RIP Charlie Murphy

I finally got a chance to sit down and take a breath today in between feeding my kids and cleaning my house, and god damn if the news wasn't disheartening once again this year. No, I'm not talking about our abomination of a "government", and their many stupid actions, I'm talking about the loss of another actor/comedian/writer that has been a part of my life since I was 11 years old. Today we lost the great Charlie Murphy.

Charlie Murphy was a tremendous comedic actor, if he was in the correct role. Most of my generation knows of Charlie Murphy from his real Hollywood stories that he did on "Chapelle's Show". That will be his great legacy, and those stories are wonderfully absurd, hilarious, and most important of all, true. The stuff he says in those stories, and the things that happened are now part of our society's vernacular. I say, "cocaine is a hell of a drug", all the time. I don't do drugs of any kind, but that quote is so memorable, and came to us courtesy of Charlie Murphy's story about hanging out with Rick James. I used to try the, "what did the 5 fingers say to the face" joke all the time, but always chickened out when it came to its conclusion. His story about Prince being a great basketball player put me into the deepest wormhole I've ever gone on in the internet. And, when I finished my research, it was all true. Prince was an all state point guard in high school. But, I also walk around and say, "Game, Blouses" whenever I win anything. The player haters ball on "Chapelle's Show" was another big time hit for him. It was a perfect showcase for his brash sense of humor.

The stuff he did on "Chapelle's Show" will be his lasting legacy for sure, but he did so much more, at least in my life. As I said at the top, I remember the name Charlie Murphy being mentioned to me as an 11 year old. My father went on a trip for work, and when he returned home, he told me and all my brothers about this great movie he saw called "CB4". The movie starred Chris Rock as a wannabe gangster rapper who steals his identity from Charlie Murphy's Gusto. "CB4" is one of the greatest movies ever made, it is wonderful satire, and Charlie Murphy is one of the main reasons that movie is such a classic, at least in my home. He is so gritty, yet hilarious in that movie. He trades comedic scenes with Chris Rock, who is an all time great comedian/comic actor, with ease. The stuff with the car chase and in the club is classic satire comedy of real and wannabe gangsters. I was 11, and I thought it was funny even though I didn't get it. I watched "CB4" again around the holiday's, I got it as a gift, and now that I get the jokes, I loved the movie, and Charlie Murphy's performance, that much more.

After seeing "CB4", I, like most people, continued to follow Chris Rock, but Charlie Murphy was always on my radar. Yes, he is Eddie Murphy's brother, but he was so much more than just a famous person's sibling.

Following "CB4", I saw Charlie Murphy pop up in things like "The Players Club". That is by no means a great movie, but Murphy is very good in his minimal role. Then the "Chapelle Show" became the enormous hit that it was, and that opened up so many more chances at good roles for Murphy. He was great as a thief/criminal in the terrible movie "King's Ransom". But, his role was what got me through that movie, and it was simply because he was in that movie as to why I watched it. He was tremendous in the very underrated movie "Roll Bounce". That is a great movie about roller skating, but it is touching and funny, and Murphy is excellent as Victor, the garbage man. He then played a bunch of bit roles in low budget movies, but he was still steadily working, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. Most actors would do anything to be a working actor, and Murphy made it to that level.

Murphy then found a second life as a voice actor. He was the voice of Ed Wuncler III in one of my favorite cartoons, "The Boondocks". It was a great fit, and Murphy nailed that character that I had read in the comics and they now turned into a cartoon character. Whenever I go back and read old "Boondocks" comics, I always picture Murphy as the voice. He did some more voice acting, 2 episodes worth for Adult Swim's "Black Dynamite" cartoon series. Again, it was the perfect fit for him. He was in every single episode of another Adult Swim show, "Black Jesus", and he, and that whole series for that matter, were phenomenal. That was a very good show, and Murphy excelled.

So, yes, he got famous first for being Eddie Murphy's brother. Then, he went out on his own and was tremendous in "CB4". Then, he became himself with all the success and wonderful things he did on "Chapelle's Show", which led to him becoming a steady working actor. He had a great career.

What makes his untimely death so sad for me, I did not even know he was sick. I had no idea he had leukemia. This is a very sad day. Charlie Murphy meant a lot to me in what I looked for in a comedic actor. He kind of shaped my taste for what I look for when I watch comedies. He will forever be remembered, at least by me, as Gusto. And for that I am forever grateful to Charlie Murphy. This death, as a fan, really shook me up.

Rest In Peace Charlie Murphy. Now you can tell your hilarious and true stories wherever you are right now. You will be greatly missed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. 

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The Great Characters of "Key and Peele" Will Be Missed

Toss out the tv, there is nothing good on anymore

Last week one of the greatest sketch comedy shows on TV aired their final episode.

