RIP Richard Pryor

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Not a surprise, but sad.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

oh wow. :-(

― dabnis coleman's ghost (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

It's amazing he lived this long...

Saw him at Radio City in '83, and he was more like a monologist/actor than a comedian at that point. His standup successors could use a tenth of his depth and anguish.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

oh boo. poor man. RIP.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

sorry richard pryor :(

― jeffrey (johnson), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

aw man.

― thorstein veblen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:38 (nineteen years ago)

It's amazing he lived this long...

Indeed. I think what's missed with him is that he could convey drama so well too -- I only saw that movie he did when he was playing the Vietnam POW once many years ago, and perhaps I'm misremembering it, but what sticks with me more than the humor was the pathos of his situation at the start of the film when he got captured. It may be an odd thing to remember about him first and foremost instead of all those killer albums or his comedy smashes but that was the first thing that leapt to mind.

And nothing against Cleavon Little in the slightest -- did a great, great job -- but if only it had been Richard Pryor playing the role he created for Blazing Saddles as was originally planned. The great lost opportunity.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:38 (nineteen years ago)

His best stuff is almost scary to watch or listen to, he's so free-spirited and funny but with this seemingly huge reservoir of anger and outrage that he can just dip into enough to make you aware of it. Like watching a guy with a bomb strapped to his chest who never detonates but doesn't let you forget it's there either.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:42 (nineteen years ago)

total bummer

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

ahh shit

― howell huser (chaki), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/images/2004/2304frontrow_pryor.jpg
say WHAT?!

RIP, RP

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:50 (nineteen years ago)

...

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Saturday, 10 December 2005 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

lynch put him in "lost highway," which i thought was sort of weird, but i remember him being funny despite his disability

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 10 December 2005 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

rest in peace

― kingfish trampycakes (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 10 December 2005 22:16 (nineteen years ago)

Fuck. Some of the funniest standup I have ever seen.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 10 December 2005 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

R.I.P. Richard. You'll be doing your act for God tonight (and God loves it when you work blue).

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 10 December 2005 22:21 (nineteen years ago)

rip

― foxy boxer (stevie), Saturday, 10 December 2005 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

Oh for fuck's sake - as if one more great person needed to die this year.

― melton mowbray (adr), Saturday, 10 December 2005 22:46 (nineteen years ago)

gypsy mothra OTM

― StanM (StanM), Saturday, 10 December 2005 22:52 (nineteen years ago)

(the "His best stuff is almost scary to watch or listen to" post, I mean)

― StanM (StanM), Saturday, 10 December 2005 22:53 (nineteen years ago)

I wanted to quote him in tribute but eveything that came to mind was either harrowing (freebase pipe whispering "Rich, hey Rich) or equal-opportunity offensive...wtf

R.I.P. Richard. You'll be doing your act for God tonight (and God loves it when you work blue)

ANGELS DON'T EAT PUSSY

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 10 December 2005 23:08 (nineteen years ago)

65!

:-(

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 10 December 2005 23:19 (nineteen years ago)

Ned, is the movie you're talking about Blue Collar? Haven't seen it, have long wanted to, supposed to be really good.

RIP, of course. Just saw this on Yahoo! news, just totally sad.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Saturday, 10 December 2005 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

Ned, is the movie you're talking about Blue Collar? Haven't seen it, have long wanted to, supposed to be really good

Hmm, I don't *think* that was the title. I believe it was called Some Kind of Hero.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 December 2005 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

right, with Margot Kidder. I forget he made more than one more or less straight drama.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Saturday, 10 December 2005 23:34 (nineteen years ago)

I hopeful it was peaceful and he's at peace now.

He had lost the ability to use his voice around a couple of years ago.. so, sadly, this isn't surprising.

All of the above is OTM. The Richard Pryor Show DVD set pretty much sums up all of his talents, excepting his live stand up. It definitely shows his ability to take humor beyond the level of "ha ha" and into "holy shit, um".. especially in the outtakes. In a way, it's probably for the best that the Richard Pryor Show existed for only four episode.. it actually triggered the careers of Robin Williams, Sandra Bernhardt, and Marsha Warfield, as they are all cast members of the show before their primes.

I remember my mom used to surreptitiously rent all of the Richard Pryor stand up tapes from the video rental store so we could watch and laugh... without letting the gramps and grandma, know.. We even rented the really early stuff where there was 20 people in the audience.

Oh man. Again. I hope it was peaceful.

― dali madison's nut (donut), Saturday, 10 December 2005 23:41 (nineteen years ago)

Oh fuck.

RIP

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:03 (nineteen years ago)

Sad news, but he's escaped the physical prison.
RIP.

