Eight little things (a scene, a joke, a building, a pizza, a dance, a painting, a lyric, a sound) worth your time.

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This joke from “Delirious,” Eddie Murphy’s 1983 breakthrough television special, is all about that summer moment when one drippy cone could make your world right. It’s comedy about pure joy — innocence mixed with profanity.

Mr. Murphy’s reputation as a stand-up has faded. And some of “Delirious” is dated — or worse, like its terrible homophobic jokes. But this bit stands up.

(You can watch the full four-minute bit here.)

Has there ever been a more famous costume in the history of stand-up comedy? Most young comics dress like slobs. (Steve Martin did have his signature white suit, but that worked like a visual gag.)

But Mr. Murphy didn’t wear this tight red leather suit with the unzipped jacket as a joke. He was projecting the swagger and sex appeal of a rock star. He was already famous as the funniest performer on “Saturday Night Live,” but this special, which played constantly on HBO, then content-starved, made him the biggest comic in America, one who would dominate comedy for the entire decade.

Even though Mr. Murphy's greatness as a stand-up rests more on performance than on writing, this joke’s pacing and organization is precise.

He sets the scene. The action starts with him playing marbles, looking down, which allows him to be more dramatic when the ice cream truck appears. He raises his head in a burst of excitement.

He looks like a red alarm going off. Or a dancer: bended knees, one jazz hand.

His excitement gains momentum, moving from simple shouting to full-on Paul Revere.

When he turns away from the crowd a second time, you know he’s ready for another big reveal.

Giddiness turns into desperation. If he doesn’t get some money for ice cream, his face tells you, it’s apocalypse now.

Much of the joke’s fun comes from his different characters, from the mom placing the orders to the ice cream man who pranks the kids. Notice the sound effect of the ice cream truck speeding up, which turns the vehicle into a sports car zooming around the corner.

The swaying starts!

Some of Mr. Murphy’s greatest comedy leaned on music, like his inspired impression of James Brown on “Saturday Night Live.” And his ice cream joke shifts into another gear when he starts singing. Show this part to any child and this sing-songy line will stick in her head for the rest of her life.

He sways, dances, then that fantastically silly swooping move drives it home:

This bit captures the delight of children milking the moment of pleasure for all it’s worth, then pokes fun at it in the next beat.

What makes this routine a blockbuster is Mr. Murphy’s ability to be sweetly innocent and overtly sexual at the same time. There’s nothing erotic about loving ice cream and yet, maybe there is.

At recess in the 1980s, nothing was funnier than shouting out “Psych!” And some of the loudest laughs here come from little acts of cruelty. Every 5-year-old knows that celebrating your own ice cream is not always enough; you have to show up everyone else. Be skeptical of anyone who tells you that punching down never works in comedy.

And then, the mike drop. Here it is, slowed down:

His right hand gently tosses the microphone down toward his left hand, which smacks it so it lands on the ground with force and dribbles away, creating three loud thumps as the singing stops.

Then, he makes this totally unexpected and unnecessary move:

He could have made the shift to another character with his voice, but besides being a contrast to his standing still for a few seconds, there’s something about this scamper across the stage that suits the joke. It reminds me of a kid in his living room performing all the parts of a play to entertain his family.

Tables turned. Is all lost? Head down again, setting up a third reveal.

Hips back at it.

Several months before “Delirious” was broadcast, Bill Cosby released another defining special, “Himself,” which laid the foundation for “The Cosby Show.” Back in the 1980s, the two men were often compared, with the younger comic presented as the profane alternative to the wholesome Mr. Cosby. (Mr. Murphy contributed to this dynamic, making fun of Mr. Cosby in his next special, “Raw.”)

But Mr. Murphy, despite some cursing, has his own wholesome side. His ice cream joke remains a classic, partly because the childhood thrill of the ice cream truck has not aged even a day. It’s the greatest joke ever about delirium.