Without question a pivotal figure in comedy history, Richard Pryor has passed away at the age of 65.
Pryor’s artistic lapses and personal demons are well documented and don’t require a rehash. For those of you barely familiar with his work, the albums ‘That Nigger’s Crazy” and “Is It Something I Said” are a great place to start.
On the cinema side of things, “Blue Collar” and “Blazing Saddles” will hopefully be cited before “Moving” or “The Toy”.
psst, I don’t think he was in saddles. the satin uni’s in brewster’s millions were fly.
He was in several movies with Gene Wilder, the most notable one (in my opinion) being “Silver Streak.†As pointed out above, though, he was not in Blazing Saddles.
And let’s not forget the word-association he played with Chevy Chase when applying for a job in a famous SNL sketch: “Dead Honky!â€
while Pryor didn’t appear in “Blazing Saddles”, he’s credited as a writer.
Though I’m not a huge fan of the stuff with Gene Wilder, the prison entry scenes in “Stir Crazy†were good enough that there was no need whatsoever to remake “The Longest Yard”.
wattstax, i think i’ll watch that. he gave awesome commentary in wattstax. sharp, biting even, but suffering from none of the kneejerk reactionary tone that some other comments had.
plus johnnie taylor is fucking phenomenal in that. i’m gonna put that on next.
Richard Pryor was a trailblazer and one of the true Kings of Comedy.