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Support your PBS channel.
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There is no doubt
who is the greatest comedian.
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It's never anyone but Richard Pryor.
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They created the five-second delay
onSaturday Night Live
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because of Richard Pryor.
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They said he was unpredictable.
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Have you noticed
how white people look nice
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when there's a group of black people around?
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Isn't it? They leave. They talk to everyone.
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Isn't it? They say, "Hi, how are you?
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I don't know,
but here is my wife. Hello!”
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He wasn't trying to be
the correct black.
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Richard Pryor was trying too hard
be a black man.
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Richard Pryor was born on the edge.
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Imagine being born in a brothel.
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People didn't feel comfortable
with its origin.
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And Rich said, "Well, this is where I come from.
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That's what I went through.
This is my life.
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I will contain it."
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Richard Pryor, the comedian,
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he was seriously burned in an accident
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at his home in California
last night.
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� serious enough
to put your life at risk.
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I don't know, was it a suicide attempt?
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Was it an accident?
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An incident, whatever.
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It happened
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and made it even bigger.
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This program is possible, in part,
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thanks to contributions
to your PBS channel
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from viewers like you.
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Thank you.
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Richard Pryor showed us his life
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and it showed.
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He would put us there.
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We were on the corner with the drunk.
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We were on the corner.
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My name is Tracy Morgan...
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ACTOR/COMEDIAN
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... I'm a human being and I'm funny.
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He never lied to us.
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When you heard
Richard Pryor speaks on stage,
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it was just a funny conversation.
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That's what attracted me
to dostand-up.
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If I'm going to tell a story on stage,
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it will be with detail and color.
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Here, I learned my honesty
and my ability
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to relate to audiences
and being vulnerable,
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seeing Richard Pryor.
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ACTOR/COMEDIAN
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I'm not very religious,
I don't stick to what the Pope says.
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I know people who do
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and it must be so.
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Have someone we see
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which becomes a kind of light for us.
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Well, Richard Pryor is the comedy icon.
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He was known everywhere...
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COMEDIAN
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... and it was a real one
comedy ambassador.
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He is referred
with the same loving reverence
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than all other great philanthropists
who were not comedians.
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What other comedians
I think Richard Pryor influenced it?
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Are you crazy?
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COMEDIAN
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Name a comedian
that does not have, in some way,
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been influenced by Richard Pryor,
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for we call him the king.
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We call him the greatest.
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Since Robin Williams
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to Robin Harris, J Anthony Brown,
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Bruce Bruce, Louis CK,
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George Carlin, Don Rickles,
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I know Jerry Seinfeld.
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Tell me a comedian...
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Carrot Top.
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Everyone was influenced
by Richard Pryor.
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To Richard Pryor,
his eventful journey that changed the world
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started the first time
in which he appeared on television.
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Something a comedian never forgets.
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AUGUST 31, 1964
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OnOn Broadway Tonight,
for the first time on TV,
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Richard Pryor.
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The first time
that I did stand-up on television,
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It was so fast that I didn't even have to
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time to get nervous.
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I'm going to tell you some things about myself,
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for many of you do not know me.
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I'm not a New Yorker.
I'm from Peoria, Illinois.
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They asked me if I had seven minutes,
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said yes,
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they sent me to the stage
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and it was there, I didn't have time.
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I'm from a normal family, 11 children.
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Without mother or father, just children.
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Now when you walk on stage, you know
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that people paid to see us.
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I grabbed the bandit.
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It was the wrong option.
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Every night, I know,
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before going on stage,
I'm going to have fun,
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whether they like it or not.
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He knocked me down. I got up.
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He sent me to the ground. I got up.
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He kicked me and said, "Get up."
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I said...
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And the next five to seven minutes
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they are a total fog.
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It is an extracorporeal experience.
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I remember, at one point,
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be above myself
watching me, below,
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doing stand-up.
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My wife threw it over the furniture.
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He slapped me. The police came.
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He gave them a kick. They took her.
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Me and the bandit
we live happily ever after.
