RIP Richard Pryor

This is for all non-EC or peripheral-EC topics. We all know how much we love talking about 'The Man' but sometimes we have other interests.
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BlueChair
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RIP Richard Pryor

Post by BlueChair »

CNN is reporting that Richard Pryor has died at the age of 65.

Definitely one of the most talented comedians of all time, up there with Lenny Bruce, et al
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Post by Chrille »

He was a very good actor too. For proof see Paul Schrader's Blue Collar.
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Post by wehitandrun »

That is some sad news.
Maybe now people can admit Carlin was/is better.
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BlueChair
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Post by BlueChair »

Because he didn't die?
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Post by bambooneedle »

He made me laugh
could be near his epitaph
he who with you
stir crazy in style
a bad mothafucka
and a half he was to view
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Post by laughingcrow »

RIP....one of the all time great comics, and a pioneer for black comedians.
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Post by El Vez »

For me he was the greatest. No one comes close. His best work had a rawness, a humanity and just the deepest sadness that usually can only be found in the greatest novels.

On a personal note, there was a time when I loved Richard Pryor more than I will ever love any artist. When I was seventeen, I wanted to *be* Richard Pryor. It went beyond performing his routines at theatre conferences (I would makeup plays and authors so I wouldn't get disqualified), watching his standup films all the time, listening to his albums all the time......I wanted the whole tortured artist package and didn't really get over that idolatry and sense of "If I keep hurting myself and everyone who ever loved me, I'll be Richard" until my early twenties. His death fucking hurts me.

Whar, I've generally been pretty nice to you but that can all stop right now if you'd like. Please don't pull your schtick on this thread because it makes me very, very angry and I don't want to see it here. If you don't delete your post or change it to something that doesn't piss me off, I will personally pester Doc and Spooky about banning you from this board permanently until they do so just to get me off their backs. Do you understand me?
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Post by wehitandrun »

El Vez wrote:Whar, I've generally been pretty nice to you but that can all stop right now if you'd like. Please don't pull your schtick on this thread because it makes me very, very angry and I don't want to see it here. If you don't delete your post or change it to something that doesn't piss me off, I will personally pester Doc and Spooky about banning you from this board permanently until they do so just to get me off their backs. Do you understand me?
Atleast you warned me first.
You're not going to change my opinion with threats. I'm sorry if it hurts you.
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selfmademug

Post by selfmademug »

wehitandrun wrote:I'm sorry if it hurts you.
Oh please. You're not sorry. At least not in that way. Have you run out of other places to wave your little dick around?

I'll never forget RP's bit about forgetting how to breathe when stoned....
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noiseradio
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Post by noiseradio »

Richard Pryor was a funny motherfucker.

WHAR's just a motherfucker.
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bobster
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Post by bobster »

No doubt about it, Richard Pryor was one of the most important artists of our time. Like lots of people, I learned a little something about life from him while laughing myself silly at a vulnerable age. He helped open a genaration's mind and I can't think of any higher compliment for an artist.

Art is not a competition where there is a declared winner, nor is any particular person's preference for one artist over another of any significance whatsoever. And the day someone dies has got to be least appropriate time for bringing that kind of thing up. When Doestoyevsky died, did all the Tolstoy fans show up at the funeral to say that "Anna Karenina" is a more emotionally satisfying work than "Crime and Punishment"? And if they had, should anyone have given a damn?

Cultivate some consideration for others, WHAR, please.
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Boy With A Problem
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Post by Boy With A Problem »

He was a comic titan for sure - it looked like he was in a lot of pain these past few years, so at least that's over for him. Not only did he make you laugh, he made you think about shit.
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Post by so lacklustre »

RIP RP
signed with love and vicious kisses
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Post by pophead2k »

Underrated RP film: Some Kind of Hero. A sweet movie.
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Post by SoLikeCandy »

I think a lot of kids had this experience: digging around in my dad's record collection, and finding Pryor's albums. Putting them on the turntable and playing them as quietly as possible, then getting caught and yelled at for listening to "such dirty mess". Being sent to my room...and being able to hear the rest of the album because Dad couldn't stop laughing and just had to hear the rest of it.

The man was a giant. Not only did he make the harsh reality of the American black experience easier to understand for everyone (hell, even black folks), he also made it easier for a lot of black entertainers to branch out. He was--and still is--the funniest motherfucker on the planet.
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Post by spooky girlfriend »

Who else could have actually caught on fire and made a major successful comedic routine about it? He was funny as hell, but he had been suffering for a while.

RIP
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Post by BlueChair »

My exposure to Richard Pyror was completely mainstream - through his movies Brewster's Millions and See No Evil, Hear No Evil - but I couldn't get enough of those movies as a kid. It was weird to hear about Pryor's tortured life after that, but I will always remember laughing my ass off at those movies.
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Post by noiseradio »

Well, Blue, if you haven't ever seen it, you owe it to yourself to watch Live on Sunset Strip. As soon as you can.
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Post by El Vez »

And Live In Concert which is pretty much his Sgt. Pepper moment.

Blue Collar (w/ Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto) remains my fave Pryor film. The motherfucker could really act when he wanted to.
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