美国国家公共电台 NPR Comedian Charlie Murphy Of 'Chappelle's Show' Dies At 57

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Next, we remember comedian¹ and actor Charlie Murphy. He died yesterday. Murphy grew up in Brooklyn, and after a short jail sentence as a young man, he joined the Navy, where he served for six years.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Later, Murphy worked as head of security for his younger brother, the actor Eddie Murphy. His comedy career began as a writer and performer on "Chappelle's Show." Some of his funniest sketches², called "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories," depicted³ his encounters with famous people he met, like Prince.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CHAPELLE'S SHOW")

CHARLIE MURPHY: Prince, you got a towel, man? It's kind of hot out here, man.

DAVID CHAPELLE: (As Prince) Why don't you purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka?

(LAUGHTER)

CORNISH: But it wasn't easy for Charlie Murphy to make a name for himself because of his younger brother. He described that experience on NPR's Talk Of The Nation with host Neal Conan in 2009.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

MURPHY: As far as stand-up comedy, I got in the business later than most, yeah.

NEAL CONAN: Yeah.

MURPHY: And the reason behind that was, you know, the opportunity wasn't there. Prior to the "Chapelle's Show," no one would have even listened to me in the frame of, oh, he's trying to be funny, you know? Your brother's Eddie, so what are you doing? But once "Chappelle's Show" came on and took off the way it did, that erased⁴ that, you know, and people were like, OK, we want to see more of you.

SHAPIRO: After that, Charlie Murphy's career took off. He later starred in movies, TV series and had his own stand-up special on Comedy Central. Comedian D.L. Hughley described his friend on his radio show.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE DL HUGHLEY SHOW")

D.L. HUGHLEY: I can say that as sad as I am, I can tell you this about Charlie Murphy. He was the best storyteller I've ever heard. He rushed home to be with his family after every gig. He did comedy his way, and he died with gigs on the books. And that's all you can ever say.

CORNISH: Comedian and actor Charlie Murphy, he died yesterday after a long battle with leukemia. He was 57.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROB CROSS' "WE LEARN")

1 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

2 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

4 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》