Biography: Richard Pryor

by Alyssa Kapelka

Richard Pryor was one of the most well know and influential comedians, let alone one of the most influential black comedians, of his time. Born Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III, he was predominantly a stand-up comedian, as well as a social critic and an actor. He was known for his loud, vulgar persona with high pitched ‘mocking’ voices and bugging eyes. However, he is most
well-known for his social commentaries on race and other issues of the era. He had a story–telling style of standup, gaining him a wide audience that has lead his comedy to be entertaining, even to this day. 

David Misch covers the career of Pryor in his book Funny: The Book. Richard Pryor was born in December of 1940. The son of a prostitute, he spent most of his time with her, many times in the place that she worked. “As a teen he was in the Army for two years but spent almost the whole time in jail for beating up a white soldier who was enjoying a racist movie” (Misch 41). 

Pryor was inspired by Bill Cosby to enter into the comedy and did so, starting out as a non-radial, clean comedian. This gained him enormous popularity. Things changed stating with a particular moment while he was performing in Las Vegas. Misch describes the moment in his book: “…In 1969, he went on stage…looked out at the rich, white crown; said ‘what the fuck am I doing here?’ and walked off…” (Misch 42). This was the start of Pryor’s politically influenced comedy. He became more of social commentator than a comic, salting his acts with large amounts of profanity, including the word ‘nigger’. “…Pryor was determined to strip the word of its power by reclaiming it from white racists and Black Power activists, who used it to describe blacks who wouldn’t join and armed revolution” (Misch 42). To Pryor, this word instead described the people that he knew doing his childhood; people that were an embarrassment to both the black and white communities. However, Pryor ended his used of the word after a trip to Africa, seeing that the people there were in no way representative of that word.

This era proved to be a difficult one for Pryor. On the one hand he was becoming more and more popular. On the other, his emergence into the public eye meant that there would be censorship of his acts. He was offered a television series in the late 1970s, but quit after only a hand full of episodes due to the issues he had with censorship. Pryor made a multitude of comedy albums, winning four Grammies for Best Comedic Recording (IMBd). He wrote for comedy shows, one being Sanford and Son, and was the first African American to host Saturday Night Live in its inaugural year. The 1970s and 1980s was also a time that Pryor become involved in films. He appeared in several films including Lady Sings the Blues (1972), Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980) and
The Toy (1982) (Wikipedia).

There are some that critique Richard Pryor for his hypocritical portrayals of the ‘buffoon’ type black male, the exact character that he criticized in his comedy. However, many feel that it is only a parody. This character is seen in one his films with actor Gene Wilder. Geoff King describes the film Stir Crazy in his book Film Comedy: “In Stir Crazy…Harry (Pryor) puts on a show, affecting an absurdly exaggerated jivey swagger form the shoulders and hip to play the part of the ‘baad’ black man-and to encourage his partner Skip (Wilder) to do the same-in an attempt to act though and avoid and unsavory attentions in jail” (King 152). The two do a similar plot in the film Silver Streak that came before.

In 1998 Richard Pryor, in a wheel chair due to Multiple Sclerosis, was given the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for his comedy, “He forced us to look at large social questions of race and the more tragicomic aspects of the human condition, projecting, like Twain, a generosity of spirit that unites us” (Misch 44). In 2004, he was listed by Comedy Central as the number one comedian of all time. In December of 2005, Richard Pryor died of a heart attack at the age of 65. His comedy was very unique for its time and it inspired the careers of many comedians that we know today such as George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, George Lopez, Dave Chappelle, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Stewart and many other political comedians. His commentaries helped to open the eyes of his audience and allow them to see the issues in a safe, comical light.

Filmography (from Wikipedia):
1967: The Busy Body
1968: Uncle Tom's Fairy Tales
1968: Wild in the Streets
1970: Carter's Army
1970: The Phynx
1971: You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat
1971: Live & Smokin'
1972: Dynamite Chicken
1972: Lady Sings the Blues
1973: The Mack
1973: Wattstax
1973: Hit!
1973: Some Call It Loving
1974: Uptown Saturday Night
1975: The Lion Roars Again
1976: Adios Amigo
1976: Car Wash
1976: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
1976: Silver Streak
1977: Greased Lightning
1977: Which Way Is Up?
1978: Blue Collar
1978: The Wiz
1978: California Suite
1979: Richard Pryor: Live in Concert
1979: The Muppet Movie (cameo)
1980: Wholly Moses
1980: In God We Tru$t
1980: Stir Crazy
1981: Bustin' Loose
1982: Some Kind of Hero
1982: Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip
1982: The Toy
1983: Superman III
1983: Richard Pryor: Here and Now
1983: Motown 25
1985: Brewster's Millions
1986: Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
1987: Critical Condition
1988: Moving
1989: See No Evil, Hear No Evil
1989: Harlem Nights
1991: The Three Muscatels
1991: Another You
1994: A Century of Cinema
1996: Mad Dog Time
1997: Lost Highway
1999: The Norm Show (cameo in opening of season 2, episode 11)
2000 : Me Myself and Irene (archive footage)
2003: Bitter Jester (himself)
2003: I Ain't Dead Yet, #* %$@!! (himself)
2005: Richard Pryor: The Funniest Man Dead Or Alive (himself)
2009: Black Dynamite (archive footage)
2013: Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic (archive footage)


Works Cited

King, Geoff. "Comedy and Representation." Film Comedy. London: Wallflower, 2002. 147, 152.
Print.

Misch, David. "Chapter 6." Funny the Book: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about
Comedy. Milwaukee, WI: Applause Theatre & Cinema, 2012. 41-44. Print.

"Richard Pryor." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001640/>.

"Richard Pryor." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pryor#Later_life_.281990-2005.29>.