Finally revealed: The story behind Dave Chappelle's legendary Prince skit
The skit is iconic to anyone who came of age in the middle aughts: Dave Chappelle, decked out in purple as he plays Prince, calling "Game, blouses" after a make-believe basketball contest.
But just how fictional was the legendary Chappelle's Show bit? After years of public speculation, guitarist and songwriter Micki Free just shed new light on the story behind the sketch.
No surprise: Free's recollections make the whole thing even better.
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"Everything in that skit is true," Free said in an interview with Jerry Bembry of The Undefeated. "I played in that game. And Prince was Steph Curry all motherfucking night!"
As Free tells it to Bembry: He, Prince and the Murphy brothers, Eddie and Charlie, were hanging after-hours at a Beverly Hills club in the mid-'80s when the Purple One asked if anyone wanted to play basketball.
But, unlike the 5-on-5 game portrayed in Chappelle's skit, Free says this was a game of 3-on-3. Free, Prince and Prince's brother matched up against the Murphy bros and their uncle.
Team Murphy put on sports attire for the game, according to Free, while Prince's crew played in their androgynous 80s outfits, just as portrayed in Chappelle's skit. And better yet, as also portrayed in Chappelle's skit, Free says Prince's chef really made everyone blueberry pancakes after the game.
"They checked the ball to me, I gave it to Prince and he went to work," Free tells Bembry. "You know that one move where Curry dribbles up and they got him covered, but he steps back behind the 3-point line and hits nothing but net? That was Prince."
In 2013, Prince released a single called "Breakfast Can Wait." Its cover featured a shot of Chappelle from the skit, dressed as Prince and holding a plate of pancakes.
Bembry's full story is well worth your time if you spent a good chunk of the mid-'00s yelling "Game, blouses!" whenever you threw a wad of paper into the trash. And if you've never seen the sketch -- or just want to watch again, we've got you covered here.
Meanwhile, Purple Rain, the movie that helped vault Prince to superstar status, hit theaters 23 years ago Wednesday. The musician died this April.
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Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.
