Line #34 Creator/RichardPryor


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RichardPryor_1491.jpg]]
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3	-> ''“There are many different kinds of comedians: the observational humorist, the impressionist, the character creator, the physical comedian, the self-deprecator, and the dirty-joke teller. What made Richard Pryor so brilliant is he was able to incorporate all these styles at once.”''
4	-->-- '''Creator/DamonWayans'''
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6	Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor (December 1, 1940 -- December 10, 2005) is often cited as one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time (and a lot of people say ''the'' best). And just for once, they might actually be onto something there. His act influenced (and continues to influence) comedians varying from Creator/EddieMurphy to Creator/BillHicks to Creator/SuzyEddieIzzard.
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8	He started out as a fairly non-controversial figure, influenced more by Creator/BillCosby than Creator/LennyBruce, and generally peddled his safe observational material to predominantly white audiences. It wasn't until an "epiphany" during a performance in Las Vegas in 1967 -- where he exclaimed "What the fuck am I doing here?!" over the microphone, before walking off the stage -- that he would begin to develop his own profane, raw, and increasingly confessional style of comedy.
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10	Although he took potshots at a variety of targets, it's arguable that his most hilarious and biting material concerned [[SelfDeprecation his own life]]. Whether it was shooting up his own car with a magnum, his drug addictions, his childhood, or his health problems, Pryor would bare his private life in front of his audience in a way that even his most devoted followers could rarely come close to. His most notable routine concerned nearly accidentally burning himself to death in 1980 while freebasing cocaine, documented on his 1982 album ''Live At The Sunset Strip'', and also in the 1984 film ''Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling'', a semi-autobiographic drama that Pryor wrote and directed. (Seriously, can you even picture Eddie Murphy trying to laugh off his "Good Samaritan" incident with a transvestite prostitute in his stand-up?)
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12	Despite the controversies over his lifestyle and material (in 1974, he was replaced by Creator/CleavonLittle Jr., for the role of Bart in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', because Creator/WarnerBros deemed him uninsurable due to his drug habits; in 1977, a variety show created by Pryor on NBC only lasted 4 episodes [[note]]but was notable for a cast that included Creator/RobinWilliams, Paul Mooney, and Sandra Bernhard [[/note]]). Pryor eventually found a degree of mainstream success, most notably in two films (''Film/SilverStreak'' and ''Film/StirCrazy'') where he was paired with Creator/GeneWilder [[note]]two later films with Wilder -- ''Film/SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil'' and ''Another You'' -- were less well-received.[[/note]], and in ''Film/SupermanIII''. He largely retired from the public eye after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, but made occasional posts online, and even made an appearance in the Creator/DavidLynch film ''Film/LostHighway.'' In 1998, he became the first recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
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14	After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, he died in 2005 following a heart attack. In 2008, in a poll taken from nearly 5000 of his fellow stand-up comedians, he was voted the funniest stand-up comedian of all time, narrowly beating out his long-time friend Creator/GeorgeCarlin for the title.[[note]]Lenny Bruce, coincidentally, came in third. [[/note]]
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17	!!Related Tropes:
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19	'''Examples in Stand Up Comedy'''
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21	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Pryor once befriended a showgirl and became incensed when he learned how little she was making. He then tried to rob/stick up the mafioso club owners with a starter pistol. Fortunately for Richard, the mobsters thought he was doing a comedy bit and burst out laughing, and after hearing one talk about how he "made his bones" (killed a man), Richard wisely decided to go along with the 'joke'.
22	* ClusterFBomb: "''Fuck censorship and his Mama.''"
23	* CrazyJealousGuy: Admits that he could be this way when his drug use caused him to be paranoid.
24	* DisabledCharacterDisabledActor: In his later years, his characters were written as disabled because of his multiple sclerosis. His last TV role was playing a disabled old man on Norm [=MacDonald=]'s sketch comedy show.
25	* DomesticAbuse: All but one of his 5 ex-wives accused him of abuse and he admits to throttling his wife Jennifer in his autobiography.
26	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: He started as a middlebrow comic in the vein of Creator/BillCosby with far less controversial material.
27	* FriendlyRivalry: With George Carlin. They first met in the mid-'60s while each was doing more traditional stand-up. As each became counterculture icons, their friendship grew deeper, they remained friends until Pryor's death, and would often toss biting jabs at each other.
28	-->'''George:''' Here's what happened. First Richard had a heart attack, so ''I'' had a heart attack. Then Richard set himself on ''fire'' and I thought "Fuck that, I'm having another heart attack!"