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End. Goodnight.
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And if we do well,
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the next day, everything changes.
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Even when it should be
honest and legitimate,
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his heart was still on the street.
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Dr. Todd Boyd,
professor of critical studies,
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USC School of Cinematic Arts.
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This kind of perspective
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of a black man of his generation,
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which is connected to the streets
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and how you use language
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to communicate this,
it was very familiar to me.
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Richard Pryor is interesting
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because it's someone who comes from the Midwest
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and it moved
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through several low-level circles,
in the Midwest.
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He eventually made it to New York.
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At will.
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That's right.
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I'm tired of telling you this,
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over and over again.
Every time I turn around I have to tell you.
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The torpedo tubes are on the left.
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The bathroom is on the right.
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You can take away all the resentment,
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all the misogyny
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and continue to have
a very funny man.
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My name is Cecil Brown.
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CLOSE FRIEND
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I'm friends with Richard Pryor.
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Richard Pryor's comedy is universal
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and that kind of humor
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addresses the new millennium very well,
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very well.
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The kind of comedy that Richard did
when I met him
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it was called "white bread humor."
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No swearing.
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No references to anything
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such as race, sex or drugs.
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Last week,
we were watching television
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and I heard a knock at the door.
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I said to my wife:
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"They're knocking on the door."
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Richard starts out as a person
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who imitates Bill Crosby.
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To be great,
we have to study the great ones.
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Bill Crosby was an inspiration
for Richard Pryor.
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This skinny guy
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and your too big suit.
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Richard Pryor was trying to be
the best I could.
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I like New York.
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I have been working in the city, in cafes,
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and I like it because they don't serve alcohol,
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just coffee, ice cream, weird gum
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and it's crazy.
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Richard must have thought
that you had to be like Bill to get in.
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He does not take a strong political position.
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Does not try to be confrontational.
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It's quite the opposite.
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�men.
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And it started at the time
where there were no black people on television.
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It was a long time ago,
There was only black and white television,
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therefore, we had to be
black or white.
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We had no choice.
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I think he was looking for his way.
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We want to sell tickets and be popular.
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You are jocular.
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What did he say, man?
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I don't know. Do you want to kill him?
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What can I do to get
some of these opportunities
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that are potentially available?
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Here he is, our little Richie Pryor.
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Richie!
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Pryor's non-offensive physical style
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starts to gain a lot of attention.
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Now, he's a stand-up comedy star
on the rise
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and a frequent guest
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on the show hosted by Merv Griffin.
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All black people in America
they saw Richard Pryor.
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How do you do that, Richard? Simply...
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I don't know.
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I'll go there and do it.
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I don't know how.
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That's all we did.
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We never saw black people at that time.
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Everyone called.
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Everyone went to everyone's house.
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If you didn't have television,
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showed up at someone's house with a television.
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It's in my teeth.
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He's trapped.
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And now what do we do?
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We smoke a cigarette.
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They taste good, maybe they are good to smoke.
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And he's funny,
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but this Richard Pryor is very different
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by Richard Pryor who becomes popular
in the 1970s.
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It's almost a different type.
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Despite its meteoric rise
to success,
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Richard Pryor is restless.
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You start to feel limited on stage.
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Not expressing yourself completely
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the way you would like.
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Indeed,
It is an imitator of other comics.
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As Pryor continues to do so
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Bill Crosby-style comedy
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the taste of American popculture
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now reflects the rising tides
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change and social unrest.
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The greatest reflection of this
feel like you're in New York.
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Richard taught me a lot of what not to do.
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FILM DIRECTOR
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Without a doubt he was a model
what not to do.
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He thought
that I was the squarest guy...
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... of the planet.
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It was a very vibrant time
in New York.
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There was social activism on the streets.
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If material was not made
socially relevant,
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we ourselves were not relevant.
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What's happening
it's his distance,
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say, of purely physical comedy,
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jokes, tricks and parodies,
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for what we can call
a more intellectual comedy,
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more politics.
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Richard tried
Play it safe at first.
