Watch Eddie Murphy tell his first public joke in 28 years — and rip Bill Cosby

Eddie Murphy accepts the Mark Twain award, tells a Bill Cosby joke

(Image credit: AP/YouTube)

On Sunday, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., awarded comedian Eddie Murphy its 18th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. On hand to honor Murphy, and entertain the audience with jokes, were an impressive roster of comics, including Arsenio Hall, Chris Rock, Joe Piscopo, Tracy Morgan, Trevor Noah, and George Lopez. The most remarkable jokes of the night, though, were from Murphy, who hadn't told a live joke on stage since 1987.

He had decided to break his long live joke spell on Saturday night, The Washington Post reports, in a hotel room with Hall and Rock, and in his roughly seven minutes onstage he poked fun at the prize itself — "It's an award, because usually when it's a prize there's money involved.... If you don't want to call it an award, maybe you can call it the Mark Twain Sur-prise. The 'surprise' is you don't get any money!" — and, more notably, Bill Cosby, the 2009 recipient of the prize.

He began by wondering aloud if Kennedy Center had asked for the prize back from Cosby, accused by dozens of women of drug-assisted sexual assault. "You know you've f—ed up when they want you to give your trophy back," Murphy said before suggesting Cosby just take to the stage and say crazy stuff and then slipping into the Bill Cosby impersonation he perfected in 1987's Raw, only then he was talking about Jello Pudding Pops. "You may have heard recently that I allegedly put the pill in the people's stomach," Murphy said, channeling Cosby. You can watch part of Murphy's Cosby bit, and some love from his fellow comedians, in the Associated Press clip below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.