Many greats of stage and screen have played Frankenstein’s monster. Boris Karloff, Peter Boyle, Robert De Niro and – Charlie Murphy?

That’s right. In the third season of Chappelle’s Show, the melting pot of hip, politically incorrect and, at its best, racially polarizing humor, Charlie Murphy put the true Hollywood stories on hold and slapped on monster makeup and neck bolts for a sketch.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I get to play Frankenstein,'” said Murphy in a phone interview. “I can’t think of another black actor who played Frankenstein.”

Sadly, that was the last skit either Murphy or Dave Chappelle would ever perform for the hit Comedy Central series.

No doubt the legions of fans of Chappelle’s Show know all too well what happened next: The “funniest man in the world,” as many had anointed him, hopped a plane to South Africa to escape the pressures of his burgeoning career. He has since come back to the states, popping up in clubs across the country now and again.

Despite Chappelle’s unexpected bolt, Murphy has landed on his feet. He’ll be featured in six movies from now until the end of 2006. He also performs stand-up comedy, with his next stop coming tomorrow at Tawes Theatre along with comedians Kyle Grooms and Lazee Lamont.

But despite his success, Murphy still laments the fact that some of his funniest moments from Chappelle’s Show might never be seen by the public since no deal is currently in the works to get the eight completed third-season episodes on Comedy Central or on DVD.

“The s— ain’t gonna be shown man, as far as I know,” says Murphy, brother of Beverly Hills Cop’s Eddie Murphy. “It’s frustrating. I know they got it. I just hope the people get to see it because it’s funny.”

In the aforementioned Frankenstein sketch, Murphy lives in an apartment with Chappelle, who plays a wolfman who has trouble painting, and Donnell Rawlings (Ashy Larry from the World Series of Dice skit) who plays a mummy in trouble with the law.

“The reason why we’re having these problems is because we’re monsters,” says Murphy. “But we keep saying it’s happening because we’re black.”

Classic Chappelle’s Show harebrained racial comedy, right?

“They pull me aside at work and say, ‘Frank, you’ve broken a lot of furniture, we’re going to have to let you go,'” says Murphy, almost laughing hysterically. “I start calling people Uncle Toms and all this other s—. I go, ‘You gotta look past my color and see the man.'”

Meanwhile, the mummy has to walk a few city blocks to check in with his probation officer. Unfortunately, his gauze, which was spotlessly white, starts picking up some grime along the way. A car splashes mud on him, to add insult to injury, says Murphy.

Of course a taxi cab driver refuses to let him ride a) because he’s soaked and b) because, duh, he’s a mummy.

“The mummy looks into his eyes and says, ‘You know it ain’t got a God damn thing to do with me being a mummy,'” says Murphy, now beside himself. “It’s cuz I’m black, n—–!”

Another Chappelle’s Show bit that might never be seen features Murphy tweaking his brother’s film, Daddy Day Care. In the Chappelle version, “Mean Daddy Day Care,” leaving your kids with this Murphy is like leaving your kids with Suge Knight.

“Their bedtime stories would be True Hollywood Stories, gangsta stories, all kinds of s—,” says Murphy. “The stories was crazy, not something you think you would tell kids.”

But just as life goes on for the gifted writer and actor after Chappelle’s Show, he did have a career before the sketch show as well. He got out of the Navy at 25 after serving for six years and picked up a pen.

In addition to his writing, he played small roles in nine films before joining Chappelle’s Show.

But Murphy’s first taste of show biz came when he was only 9, as an extra in the 1970 Beau Bridges flick called The Landlord. He played a boy stealing hubcaps off Bridges’ car.

“My whole family got dressed up like we were going to Easter Sunday,” says Murphy of the opening night. “[The scene] happens like three quarters into the movie, so we’re waiting for a long time for it to happen. And because we’re waiting, we didn’t even follow the story of the movie. They kept asking, ‘When’s Charlie coming out?'”

Murphy’s come a long way from the 9-year-old who ran away when Beau Bridges yelled, “What are you doing?!” But the guy who’s best characters include Buck Nasty from the Playa Haters Ball skits and Tyree from the Mad Real World prefers the way he became famous compared to other actors.

“I got known for basically playing myself in the True Hollywood Stories,” says Murphy. “That’s the beautiful thing about the way I became known to people. That’s what people bought. They bought me.”

Contact reporter Patrick Gavin at gavindbk@gmail.com.