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I don't think it was very happy
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trying to be someone else.
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In September 1967,
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Pryor has what later
I would call it an epiphany.
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Pryor was performing at the Aladdin Hotel,
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in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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And he mentioned that some of the people
from the Rat Pack
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they were sitting and watching him.
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He was on stage
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and everyone in the public
they were sitting with their coats on.
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You couldn't go
to a show without a coat,
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shirt and tie.
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He should be
one of the few black people in the club.
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And Richard realizes
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who is imitating
a very square guy in Bill Cosby.
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You still haven't found your own voice.
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And he found
that the idea they had of him
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it was from a joke,
of a ridiculous person.
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Comics want to entertain people,
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but they also want to keep
respect for themselves.
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As if it overflowed.
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When he looked at the audience
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and found himself telling jokes
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to people who looked at him
in a weird way...
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If they are going to look at us,
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00:11:59,302 --> 00:12:00,803
at least let them see us as a man.
267
00:12:03,890 --> 00:12:07,894
Our self-love is being challenged
268
00:12:07,977 --> 00:12:10,313
and we take it very personally.
269
00:12:13,024 --> 00:12:14,901
He said he was so embarrassed
270
00:12:14,984 --> 00:12:17,111
who left the stage.
271
00:12:25,286 --> 00:12:28,873
A very important turning point
in his career,
272
00:12:29,082 --> 00:12:31,960
because it was at this moment that he decided
273
00:12:32,043 --> 00:12:35,338
that old Richard Pryor
was going to be buried.
274
00:12:35,421 --> 00:12:37,382
He left the stage in the wrong direction
275
00:12:37,465 --> 00:12:39,509
and they said to him:
"You have to go back across the stage."
276
00:12:39,592 --> 00:12:42,595
He said:
"No, I'm not going back across the stage."
277
00:12:47,976 --> 00:12:51,145
It's almost poetic that this guy,
278
00:12:51,229 --> 00:12:55,358
that in the following decade
will become a gigantic star,
279
00:12:55,441 --> 00:12:59,362
get to this point by moving away
of something that is working.
280
00:12:59,988 --> 00:13:01,864
It is a becoming aware.
281
00:13:01,948 --> 00:13:05,743
It's a transition
from one phase to another.
282
00:13:22,510 --> 00:13:25,054
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor
283
00:13:25,138 --> 00:13:29,475
born December 1, 1940,
in Peoria, Illinois.
284
00:13:34,772 --> 00:13:41,112
Peoria, Illinois, is a
among a series of Midwestern cities
285
00:13:41,195 --> 00:13:46,367
that would develop
a considerable black population.
286
00:13:53,958 --> 00:13:56,669
Pryor's father, Leroy "Buck Carter" Pryor,
287
00:13:56,753 --> 00:14:00,089
he was a former boxer
Golden Gloves and pimp.
288
00:14:02,341 --> 00:14:03,843
His mother, Gertrude Thomas,
289
00:14:03,926 --> 00:14:06,846
she was an accountant and a prostitute.
290
00:14:06,929 --> 00:14:11,267
I don't think it's necessary to think too much
291
00:14:11,350 --> 00:14:16,397
to imagine what it would be like
be the son of a prostitute.
292
00:14:20,693 --> 00:14:23,488
Both parents were violent and alcoholic.
293
00:14:24,447 --> 00:14:26,532
His father rarely saw him
294
00:14:26,616 --> 00:14:29,369
and his mother abandoned him when he was ten.
295
00:14:29,452 --> 00:14:32,288
Pryor would later do
make peace with her later.
296
00:14:33,956 --> 00:14:38,336
My real mother calls me
297
00:14:38,419 --> 00:14:40,380
and it shocks me, man. She appeared
298
00:14:40,713 --> 00:14:42,298
and I'm very happy with that.
299
00:14:42,382 --> 00:14:43,466
That's my mother.
300
00:14:43,549 --> 00:14:45,259
- Is she here?
- Come on, mom.
