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December 12, 2005
Richard Pryor
I was sad to see that Richard Pryor died over the weekend. I am not sure how most people will remember him. Either as an actor or stand up comedian or that guy who set himself on fire. While I liked the movies he did with Gene Wilder, especially Stir Crazy, I will always remember him as a stand up comedian. I remember going to the Centereach Movie Theater (now long gone), with my friends to see Pryors stand up film. The theater was filled with mostly black people, and Pryor was throwing around the N-word like it was nothing. My initial un-comfort at laughing soon went away, and like everyone else in the theater, left knowing that we had just seen a comic genius.
Of course, I also remember the classic routine that Pryor did with Chevy Chase on SNL. Chase was interviewing Pryor for a janitors position, and was doing a word association game with him. The two men were soon trading racial slurs back and forth. Pryor ran out of slurs and resorted to calling Chase a honky. Chase retaliated by using the N-word, and Pryor responded with the now classic “dead honky”, and was hired on the spot. It is to this day, one of my favorite all time SNL moments.
Like most comedians, Pryor struggled with inner demons while making us all laugh. The world is a better place for him, and he will be missed.
Posted by pmadsen at December 12, 2005 03:53 PM
