HOLLYWOOD actor and stand-up comedian Eddie Murphy has called his older brother Charlie the 'funny one' in the family, while fellow comic Chris Rock dubbed him 'Eddie Murphy on acid'.

With these ringing endorsements, Glasgow audiences will be able to make up their own minds when Charlie visits the city, and Scotland, for the first time.

"I'm so looking forward to coming over," said Charlie.

"When I think of Scotland, I think of lush green countryside. I might even try a deep fried Mars Bar."

Lush green countryside is very different to where Charlie and Eddie grew up in Brooklyn, New York, with mother Lillian, a telephone operator, and father, Charles Edward Murphy, a transit police officer.

"It isn't the easiest place to grow up, but we did okay, we had fun," said Charlie.

Charles snr passed away when Charlie was nine, and when Lillian became ill, the brothers lived in foster care for a year, before eventually moving to Roosevelt, Long Island with Lillian and stepfather, Vernon Lynch.

After getting involved with gangs as a teenager, Charlie joined the Navy in 1978, serving for six years. "The Navy's a good life. All young people should experience the military. It creates standards in you," he said.

But nautical life proved to be too trying once Eddie's acting career took off.

With roles in Saturday Night Live and films 48 Hours, Trading Places and Coming to America, the younger Murphy was the toast of Hollywood.

"The last two years I was coming home on shore leave, I would go from the military life to a blazing Hollywood party scene," said Charlie, 53.

"I wanted to have fun, I was young, my brother was like 'Come work for me, you don't have to do that'."

"The Navy is a good life, but this life is too much fun."

Charlie has since appeared in films, as well as helping pen Eddie's films Norbit and Vampire in Brooklyn.

Brother Eddie is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of all time and because of this, people may have had preconceived ideas about what Charlie could do, which may be why he didn't try stand-up until he was 41.

"If someone came up to you and said 'You could be a stand-up comedian,' you'd say 'I don't think so,' but I tried it and kept doing it," he said.

Charlie joined comedian Dave Chappelle's television series, Chappelle's Show, in 2003, but his True Hollywood Stories sketches were his breakthrough.

Based on real-life encounters with celebrities while he worked security in the early days of his brother's career, the skits have become larger than the show itself, exceeding a million views on Youtube.

He's since performed tours in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, released a DVD special, produced 'webisodes' of Charlie Murphy's Crash Comedy, and released his autobiography The Making of a Stand Up Guy.

He said: "I love the intimacy of comedy. You can't tiptoe up to the stage, you have to run up to it.

"Sometimes it could be a brick wall, but you have to take the risk, it's an adrenaline rush."

n Charlie Murphy will be at Glasgow's O2 ABC on October 10. Tickets, £20, from www.gigsinscotland.com