301
00:14:45,343 --> 00:14:46,552
Don't hide your face.
302
00:14:47,345 --> 00:14:48,554
Right there.
303
00:14:48,638 --> 00:14:50,139
I didn't know that.
304
00:14:53,976 --> 00:14:56,229
She's beautiful, man, and I don't know.
305
00:14:56,312 --> 00:14:58,314
She was trying to contact me
306
00:14:58,398 --> 00:15:00,149
And so and I didn't even know.
307
00:15:02,777 --> 00:15:04,195
His grandmother would be
308
00:15:04,278 --> 00:15:06,948
your only means of subsistence
as a child.
309
00:15:07,198 --> 00:15:10,701
Richard's grandmother ran a brothel,
310
00:15:10,785 --> 00:15:12,412
what Richard would call a whorehouse.
311
00:15:13,788 --> 00:15:16,833
His mother worked at the brothel
312
00:15:16,916 --> 00:15:19,127
like a prostitute.
313
00:15:20,378 --> 00:15:24,257
Richard ended up growing up
in one of these many brothels.
314
00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,262
Pryor's grandmother, Marie Carter,
she was a violent woman
315
00:15:29,345 --> 00:15:32,140
who beat him for any mischief.
316
00:15:32,515 --> 00:15:34,350
It was an environment
317
00:15:34,434 --> 00:15:38,729
defined by mistreatment
of all types.
318
00:15:39,063 --> 00:15:41,357
Selfishly, we wanted more of him.
319
00:15:41,441 --> 00:15:43,609
We begin to understand this
320
00:15:43,693 --> 00:15:47,697
and you want someone
to be so honest with us.
321
00:15:47,780 --> 00:15:51,742
Now that he's not there,
We always miss those who get lost.
322
00:15:51,826 --> 00:15:53,327
My name is Rashon Khan...
323
00:15:53,411 --> 00:15:54,412
BODYGUARD/FRIEND
324
00:15:54,495 --> 00:15:56,789
... and I was called
Richard's bodyguard
325
00:15:57,081 --> 00:16:00,460
but I would like to be mentioned
like one of your friends.
326
00:16:01,127 --> 00:16:03,129
The story of Richard Pryor, for me...
327
00:16:03,212 --> 00:16:06,090
To be told, who would tell
and how it would be told.
328
00:16:06,174 --> 00:16:08,509
Because if you don't reflect
Richard's honesty,
329
00:16:08,593 --> 00:16:09,969
It's a bullshit story.
330
00:16:11,929 --> 00:16:16,517
The fact that he said:
"The mouth that kissed me goodnight
331
00:16:16,601 --> 00:16:18,311
has just performed this act."
332
00:16:18,895 --> 00:16:22,482
Just the fact that I had this thought as a kid
333
00:16:22,773 --> 00:16:25,735
and how many goodnight kisses did you receive?
334
00:16:25,818 --> 00:16:28,070
How many acts have you seen?
335
00:16:28,154 --> 00:16:31,240
See that the only white people
who come to the house
336
00:16:31,324 --> 00:16:33,701
They're guys looking for sex,
337
00:16:33,784 --> 00:16:34,869
being a child,
338
00:16:34,952 --> 00:16:36,454
look and see these people
339
00:16:36,537 --> 00:16:39,248
It had to be traumatic.
340
00:16:39,332 --> 00:16:40,708
You have to understand,
341
00:16:40,791 --> 00:16:42,919
Richard Pryor never had
a normal life.
342
00:16:43,544 --> 00:16:45,671
Of course it will be difficult.
343
00:16:47,715 --> 00:16:51,052
Living in one of the worst
Peoria slums,
344
00:16:51,135 --> 00:16:54,263
young Pryor often saw himself
as a target for gangs.
345
00:16:54,347 --> 00:16:58,100
Your sense of humor
it was his only defense mechanism
346
00:16:58,267 --> 00:17:00,937
and Pryor quickly gained fame
347
00:17:01,020 --> 00:17:02,396
class clown.
