Richard Pryor: A Legend Lives On

Being a comedian is a hard occupation. Of course, many of us regularly joke and are capable of throwing in a few good ones that will give those around us a hearty laugh. But standing up on a stage and being able to cause near-continuous laughter takes real talent. Knowing which collective button to push and knowing just when and how to say the right thing takes enormous skills that many of us do not have.

But if there was any one man who made being a comedian look easy and relaxing it was Richard Pryor. Combining his own observations and storytelling style with unflinching examination of racism and customs in modern life along with often vulgar and profane language, he created a style of making people laugh that is still favored by many of today’s stand-up comics. In pushing the right boundaries and saying the right thing at the right time, he was the first comedian to make America laugh its more serious social problems such as racism, drugs and violence against women.

Perhaps, causing people to laugh offered him respite from the memories of a sad childhood. Born in Peoria, Illinois on December 1, 1940, he grew up in his grandmother’s brothel, where his mother, Gertrude Thomas, worked as a prostitute. When his mother abandoned him when he was only ten he continued be raised by his grandmother.

He first began performing in New York in 1963, first copying comedian Bill Cosby’s less controversial style of comedy. Soon, he began appearing on variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. However, upon moving a few years later to Las Vegas, with its primarily adult setting, Pryor began adding more profane language to his routines.

In 1969 he signed with Laff Records and started producing comedy-oriented albums. In 1972, he appeared in his first film, a documentary called Wattstax and it was then that he first began touching on the issues of race in his routines. He soon began appearing in more films such as The Wiz, Silver Streak, Lady Sings the Blues, Uptown Saturday Night, Which Way is Up?, Stir Crazy, The Toy, Brewster’s Millions and many more. He was originally considered for the role of Billy Ray Valentine in 1983’s Trading Places, a role which ultimately went to Eddie Murphy.

Despite his reputation for using a lot of profanity and racial epithets in his routines, his frequent starring roles gave him wide mainstream appeal. He wrote for TV shows such as Sanford and Son, The Flip Wilson Show and a TV special for Lily Tomlin. In 1983, he hosted the Motown special, Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. He also co-hosted the Academy Awards twice. He was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

On December 10, 2005, the comic succumbed to cardiac arrest, which was brought on by complications of multiple sclerosis. He was survived by six children.

Today, Richard Pryor remains a comedian to whom most other comedians are measured. Although not the first comic to explore raunchiness, his direct and unflinching approached to social problems while pushing the taboo boundaries of race and sex through comedy was a great influence on many of today’s most popular comedy performers. Eddie Murphy himself and countless other comedians have frequently acknowledged Pryor as their main inspiration.