Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor fans should check out this page of excerpts from his comedy routines. Richard Pryor is my favorite comedian. I've been an avid listener to comedy since a young age. Some listeners find the frankness of his language upsetting. I find it exact. His self deprecating, harrowing humor always appeals to me, everything is in play. That he can readily call himself nigger affectionately, blows my mind. To my ear he has appropriated the term in such a way that he has given it a different meaning altogether within his routines. Quentin Tarantino said That Nigger is Crazy is the great American novel. This statement is both silly and spot on...and very typical of Tarantino. What Tarantino misses is that he can't use nigger like Pryor can, it doesn't work when he uses it in his films. Pryor earns his language whether he is speaking autobiographically or in a persona. Tarantino tries to use this same language as an effect rather than it being an organic language that is part of world that he creates, and thus earns. Many comedians post Pryor make this same mistake and their work lacks resonance because of this. I would say that Pryor's use of the word bitch isn't quite as comical to my ear. It is consistent with the rest of his language, but the humor loses some of its comical value largely because it relates to his personal life in a way that is not so comical. I can laugh at him talking about his drug addiction, which isn't funny either, because the humor is self directed. Including himself as subject matter, prey to the same barbs, removes any implicit animosity and makes his humor egalitarian. And really m**#%$ f*&^%$@ funny.