348
00:17:03,481 --> 00:17:05,399
His difficult childhood would provide
349
00:17:05,483 --> 00:17:07,818
a wealth of material
which I would later use
350
00:17:07,902 --> 00:17:09,487
in numbers ofstand-up.
351
00:17:10,905 --> 00:17:14,825
There are places after hours.
352
00:17:14,909 --> 00:17:18,246
The police officers who frequented these places,
353
00:17:18,329 --> 00:17:19,914
the bookies
354
00:17:19,997 --> 00:17:23,417
and several other types
355
00:17:23,501 --> 00:17:25,336
and the way they spoke...
356
00:17:25,419 --> 00:17:27,004
It was with these people that he grew up.
357
00:17:27,088 --> 00:17:29,590
Those were the voices
that he heard as a child.
358
00:17:29,674 --> 00:17:31,175
This is the model
359
00:17:31,259 --> 00:17:33,928
for everything he would do next.
360
00:17:34,262 --> 00:17:38,349
With comedy,
I always tell people it's a stew.
361
00:17:38,808 --> 00:17:41,394
That, in the first 18 years of life,
362
00:17:41,477 --> 00:17:42,812
It's on the stove
363
00:17:42,895 --> 00:17:46,232
and all our experiences go there
364
00:17:46,315 --> 00:17:47,525
and it bubbles.
365
00:17:47,608 --> 00:17:50,903
If you cook at the right temperature...
366
00:17:50,987 --> 00:17:52,738
Sometimes it gets too strong,
367
00:17:52,822 --> 00:17:54,407
other times, very mild.
368
00:17:54,490 --> 00:17:58,786
What we obtain at the end of these 18 years,
369
00:17:58,869 --> 00:18:01,497
or the necessary years
to our development,
370
00:18:01,581 --> 00:18:04,083
I think that's what makes us who we are.
371
00:18:08,504 --> 00:18:11,465
As a child, Pryor's escape
of your troubled life
372
00:18:11,549 --> 00:18:13,342
it was the big screen.
373
00:18:13,426 --> 00:18:14,802
Sitting in the black seats...
374
00:18:14,885 --> 00:18:15,720
PEOPLE OF COLOR
375
00:18:16,554 --> 00:18:18,848
... he especially loved westerns,
376
00:18:18,931 --> 00:18:21,559
creating within the young child
377
00:18:21,642 --> 00:18:24,604
a wild ambition
to become a star.
378
00:18:27,356 --> 00:18:29,692
Another unlikely Hollywood icon
379
00:18:29,775 --> 00:18:32,445
fueled Pryor's passion
through representation.
380
00:18:32,528 --> 00:18:34,280
My grandmother, when we moved,
381
00:18:34,363 --> 00:18:36,490
there was a lot of records up there,
382
00:18:36,574 --> 00:18:38,034
Doris Day records.
383
00:18:38,117 --> 00:18:41,037
I would go up there, listen to them
384
00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:45,833
and imagined being in a play
and imagined being in Hollywood.
385
00:18:49,045 --> 00:18:52,632
To Richard,
their circumstances were so terrible
386
00:18:52,715 --> 00:18:54,550
which was a motivation.
387
00:18:54,634 --> 00:18:56,093
Can it get any worse?
388
00:18:56,218 --> 00:18:57,261
How do I get out of here?
389
00:18:57,345 --> 00:18:59,680
Well, if it's someone who is motivated,
390
00:18:59,764 --> 00:19:02,600
this could be an instigator
391
00:19:02,683 --> 00:19:04,685
of change in your life very good
392
00:19:04,769 --> 00:19:06,520
and I think it was for Richard Pryor.
393
00:19:08,481 --> 00:19:10,983
Trying to escape the neighborhood he grew up in,
394
00:19:11,067 --> 00:19:13,986
Pryor enlisted in the army in 1958.
395
00:19:17,114 --> 00:19:20,159
Like Bill Cosby,
Pryor saw the military
396
00:19:20,242 --> 00:19:22,078
as an opportunity for progress.
