This past Sunday (May 31), Netflix premiered The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy. Shot at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 18, the star-studded event featured appearances from such comedy heavyweights as Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Mike Myers, and a 99-year-old Mel Brooks. “Some have talents that burst beyond the screen and onto the stage. They create characters that have us look inside ourselves,” said Brooks in a pre-recorded intro. “And there are some—very few—that did it all. But tonight, beyond the echo of laughter, we honor a man full of greater surprises, and one who broke barriers to drive culture forward.”
One of the more noteworthy speeches of the evening came courtesy of Chappelle, who shared several interesting tidbits with the crowd. When Chappelle brought up the subject of Chappelle’s Show, which he famously walked away from in 2005, he surprisingly referred to his time working on the series as one of the greatest experiences of his life. A big reason for that, he revealed, was Murphy’s brother Charlie’s involvement. Chappelle also remembered how Charlie would often talk about how proud he was of his famous brother.
Dave Chappelle Wants Eddie Murphy to Help Revive Chappelle’s Show
Additionally, Chappelle told the audience that he’d reached out to Murphy a couple of weeks before the ceremony to see if he could drop by his house for a visit. As Murphy’s grandchildren played together in the background, the two comedy legends had a conversation about Charlie for the first time since his 2017 death. At one point, Chappelle recalled, Murphy suggested that Chappelle do a Chappelle’s Show movie. This was apparently what prompted Chappelle to say that he was considering doing a revival of some kind back in April.
In response to Murphy’s idea, Chappelle said that it would be tough to pull off a reboot without Charlie. But at the AFI ceremony, Chappelle hit Murphy with an interesting proposal of his own. “Eddie, if I do it…man, do the Charlie parts, and let’s f—king go,” he begged of his hero. Though Murphy didn’t formally agree to take part in the revival, he did stand up and applaud Chappelle right after he made his plea, so at least for now, we can say that the possibility is still on the table.
You can check out that portion of Chappelle’s speech below.
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