History Creator / RichardPryor

-->''"And then I went inside the house. Because the cops came. And ''they'' got magnums, too. But they don't kill cars, they kill niggers."''

Although he took pot shots at a variety of targets, it's arguable that his most hilarious and biting material concerned 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?)

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]]

* 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'.

* 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.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: He started out as a middlebrow comic in the vein of Creator/BillCosby with far less controversial material.
* 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.

* LongerThanLifeSentence: In one of his concert films Pryor riffed on a convict he met who was serving triple life:

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/EddieIzzard.

-->'''George:''' Here's what happened. First Richard had a heart attack, ''I'' had a heart attack. Then Richard set himself on ''fire'' and I thought "Fuck that, I'm having another heart attack!"

'''George:''' Here's what happened. First Richard had a heart attack, ''I'' had a heart attack. Then Richard set himself on ''fire'' and I thought "Fuck that, I'm having another heart attack!"