397
00:19:23,871 --> 00:19:26,832
However,
due to a racial incident,
398
00:19:26,916 --> 00:19:30,544
spent almost the entire two years
his military service
399
00:19:30,628 --> 00:19:32,463
in an army prison, in Europe,
400
00:19:32,546 --> 00:19:35,257
for stabbing a soldier with a razor.
401
00:19:39,637 --> 00:19:41,764
After being discharged from the army,
402
00:19:41,847 --> 00:19:43,808
got his first job in a cabaret,
403
00:19:43,891 --> 00:19:46,936
in a nightclub
African American in Peoria,
404
00:19:47,019 --> 00:19:49,188
where he sang and played the piano.
405
00:19:49,271 --> 00:19:51,023
RESTAURANT BAR MEMBERS ONLY
406
00:19:51,107 --> 00:19:53,984
In some ways, it taught him
407
00:19:54,068 --> 00:19:56,737
a number of different styles
from the world of entertainment.
408
00:19:56,821 --> 00:20:00,032
Richard is from an era when
we could have to do anything.
409
00:20:00,116 --> 00:20:01,951
One night I might need to sing,
410
00:20:02,326 --> 00:20:04,161
another night, telling jokes.
411
00:20:04,245 --> 00:20:06,163
You had to be familiar
with these things.
412
00:20:07,331 --> 00:20:09,667
Realizing that the public prefers
your jokes
413
00:20:09,750 --> 00:20:11,085
listening to him sing,
414
00:20:11,627 --> 00:20:13,421
Pryor began working as a comic
415
00:20:13,504 --> 00:20:16,215
in comedy clubs
only black people in the Midwest.
416
00:20:18,426 --> 00:20:22,722
In 1963, motivated by his ambition
to become a star,
417
00:20:22,805 --> 00:20:25,683
he left the Midwest for New York.
418
00:20:26,976 --> 00:20:30,062
He would perfect your number
in nightclubs in Greenwich,
419
00:20:30,146 --> 00:20:32,356
next to a young George Carlin
420
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:33,899
and Richie Havens.
421
00:20:35,735 --> 00:20:37,945
But growing up as an African-American
422
00:20:38,028 --> 00:20:39,822
in a brothel in Peoria, Illinois,
423
00:20:39,905 --> 00:20:42,074
would become the matrix of a life
424
00:20:42,158 --> 00:20:44,577
� which Richard Pryor would never escape.
425
00:20:45,369 --> 00:20:47,288
If you grow up in a house of girls,
426
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:50,624
there is a high probability
427
00:20:50,708 --> 00:20:53,210
to be marked by this,
428
00:20:53,294 --> 00:20:56,005
as you grow
and that we become adults.
429
00:20:57,131 --> 00:20:59,091
So I guess with Richard Pryor,
430
00:20:59,175 --> 00:21:04,013
he was the alchemist
who managed to transform
431
00:21:04,096 --> 00:21:08,517
all the tragedy in one drink
432
00:21:08,601 --> 00:21:11,604
that everyone wants a sip of.
433
00:21:14,607 --> 00:21:16,901
After leaving the stage in Las Vegas
434
00:21:16,984 --> 00:21:19,278
in September 1967,
435
00:21:19,361 --> 00:21:23,574
Richard Pryor found himself banned
of many nightclubs,
436
00:21:23,657 --> 00:21:27,620
allegedly having offended
the club's owners are linked to the mafia.
437
00:21:27,703 --> 00:21:29,455
No one abandons Dean Martin
438
00:21:29,538 --> 00:21:31,707
neither these bosses nor that entire public.
439
00:21:31,791 --> 00:21:33,167
At that time, it appeared inVariaty
440
00:21:33,250 --> 00:21:35,044
and, in Vegas, they said they didn't want him.
441
00:21:35,127 --> 00:21:38,005
Richard Pryor fired for 'Obscenity'
by LV Aladdin
442
00:21:40,341 --> 00:21:42,468
No money, hitchhiked
443
00:21:42,551 --> 00:21:44,011
to Berkeley, California.