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:09 (nineteen years ago)

oh man. rip. :(

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:25 (nineteen years ago)

Geez, I have just watched a bunch of his movies in my post-Kiss Me Like A Stranger Gene Wilder fest. It sounds like he's spent the last decade+ in a lot of pain (er, hell, his whole life, really), so good that he's finally at rest.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:42 (nineteen years ago)

RIP

― deej.. (deej..), Sunday, 11 December 2005 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

Matos, Blue Collar is really good, yeah. Not just him but also Keitel and Yaphet Kotto. Very cynical, very 70s, very Paul Schrader.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 11 December 2005 02:05 (nineteen years ago)

I spent a long roadtrip entertained by truckstop cassettes of his stand-up. Got me through some long stretches. RIP.

― Mugged Outside the Jabberjaw, 1993 (Bent Over at the Arclight), Sunday, 11 December 2005 02:34 (nineteen years ago)

Shit :(

― robster (robster), Sunday, 11 December 2005 02:40 (nineteen years ago)

We'll all pontificate without getting close to describing his talent. The world is running out of genii.

― Amity Wong (noodle vague), Sunday, 11 December 2005 02:45 (nineteen years ago)

RIP

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 11 December 2005 03:24 (nineteen years ago)

what his daughter had written previously:

http://www.rainpryor.com/atributetomydaddy.htm

― kingfish trampycakes (kingfish 2.0), Sunday, 11 December 2005 04:15 (nineteen years ago)

Wow. The thing is, I've never even seen his standup. If anyone could point me in the direction of his best standup performances on tape/DVD (including the routine where I've heard he talks about running down the street on fire), I would appreciate it. RIP

― regular roundups (Dave M), Sunday, 11 December 2005 04:21 (nineteen years ago)

oh man, if you go to his website, it still has this:

:(((

― tres letraj (tehresa), Sunday, 11 December 2005 04:33 (nineteen years ago)

xpost:
He talks about the freebase fire in Live on the Sunset Strip. The one before that, Live in Concert is also utterly classic.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 11 December 2005 04:36 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks, gypsy!

― regular roundups (Dave M), Sunday, 11 December 2005 05:43 (nineteen years ago)

bummer

time to put in Brewster's Millions

― kephm (kephm), Sunday, 11 December 2005 05:44 (nineteen years ago)

"A lie is profanity. A lie is the worst thing in the world. Art is the ability to tell the truth, especially about oneself."

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 11 December 2005 05:46 (nineteen years ago)

regular roundups, Live in Concert is the best, and Sunset Strip and Here and Now are also worth your time; the latter pair are available as a twofer DVD for a reasonable price.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Sunday, 11 December 2005 05:52 (nineteen years ago)

"Hospital" might be the funniest, most painful comedy anyone has ever done. Just astonishing. That Rhino 9CD And It's Deep, Too box set w/all the WB live albums is one of the greatest things you can give yourself.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Sunday, 11 December 2005 05:53 (nineteen years ago)

He's dead now, motherfuckers.
I loved this guy so goddamn much. This really breaks my heart.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Sunday, 11 December 2005 06:20 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks, Matos! Much appreciated.

The only people I can think of that have recently left this much loss and feeling in their absences are Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash, at least for me. And I don't even know that much Pryor. I imagine it's going to be pretty sad to watch some of his routines after this (and especially to be exposed to them for the first time).

― regular roundups (Dave M), Sunday, 11 December 2005 06:28 (nineteen years ago)

dude was genius. check out "that ni**er's crazy" lp for great live shit.

― O RLY? (eman), Sunday, 11 December 2005 06:58 (nineteen years ago)

predictably peremptory tribute tonight from cockfarming saturday night live tonight

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:12 (nineteen years ago)

The album is called "That Nigger's Crazy!" He named it that, so I don't really think it's expected that you censor it.

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:13 (nineteen years ago)

Richard Pryor
"Cocaine"
Is It Something I Said?
Warner Brothers (1975)

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:26 (nineteen years ago)

xpost - hey thanks for the info fa**ot

― O RLY? (eman), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:30 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks, pleasant. Does anyone want to post a copy of "Bicentennial Nigger"? That one kills me. I mean, in a painful way.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:46 (nineteen years ago)

Man, that is classic. "You get up on the roof..."

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:51 (nineteen years ago)

Also, Matos OTM about that boxed set. The only thing wrong with it is that you can't watch it. Which is a shame, because he's such a physical comedian. But for the uninitiated, if you start with the live movies (yeah, go ahead and watch 'em all) you can kinda fill in the physical details.