"Key and Peele" has their series finale last Wednesday. I know I'm a week late, but I needed this time to reflect on what made "Key and Peele" so great. This show came out of nowhere to me. I knew of Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele from their appearances on "MadTV". They were the only ones on that show that left an impression on me. I'm a SNL fan, so "MadTV" was, basically, a joke to me. It came and went, and people may say, look at Will Sasso he's been mildly successful, or look at, I've already run out of names after one person. Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele came later, and they were the only memorable ones on the show. When I heard, three years ago, that they were working on a sketch show for Comedy Central, I was excited. I like both of them, and they each would pop up in movies or shows every once in a while, but the fact that they were getting their own show, had me intrigued.

The first season of the show was just as great as I hoped it would be. In the first sketch of the first season, they put out one of the most quotable and memorable skits that lasted all the way through the five seasons, coming to an end in the final episode. Two husbands were hanging out, with their wives in other rooms, and they were complaining about their significant others. They would get to the end of the complaint, lean in and whisper, "I said biiiiiiitch", and each of the guys would congratulate the other one for standing up to his wife. But, when the wives would enter the room, both men would tense up and say, "we aren't talking about anything". It's one of, if not their most, memorable sketches. Through all the seasons we were also introduced to recurring characters like Wendell, Luther(Barack Obama's anger translator), Andre and Meegan, substitute teacher Mr. Garvey, the East/West Shrine Bowl players(some of the funniest names I've ever heard), MC Mom and many, many other hilarious characters. Wendell, played by Jordan Peele, was a nerdy, loner that would order a pizza, or go to a sex addicts group and make up wild stories. He would always claim to have way more friends than he actually had, his friends were his action figures, and his stories got larger and less true as they went on. Barack Obama's anger translator, Luther, was one of the best characters on sketch TV of all time. Keegan Michael Key played Luther, and Jordan Peele would do his spot on Obama impression, and when Obama spoke, Luther translated every word into a super loud, very angry speech. In the final season we even got a Hilary Clinton anger translator to argue with Luther. It was very funny. Luther was such a popular character, he actually spoke at one of Obama's recent speeches. It was great. Andre(Key) and Meegan(Peele) were your typical mid twenties, douchey couple. Andre was a total pushover, dressed head to toe in gaudy Ed Hardy gear, and he would literally follow Meegan to the ends of the Earth. Meegan was the epitome of a bitchy, over privileged, snotty twenty something year old. Her high pitched tone and the way she treated people was so grating, that everyone who came in contact with her hated her, except for Andre. They almost broke up in the final episode, but Meegan tricked Andre into staying together. The East/West Shrine players had some of the funniest, most ridiculous names I've ever heard. Key and Peele's portrayal of these players were spot on. Some of the names included Hingle McCringleberry or X Wing @aliciousness, just absolutely absurd. Some rumors were, they got the idea for this recurring sketch when they heard there were real players named D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Those are real football players, with Clinton-Dix actually appearing in one of the East/West sketches. MC Mom seemed to be almost a throw away character, but the further she got into her rap, the better the sketch became. This portrayal by Peele was phenomenal and it brought back one of "Key and Peele" most famous catchphrases, "Put the Pussy on the Chainwax!". Fans of the show know exactly what I'm saying with that catchphrase. Substitute teacher Mr. Garvey was the best recurring character on this show. Played to perfection by Keegan Michael Key, Mr. Garvey had an anger that only a substitute teacher could have, and he pronounced all the students names wrong. For example, Aaron was pronounced A a ron or Denise was pronounced De Nice. It is such a funny, yet at the same time, true sketch for all of us who've ever had a substitute. There's so many more excellent characters that they both played, but these are my favorites.

When the show premiered, they used to do it in front of a studio audience, a la "Chapelle's Show" and I really liked that. In the third season, they switched to the two of them driving in a car on a long stretch of road with the desert to each side of them. I was frustrated at first, but as it went on, some of the funniest moments were produced between the two of them simply talking to each other. In the long run, it was clearly a set up to end their very first sketch, the "I said biiiiiiitch" sketch, and it totally paid off.

Both of these guys will continue to work because they're so talented and I'm glad that Comedy Central gave them a platform so more people could find out how funny they are. The two of them wrote a movie that will be filmed soon, and both are working in TV and movies very consistently now. I will miss you "Key and Peele".Wednesday nights will not be the same without you, but you ended the show at the right time for yourselves and it was a very pleasing ending to fans like me. Thanks for the three plus years and five seasons of some of the most hilarious sketch comedy I've ever seen.

You guys definitely put the pussy on the chainwax.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. With all of his shows ending, what will he watch next? Supergirl? Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.