R.I.P. Richard Pryor

Every dumb comic doing routines about how white and black people differ in myriad minor, idiosyncratic ways owes a massive debt to Richard Pryor. All that "we have fun with our differences" stuff, it all descends from, to my mind, two guys...Pryor and Lenny Bruce.

The difference is, Lenny Bruce was important. Richard Pryor was funny, and oh, by the way, this stuff is also kind of historically important. That's a key difference.

It wasn't until college, really, that I was introduced to Pryor's comedy, despite a life-long love of stand-up. In high school, my taste in stand-up comedy was pretty safe. I idolized guys like Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Letterman and Bill Cosby. Those guys are all hilarious guys (Cosby's routines, in particular, influenced my sense of humor greatly as a lad). But they don't do the one thing that all truly great comedy tries to do, which is to provoke. My favorite comedians mine the great unspoken truths of human life for laughs, not just the silly little pecadillos of everyday existence. Guys like Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Chris Rock...

and Richard Pryor.

You don't need to have seen Pryor's autobiographical film (in which he stars, as well as taking on writing and directing duties) Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling to know the intimate details of his life. They're present in all of his best material. His shady, criminal background (most notably, young Richard was raised in a brothel) and fondness for drugs, his anger and frustration over perpetual systematic racism in America and, later in life, the battle with multiple sclerosis that ended today.

Brilliant though his stand-up may be, Pryor leaves behind a much more distinguished resume than just Live on the Sunset Strip. He co-wrote Blazing Saddles with Mel Brooks and appeared in a number of solid films as an actor, including Paul Schrader's Blue Collar, The Mack, The Muppet Movie, Uptown Saturday Night, Lady Sings the Blues (though granted this one hinges on your definition of "solid") and a whole bunch of funny movies with Gene Wilder (most memorably, the classic Silver Streak). Also, did you know that he conceived of the sitcom "Sanford and Son," and wrote a number of episodes? It's true!

Pryor, of course, significantly fell from grace in these past few decades. I grew up thinking of him as a punchline - that old-school comedian who freaked out and lit himself on fire. (I rembmer thinking that joke at his expense in Richard Donner's Scrooged - when Bill Murray sees the guy on fire and mistakes him for Richard Pryor - was out of line, until I saw some of Pryor's comedy on the subject and realized it's an homage.) I think in recent years, he's managed to overshadow that unfortunate legacy, and people naturally continue to discover his great body of work. His specials are probably the most-requested comedy DVD's at the video store.

I'll just leave you with my favorite Pryor moment. It's probably a lot of people's. That old "Saturday Night Live" sketch where Chevy Chase is giving Richard a word association test. Chevy starts saying racist terms and Richard keeps responding with variations on the word "honky." Inevitably, Chevy eventually gets around to "nigger," to which Richard replies, in perfect deadpan, "dead honky." Hilarious! I see that E! rated it the 37th best "Saturday Night Live" moment ever, but it'd put it a bit higher than that. Man, that show used to be good...