Except for the impressions of animals. You really have to see those.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:53 (nineteen years ago)

"Aw, man. Those monkeys died? That's a goddam shame. I'm still gonna bark at you, though."

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:58 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha Exactly.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:01 (nineteen years ago)

That bit is so... nice. He really loves animals.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:01 (nineteen years ago)

Um... loved.

Aw, man. Now I'm sad.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:03 (nineteen years ago)

He's still with us, K.

― Falling down the stairs again (noodle vague), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:07 (nineteen years ago)

In his own words: "THe ultimate test is whether or not you can can survive death. That's the ultimate test fo' your ass, ain't it?"

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:31 (nineteen years ago)

http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=07I3MCDFIXQEV3KY51M8GL8GAQ

― kephm (kephm), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:39 (nineteen years ago)

http://giganticmag.com/mp3s/mudbone%20-%20intro.mp3

http://giganticmag.com/mp3s/bicentennial%20nigger.mp3

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 09:04 (nineteen years ago)

One more: the first Chinese minute notwithstanding, this is the funniest fucking bit about sex ever.

http://giganticmag.com/mp3s/being%20sensitive.mp3

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

OK, this is really the last one:

ftp://kenan:brazil@giganticmag.com/giganticmag.com/mp3s/freebase.mp3

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 10:34 (nineteen years ago)

Let's try that again. Now you know my password from one minute ago.

http://giganticmag.com/mp3s/freebase.mp3

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 11 December 2005 10:36 (nineteen years ago)

:-((((

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Sunday, 11 December 2005 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks for all the mp3s, Kenan.

― pullapartgirl (pullapartgirl), Sunday, 11 December 2005 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

Seriously, Kenan. You rock. Such a good study break, and a good way to honor a truly great American - thoughtful and well-reasoned dissent.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Sunday, 11 December 2005 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

I ain't got nothin' to add - just wanted to be on this thread.

― jim wentworth (wench), Sunday, 11 December 2005 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

Prison Play

― matthew james (matthew james), Sunday, 11 December 2005 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

Wanted to be on this thread too.

Also check out his appearance in Wattstax

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 11 December 2005 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

Another thing that strikes me listening to some of those clips is that he wasn't a shock comedian, even though his profanity and the things he talked about were still pretty shocking by mainstream comedy standards. He was always bringing the audience in with him, not confronting it -- like, we all say "motherfucker," we all do drugs, we all fuck, he started from an assumption of universal experience. Which I think made it easier for him to talk about race, class, etc., because for whatever divides he exposed, there was an underlying sense of connection and empathy.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 11 December 2005 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

last night I watched episodes 3 and 4 of The Richard Pryor Show--all four eps plus a TV special are available as a cheap box set. SO good, often poignant, sometimes by design (the sketch w/Richard in a gun store, looking at firearms that all talk to him), sometimes in retrospect (from an outtake: audience member: "Where do you want to go when you die?" Pryor: "I don't care"). dot dot dot is OTM about that show's greatness. (the funniest line came from Sandra Bernhard, during the final ep's cast roasting of the star: "Richard gave his kids everything he has: a flat nose and big lips." Paul Mooney: "She used to be a good white friend of mine . . . ")

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

A hero, really.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 11 December 2005 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

I love all of the stand-up films I've seen, but the really early one Live And Smokin' kills me. I can't imagine how it must have felt to catch his act in a place that small.

― 'Twan (miccio), Sunday, 11 December 2005 21:54 (nineteen years ago)

i cried reading the obit this morning. terrible news...one of the good guys for sure.

― tricky (disco stu), Sunday, 11 December 2005 21:59 (nineteen years ago)

Death sucks. So long, Richard.

― Who the hell do you THINK I am? I'm the goddamn Batman! (Barima), Sunday, 11 December 2005 22:36 (nineteen years ago)

eh, life sucks too.

― Penis, NV (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 11 December 2005 22:36 (nineteen years ago)

"I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, I wanna grow up and be a critic."

― Pvt. Dave Goes To Far (scarlet), Sunday, 11 December 2005 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

a giant without peer, if this country were worth a damn he'd get a state funeral. rip richard.

― j blount (papa la bas), Sunday, 11 December 2005 23:44 (nineteen years ago)

"Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation" by Joe Henry

― Paul Eater (eater), Monday, 12 December 2005 03:36 (nineteen years ago)

I bought The Richard Pryor Show DVD set in SF last June, maybe now I'll watch em (tho I saw most of the aired material in '77).

Since H'wood never had much of a clue to do with him (I cringed when I heard TV obits mentioning Bingo Long and Silver Streak), are there any good dramatic perfs besides Blue Collar? Is he worth enduring Lady Sings the Blues for?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 12 December 2005 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

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