John Mayer honoured the memory of late comedian Charlie Murphy by performing a tribute song at the request of pal Dave Chappelle at the rocker's concert on Wednesday night (12Apr17).

The Daughters hitmaker happened to be performing in Chappelle's home state of Ohio, and the funnyman decided to join his longtime friend John onstage in Columbus to celebrate his late collaborator's life.

"Today, I got some terrible news," funnyman Dave told the audience. "My good friend Charlie Murphy passed away this morning, and everybody in comedy is heartbroken..."

He went on to recall an intimate gig John had previously played in Los Angeles, where Dave was particularly moved by his new tune, You're Going to Live Forever in Me.

"There was a night, maybe four months ago, when we were at Hotel Cafe in L.A.," Chappelle said. "You were doing a show for 120 people. You went to the piano and the song that you sang that night reminded me of my friend Charlie Murphy."

John revealed Charlie had coined his favourite phrase, "habitual line-stepper", in his regular True Hollywood Stories segments on Chappelle's Show, while Dave then shared a funny story about another late star, Prince.

"I remember when we did those sketches, I remember calling Prince and asking him to do the sketch, and Prince just being like, 'No,'" he laughed. "That was the whole conversation, 'No!'"

Chappelle ended up portraying the Purple Rain legend for the TV skit, in which Murphy recalled hilarious encounters with Hollywood stars, but it was a decision Prince later regretted.

Dave said, "He told me after the fact, 'I wish I had done the sketch.'"

He signed off with the heartfelt message: "Rest in peace Charlie Murphy. We love you, we love your comedy, we love your stories, and we love your spirit."

John closed the reflective moment in his show by performing You're Gonna Live Forever in Me.

Murphy, the older brother of film star Eddie Murphy, lost his battle with leukaemia at the age of 57.