised to bring us a weed-smoking, foul-mouthed, Compton-raised Son of Man, the likes of which we’d never seen. We came for the blasphemy, and stayed for the incredible cast of comedians on board, the incomparable Charlie Murphy being among them.
Years ago, he became something of legend when he introduced the world to Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories on Chappelle’s Show. In addition to the Rick James and Prince sketches that will go down in history as two of the greatest moments of comedy in television, Charlie Murphy became integral to the cast of the series. Paste caught up with Murphy to talk about his role on Black Jesus as the villainous, hatin’ ass landlord, Vic, his latest comedy tour and, of course, Rick James.
Paste Magazine: I wanted to start by talking a little about your early beginnings in comedy. For a lot of comedians, there’s something unique about their family life that leads them into comedy. Did growing up as a kid in Brooklyn have an impact on your ultimate career choice?
Charlie Murphy: Now it seems like it does, but back then, no. My personality is what it is. Some people called it the dozens, I don’t know what they call it now—snappin’. We used to call it rankin’ when I was growin’ up. I used to rank people out every day. I was the dude you didn’t wanna go to school with, because I would come to school and get on your shoes. If you had a hole in your pants, I’d talk about it all day long. If your hair was messed up, if you had buck teeth, I’d talk about it all day long. And I made people laugh doing it, but it wasn’t like I thought I was a comedian.
Paste: I know this was a while back, but when you first read the script for Black Jesus, what was your initial reaction?
Murphy: Oh, I couldn’t wait to do it. Every script I’ve read for Black Jesus has been hilarious. Aaron McGruder is a straight-up G. I call him Champ. Everything that he’s written has been on time.
Paste: This is a show filled with some incredible comedians. You’re working closely with the legendary John Witherspoon and I just saw Corey Holcomb’s show a few weeks back—I’ve never seen anything like it. Now you’re on tour with other great legends. What’s the vibe like between all of you on the set of the show, and is it really different from being on the Comedy Get Down tour?
Murphy: So, I’m on tour with George Lopez, Eddie Griffin, Cedric the Entertainer and D.L. Hughley. Right now it’s a real good time. The hard work and the lack of sleep—I feel like I did the right thing.
The vibe is really no different. It’s all effortless. I’m going to work to be funny.