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Rest In Peace, Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor died today and I nearly broke down while watching CNN.

I wasn't born into the most conservative of families, so instead of reciting bible verses on Sunday nights, it was more common to hear the grown-ups retelling Richard Pryor jokes.

"And it's deep, too...."

(Took me years to understand what that one meant. Hey, whaddya want? I was like five when I first heard the joke.)

I am pretty sure that my first memory of Richard Pryor was when he was in Bustin' Loose with Cicely Tyson. I liked it because it was kids. Sure, they all has issues with a capital ISH, but at that age, I don't think I knew what it meant to be emotionally disturbed.

Basically, Richard Pryor drives Cicely Tyson and the ED kids across country on a broke-down school bus. There is more to the plot, but basically it's one of my favorite movies of all time. I don't know if it's a good movie. All I know is you'll probably never see anything so touching as Richard Pryor touching these kids' lives.

AND Roberta Flack did the soundtrack.

Now, I also remember a movie called The Toy that Pryor did with Jackie Gleason playing the millionaire father of this snot-nosed brat named Eric. Pryor is an unemployed reporter who is working as a janitor for Gleason's department store. When Gleason tells his son that he can have anything in the store that he wants, he chooses Pryor. Hilarity ensues.

So....I admit. This movie sucks. And it's disturbing on a certain level that a black man can be "bought" and used as someone's toy. It's like he became a mammy for the 1980's. It wasn't cool. Somehow, it is rationalized when Pryor teaches the white boy character and values....but...eh...

But as a kid, I still loved the movie. I don't watch it all the time as an adult, but it did highlight Richard Pryor's more slapstick abilities.

Then of course there's no forgetting his role in Superman III....okay, so this movie wasn't good either. But once again, I was a freakin' child! Sheesh...lol

He came out with lots of other movies in the 80s, and while some interested me, others didn't. What I did get turned on to in the interim was the comedy of Eddie Murphy. Yes, I watched Raw at too young an age as well. But watching Raw set into motion an interest in Richard Pryor as a comedian.

By the time Harlem Nights came out, I was ten or so and I was aware that without Richard Pryor, there would be no Eddie Murphy. I knew that Richard Pryor was the true comedy genius of my time.

Wait...rewind....how could I have forgotten this relic....

Pryor's Place!

It was only on for a season and I don't remember a single episode, but I do remember part of the theme song, sung by none other than Ray Parker, Jr. The show featured Richard Pryor telling stories about his childhood to the neighborhood kids and the various themes that were raised. A typical kids' show formula, but with more of an edge than Fat Albert or the few other ethnic shows that were out for kids. I think that Pryor's Place was probably more in line with Vegetable Soup.

So anyway, I recognized Pryor's genius at a young age and came to appreciate him when I saw Harlem Nights. Unfortunately, that was around the same time that Multiple Sclerosis started changing Pryor's timing and ability to spit those rapid-fire jokes and stories.

As I got older, I started really listening to the man and understanding how his own life was the canvas. It was almost scary how he could make a joke out of setting himself on fire while freebasing. But he was brave like that. I try to live my life the same way, kinda, through this blog. I don't want to hold anything back really because hell, maybe somebody out there is learning from my mistakes, as I learned from Pryor's.

I listened to And It's Deep Too: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings as a full fledged adult when I bought it for my mom for Christmas one year. Pure genius. I finally understood the jokes....I finally saw why they passed from stories to legends in my own family. The man was a master story teller -- a blue griot, if you will.

I'm sad. Not just the fact that another one of our legends is dead, but because for the last 20 or so years of his life, he wasn't able to live up to his full storytelling potential. That damn disease Multiple Sclerosis all but silenced him. Sure, he still acted a bit, earning an Emmy nomination for his guest appearance on Chicago Hope.

But it's not the same....America needed Richard Pryor, and we got Chris Rock. No offense to Chris, but we needed them both. When Eddie Murphy turned all "family man" on us, we needed Richard Pryor. When other great comics faded into the background to be replaced by these foul-mouth-with-no-purpose BET comedians, we needed Richard Pryor.

And now he's gone.

I hope that America understands exactly what it is that we lost on yesterday. He wasn't just a comedian or an actor or a writer.

He was, in fact, the greatest.

Rest in peace.

Posted by Rashid on December 10, 2005 8:25 PM

Comments

Commented by Frank Miller on December 29, 2005 11:01 AM

Commented by Maddie on May 12, 2006 4:01 PM

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