29	* GallowsHumor: Pretty much his whole act after a while.
30	* ManOnFire: He lit himself on fire inadvertently when he was freebasing. He was reported to run a route described as "being a long distance ''in a car''". He later admitted in his autobiography that he had [[BungledSuicide done it on purpose]] in a drug haze.
31	-->"When you're on fire and running down the street, people will get out of your way. Except for one old drunk, going, ''(pantomiming holding a cigarette)'' 'Hey, buddy? Can I get a light?'"
32	* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: He was aware of the jokes that people were making about his ManOnFire incident-- even pointing one of them out the first time that he talked about it.
33	-->"'Do you know what this is?' ''(lights a match and moves it through the air)'' 'It's Richard Pryor, running down the street.'"
34	* NWordPrivileges: He originally used it, even releasing albums called ''That Nigger's Crazy'' and ''Bicentennial Nigger''. Averted following a visit to Africa, where he resolved to stop using the word in his routine. (His love of the word "motherfucker", however, remained undiminished.)
35	* OutWithABang: Apparently the way his father died. ([[IncrediblyLamePun "He came and went at the same time!"]])
36	* ThePrimaDonna: He developed a reputation for being demanding and disrespectful on film sets, and for making selfish and difficult requests. In his autobiography ''Kiss Me Like a Stranger'', Gene Wilder says that Pryor was frequently late to the set during filming of ''Stir Crazy'', and that he demanded, among other things, a helicopter to fly him to and from the set because he was the star. Pryor was also accused of using allegations of on-set racism to force the hand of film producers into giving him more money:
37	-->One day during our lunch hour in the last week of filming, the craft service man handed out slices of watermelon to each of us. Richard, the whole camera crew, and I sat together in a big sound studio eating a number of watermelon slices, talking and joking. As a gag, some members of the crew used a piece of watermelon as a Frisbee and tossed it back and forth to each other. One piece of watermelon landed at Richard's feet. He got up and went home. Filming stopped. The next day, Richard announced that he knew very well what the significance of watermelon was. He said that he was quitting show business and would not return to this film. The day after that, Richard walked in, all smiles. I wasn't privy to all the negotiations that went on between Columbia and Richard's lawyers, but the camera operator who had thrown that errant piece of watermelon had been fired that day. I assume now that Richard was using drugs during ''Stir Crazy''.
38	* RapeAsBackstory: As a child by a man in his neighborhood.
39	* RefugeInAudacity: He took a Smith & Wesson-made Magnum handgun and shot ''a brand new Mercedes-Benz'', destroying the engine. He discusses this in ''Richard Pryor Live in Concert''.
40	* SesameStreetCred: Doing the alphabet back in 1976 in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJh_EUrEAZg this video.]] And then there's ''Series/PryorsPlace''.
41	* SonOfAWhore: His mother was a prostitute and he even grew up in her brothel.
42	* TalkingAnimal: Usually dogs.
43	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: While they didn't outright dislike each other, the chemistry that he and Gene Wilder displayed on-screen did not translate off-screen due to their very different personalities. The filming of ''Stir Crazy'', in particular, was a low point (as stated above).
44	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: The aftermath of him shooting (and "killing") a [[CoolCar brand new Mercedes]] with a [[{{BFG}} magnum revolver]]:
45	-->''"And then I went inside the house. Because the cops came. And ''they'' got magnums, too. But they don't kill cars, they kill nee-gars."''
46	* WhiteDudeBlackDude: The original. Accept no substitutes.
47	* WisdomFromTheGutter: Subverted in the aforementioned "Wino & Junkie" bit.
48	-->"I'm gonna help you, boy. 'Cause I believe you got potential. You know what your problem is? You don't know how to deal with the white man! You got a white-man complex. I know how to deal with him. That's why I'm in the position I'm in today."
49	* WrongSideOfTheTracks: His mother was a prostitute, his father was her pimp, and he was raised in his grandmother's brothel. Need we say more? His was a HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood, although not so hilarious outside of his stand-up.
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52	!! '''Examples in Movies''':
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54	* LongerThanLifeSentence: In one of his concert films, Pryor riffed on a convict he met who was serving triple life:
55	-->''How do you do triple life? That means if he dies, and comes back, he gotta go to the penitentiary! "Fuck kindergarten, kid, you comin' with us..."''

Context Creator / RichardPryor