Obit: Richard Pryor (Dec 2005)

Subject: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 06:19 PM

Richard Pryor has died at 65. I loved his movies with Gene Wilder..and his standup comedy was hilarious.

anyways here is a link to the obi at bbc

Richard Pryor Obit

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 06:39 PM

I remember when and where I was when I first heard him, when somebody put an album on in the common room at the barracks in which I lived, Austin TX, 1978. I laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my face and was in danger of rolling out of my chair onto the floor. Yes, he was rude and said some stuff that made people uncomfortable, but he was the funniest guy on the planet when I was listening.

There's another Obit at Bloomberg.com He died of a heart attack, and I see he'd had some other heart problems I hadn't known about. Sorry he's gone so young, but he had a rich life, if it was also a hard one.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: gnu
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 07:52 PM

A ten pound apple if there ever was one. RIP.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 08:07 PM

Oh, how sad. How grand, tho, that we had him at all. I first saw him as a skinny neophyte comic on Merv Griffin-- the "Rumpostiwpskin" routine. I almost died laughing. What a soul!

~S~

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 08:36 PM

He was that.....but I thought it was complications from MS? (as well as the heart thing)......

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 09:08 PM

We just saw some replays of old SNL skits he did which were so hilarious and gutsy for the time. I admired him so much, for his brilliance and perseverance through all kinds of trials, including in recent times with ill health.

Thanks for the wondrous and fun movies, skits, etc.

RIP,

kat

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 09:50 PM

According to the Chicago paper, he was underwriting the trip Arlo is taking on the City of New Orleans to help NOLA musicians.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: Bobert
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 10:54 PM

Well, Lenny Bruce has some company tonight...

Sniff...

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 11:40 PM

I agree with Susan- I'm just glad that we had him as long as we did. I always hoped that he'd get back to health and back into public life but not to be. Next time, RP.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 07:20 AM

He was supposed to originally a foul mouthed comic, but I believe Lenny Bruce outdid him.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 08:26 AM

Pryor and Bruce were two completely different types of comedians.... no comparison.

~S~

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 11:44 AM

I saw Pryor 35+ years ago, and found him insightful and funny...and clean. Later he became a 'potty mouth' and worse; I no longer found him funny. Likewise, I do not find most of today's 'comics' to be funny for that reason.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 11:48 AM

At least he's not suffering anymore....

See ya down the road, Rich

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: NH Dave
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 12:24 PM

I think he said things in the vernacular of his day and neighborhood, which didn't always use the King's English. I remember one of his riffs where he is swapping insults with a white man.

WP   "Bum!"
RP   "Honky!"
WP   &$*@%!
RP   "Honky!"
WP   "Nigger!"
RP   "Deaaad Honky!"

Dave

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 01:19 PM

The party's getting bigger and funnier on the other side.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: GUEST,Hannam
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 01:22 PM

Really great. I loved Stir Crazy, i watch it every few months on DVD, and i recently saw RP on an episode of Will & Grace, he was class...but old :-(

Will miss him genuinly.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: fat B****rd
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 04:02 PM

I bought myself a DVD of his stage show last Christmas. Hilarious and not an ounce of self pity (heart attacks, self immolation etc.)
RIP Rich. Maybe you'll see your monkeys again.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 12 Dec 05 - 09:23 AM

A comic genius. Like Lenny Bruce, he set a new standard. He tackled subjects without fear. He made me laugh. At other times he made me very uncomfortable for he looked at his own foibles and sometimes he looked at mine.

We lost him as a force years ago when MS took over, so I've been missing him for a while. Rest in peace Richard.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor (Dec 2005)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Dec 05 - 02:05 PM

There was an excellent tribute to Pryor in today's St. Paul Pioneer Press. An excerpt:

I've heard it said that the definition of greatness is when everything that came before you becomes obsolete and everything after bears your mark. That was Pryor. After him, Milton Berle and Bob Hope could never again seem quite as amusing. And virtually every comedian who followed — Murphy, Chappelle, Letterman, Rock, Hughley, Williams — bears his mark.

Subject: RE: Obit: Richard Pryor (Dec 2005)
From: Puff The Magic Dragon
Date: 14 Dec 05 - 01:52 PM

he is a comic genius. his comedy was so dirty in the sense of the language and the content. ex: setting himself on fire free basing.
i bet that when he set himself on fir he thought, "this is going to make a great bit"