Richard Pryor Remembered

Today Richard Pryor died of a heart attack. I'd like to think he is in Heaven right now cutting up and making Jesus laugh His ass off.
Richard Pryor was called groundbreaking, even though there's room for debate how groundbreaking it is to say "fuck" and "nigger." Pryor wasn't the first comedian to use foul language. Redd Foxx was notorious for his underground albums that were sound under the counter. Dick Gregory touched on some of the similar racial and social tones Pryor did.
What Richard Pryor did, that no other stand-up comedian has done to this day is to laugh through pain. Pryor was always himself on the stage, never telling jokes, but just telling about his life. He talked about his drug addictions. He talked about having heart attacks and nearly drowning. He talked about getting whipped with a switch by his grandmother. Most famously, he talked about his own near death experience with setting himself on fire while free basing. And it was funnier than hell.
We laughed because Pryor was laughing. It was okay.
Richard Pryor was a comedian, even though he appeared in many movies throughout his life, none of them were as good as his stand-up concerts.
In Car Wash, he gave us Daddy Rich, the most openly crooked religious man available. In Silver Streak, he taught Gene Wilder how to act black, a hilarious bit that has Pyror's right touch.
But his best movie was a complete 180. In Paul Schrader's Blue Collar, Pryor, along with Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto play three automobile workers who attempt to rob their own union office only to find out the union delegates are embezzling dues from the workers. They try to blackmail the union but find their lives in danger. Pryor played it serious as a man, who eventually sells out and gets ahead by keeping quiet. Pryor was overlooked by the Academy Awards, quite possibly for comments he made while hosting the show. But Pryor was a funny man.
In 1979, he made, undisputedly, the funniest concern movie ever with Richard Pryor: Live in Concert. He talked about such vulgar topics as a monkey humping his ear, his father dying while having sex, trying to make a woman have an orgasm, and his dogs wanting to have sex with his pet horse. From the first time Pryor speaks to the last word he says, the audience is laughing non-stop.
Movies like Stir Crazy, The Toy, and Bustin' Loose, were less than great. Stir Crazy was a hit, but Pryor's only memorable scene is him "acting bad" in a holding cell.
In 1982, he released Live on the Sunset Strip. Here, Pryor seems different, more retained. He gives a funny bit about how he tried to hold up Mafia wise guys and gives a moving and funny reflection about a trip to Africa, where he vows never to use the word "nigger" again. But it's the movies final thirty minutes in which he takes about his addiction to cocaine, his burning accident, and the recovery where the show has as edge. His comments about how the pipe controlled his life are funny and sad at the same time. The bit about football star and friend Jim Brown trying to intervene are hysterical. All Jim Brown will say is "What'cha going to do?"
In 1983, he was miscast in Superman III, an horrible comic book adaptation that doesn't give him much to do. That same year, he released his final concert movie, Here and Now. It's funny, but it's obvious Pryor is a totally different man sober. Every five minutes or so, there is a heckler in the audience and Pryor wants more to calm them down rather than deal with them as he did on his comedy albums.
Pryor spent most of the 1980's making mediocre movies, like Moving, where a bit with him and Rodney Dangerfield isn't the least big funny. He did manage to make the autobiographical Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling, which is a mixture of comedy and drama, and Brewster's Millions, a funny movie about a washed out baseball player who has thrity days to spend $30 million in order to inherit $300 million. The movie has its faults, but Pryor tries to hold it together. He also has nice scenes with fellow comedians John Candy and Rick Moranis.
In the past fifteen years, he appeared here and there, often appearing on TV shows to dispel the rumors that he had died. He was able to make a few movies. Half of his scenes in Harlem Nights, which costar him with Eddie Murphy and Redd Foxx, having him sitting down, because he was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. His last appearance in a movie was in the oddest of movies and probably one of the last movies anyone would expect him to appear in. He had a small role as an auto shop manager in Lost Highway, directed by David Lynch.
But Pryor was a comedian. I recommend either Richard Pryor's Greatest Hits or Evolution: Revolution, which is a two disc compilation of his early bits and much of the terrific Craps album. It also includes bits with his most famous character of Mudbone.
So, what made Pryor so great? Jay Leno said it best, when he said that everyone got the joke. And not since then, has a comedian ever been able to relate to so many people. Richard Pryor made have enjoyed the applause and laughter, but he was humble enough to make fun of himself while other comedians made fun of other things.
Comedians like Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Chris Rock, and many more said they were influenced by him. Paul Rodriguez called him the grandfather of stand-up comedian. Jon Stewart said that he completed the holy trinity with Lenny Bruce and George Carlin.
While Bruce and Carlin helped make stand-up more than jokes, their comedy routines seemed like they were well prepared. Richard Pryor just seemed to wing it. Maybe he had an outline of what he was going to say. But Pryor was just naturally funny. Onstage with a microphone, he just opened his mouth and said whatever was on his mind.
Very few comedians have been able to do what Pryor did. Eddie Murphy came the closest with Delirious and Raw. Chris Rock and Bernie Mac have come close as well. Bill Hicks may have reached the level Pryor did, but he died too quickly. Dave Chapelle has recently shown the edge Pryor had.
But regardless of what the next generation holds, Richard Pryor did it first. He was able to take what Dick Gregory and Redd Foxx had done to the next level. More importantly, he showed that America was ready for a man like him.
It's hard to predict how Pryor will be remembered for generations to come. I first remember him from Superman III and The Toy, when he was trying to be toned down for commerical success. It didn't work. With all the talk of decency now, we need to remember how a man was able to be political with making both sides laugh.
Richard Pryor taught us that laughter is the best medicine.
Rest in peace.
12-1-1940 to 12-10-2005