If you were around in the 70's you can remember vividly the first time you heard him on record (for the CD generation, that was the black dish-like platter that with grooves that displaced sound...).It was the album "That Nigger's Crazy,"and it completely turned our world upside down.
For me, I even remember where I was when I heard it. I'll never forget the feeling either.That was my pot smoking days ( yes, I had a torrid past too, but I've changed since then...markedly !), hanging out in the dorm at West Virginia State College with my roommate Herman, he bought this album, and a bag of "weed," we got seriously stoned and he threw on Richard Pryor. I've never laughed so hard for so long in my entire life.It was so unbelievably funny that I got a headache and got sick.
Richard Pryor did not leave anything to your imagination, the picture that he painted about being Black, longing for sex, getting high and escaping our myopic world were so bold, that I could not for the life of me figure out how he made it funny (in fact, I truly still don't get it).
All that pain rechanneled into humor blows my mind.
In this day and age of political correctness, Richard was an equal opportunity offender; if you were in his path, you were subject to be the brunt of some cold hard humor. Other comedians try but theirs is either wear you down humor (where they keep at it until they get a laugh), or surprise humor (where you have to dig deep and think deep to get the point), but Richard made every aspect of his humor work, the set up, the delivery and the punchline were simply incredibly funny, and you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.
The other thing that made him funny is that when he told you a story you could see crystal clearly what he meant.
People like Richard truly only come around maybe once in a lifetime, and I am so thankful that it was in my lifetime, I thank him for making me feel less inadequate about being Black and living in America.
I've said many times that fear can make you do crazy things. My fear of aloneness made me do drugs, almost in the same way that he did.
Richard Pryors' life was one of one of constant upheaval from his birth to his death, but in the process he touched our lives and made us the better for it, because he was honest about it without the sugarcoating.
Good night brother.
Richard Pryor 1940-2005
Support Live music today tomorrow and always, and have a good bellylaugh along the way.
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2 comments:
hi, i love richard pryor. he was a raw force and a great talent. i think that one of the reasons that he was embraced by black and white male and female was because, no matter what he said in his routines or in interviews, one, his honesty couldn't be denied but moreso, his vunerablity, his sweetly open, childlike trust and needs shone like a precious gem. he made you want to know him, befriend him and care for him. you never forgot that he was a man, but the child in him let him use his talents in such a way that no matter what he said, no matter how much his truth hurt while it made you laugh, you couldn't get angry you just had to love him. that's how i felt about him. it was a different time back then and he did much more for the cause of truth and honesty and bringing people together than many whose job it was to try to do so.
You expressed that so nicely, and it's right, that honesty is what made him endearing to so many. So many people in life have been so hurt by it, through no fault of their own, but Richard dealt with it so uniquely that it forced you to take notice.
I hope that I will always be that honest about my feelings, good bad or indifferent.
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