Jamie Foxx Returning to Stand-Up Comedy After Health Scare: 'I Got a Story to Tell'

If anyone can turn a health scare into joke material, it's Jamie Foxx!

On Wednesday, February 28, the actor — who has largely stayed out of the spotlight since his mysterious April 2023 hospitalization — uploaded a clip from his 2002 HBO special, I Might Need Security, to announce his plans to get back into stand-up comedy.

The clip the 56-year-old shared showed his impersonation of late musician Prince performing The Brady Bunch theme song.

"PRINCE singing The Brady Bunch theme song was a moment… I’m planning on bringing more moments," Foxx penned alongside the video. "Going to get on somebody’s stage somewhere near you. I got some jokes, and a story to tell…"

This announcement comes as he's slowly returning to making public appearances after being hospitalized for a “medical complication” last year.

Though the film star has not shared much detail about his mystery illness, he did touch on the health emergency during an emotional speech at the Critics Choice Association's Celebration of Cinema & Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievements in Los Angeles on December 4.

“I want to thank everybody. I've been through something. I've been through some things,” began the father-of-two, who accepted the Vanguard Award for his performance in The Burial. “It's crazy, I couldn't do that six months ago. I couldn't actually walk too..."

“It feels good to be here. I cherish every single minute now. It's different. It's different," he added during his first public appearance since the medical crisis.

“I wouldn't wish what I went through on my worst enemy, because it's tough when you almost... When it's almost over, when you see the tunnel,” he continued of the scary situation. “I saw the tunnel. I didn't see the light! It was hot in that tunnel so I didn't know where I was going. S---, am I going to the right place? I seen the devil goin 'C’mon, now.'”

“I know a lot of people who were saying I was cloned out there. Boy, y'all ain't s---,” Foxx quipped, referencing online rumors. "Black people, when we almost die or go through something like that, there's two phrases, one of two phrases we say. One is, 'Lord, have mercy, Jesus. Lord, have mercy, Jesus.'"

To conclude his remarks, Foxx thanked those that supported him through the difficult time.

“My sister and my daughter were so great at not letting anybody know anything that happened," he noted, adding that friends Lenny Kravitz, Fantasia and Taraji P Henson were also in his corner.

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

“I want to say six months ago I couldn't fathom that this could happen or that I would be here, but as I walk up here to this microphone and get this Vanguard Award, all I can say is 'Lord, have mercy, Jesus,'" he concluded.