444
00:21:44,094 --> 00:21:46,180
Take this and go away,
445
00:21:46,263 --> 00:21:48,641
knowing it was your way
to earn a living,
446
00:21:48,724 --> 00:21:51,393
and say, "I'm not going to do that"
447
00:21:51,477 --> 00:21:55,147
and find yourself with very little money.
448
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:02,530
Pryor was at the epicenter
American counterculture.
449
00:22:02,613 --> 00:22:03,697
The freedom of expression movement,
450
00:22:03,781 --> 00:22:05,825
the SDS movement in Berkeley
451
00:22:05,908 --> 00:22:08,327
and later
the Black Panther Party.
452
00:22:08,410 --> 00:22:11,497
We had white people protesting
against the war in Vietnam.
453
00:22:11,580 --> 00:22:14,500
And it is the height of racial conflict,
454
00:22:14,583 --> 00:22:17,044
attempts to finish
with racial segregation in the south,
455
00:22:17,127 --> 00:22:19,380
the approval of the Civil Rights Act,
456
00:22:19,463 --> 00:22:21,215
followed by voting
of the Voting Rights Act.
457
00:22:21,465 --> 00:22:23,634
It was a very politically charged era.
458
00:22:23,717 --> 00:22:25,302
In addition,
459
00:22:25,386 --> 00:22:27,930
there was a resurgence of drugs.
460
00:22:30,391 --> 00:22:32,101
Richard was in the middle of it all.
461
00:22:32,351 --> 00:22:34,019
It's impossible to be there
462
00:22:34,103 --> 00:22:37,147
and not be affected by these things.
463
00:22:37,314 --> 00:22:39,149
He knows Huey P. Newton,
464
00:22:39,233 --> 00:22:41,402
leader of the Black Panther Party.
465
00:22:41,485 --> 00:22:43,946
Richard talks about reading
the autobiography of Malcolm X
466
00:22:44,029 --> 00:22:45,948
and how much it influenced him.
467
00:22:46,031 --> 00:22:48,951
One could not separate Richard from the time.
468
00:22:49,243 --> 00:22:51,412
I think what Richard experienced
469
00:22:51,495 --> 00:22:55,583
was, in a way,
a kind of spiritual conversion.
470
00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,087
He realized who it had been,
471
00:23:00,421 --> 00:23:01,547
an imitator,
472
00:23:01,630 --> 00:23:04,633
someone who was very good
imitation of other people.
473
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,176
But by imitating other people,
474
00:23:06,260 --> 00:23:07,970
we are not being ourselves.
475
00:23:09,972 --> 00:23:12,975
In Berkeley, Pryor realized
476
00:23:13,058 --> 00:23:14,643
that I couldn't stay away from
477
00:23:14,727 --> 00:23:18,022
and see social and racial inequality
that surrounded him
478
00:23:18,105 --> 00:23:20,190
continue unopposed.
479
00:23:21,775 --> 00:23:23,652
He needed to be involved.
480
00:23:23,736 --> 00:23:26,989
I needed to make a difference
with your comedy.
481
00:23:28,490 --> 00:23:30,826
Have you noticed
how white people look nice
482
00:23:30,909 --> 00:23:32,620
when there's a group of black people around?
483
00:23:33,704 --> 00:23:35,664
Isn't it? They leave. They talk to everyone.
484
00:23:35,748 --> 00:23:37,958
Isn't it? They say, "Hi, how are you?
485
00:23:38,751 --> 00:23:41,920
I don't know,
but here is my wife. Hello!”
486
00:23:42,713 --> 00:23:44,757
On sabbatical leave at Berkeley,
487
00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,843
Richard Pryor found his voice.
488
00:23:48,052 --> 00:23:49,345
For me, that's the fun part,
489
00:23:49,428 --> 00:23:51,263
when the whites return after the break
490
00:23:51,347 --> 00:23:53,515
and discover that black people
they stole their places.
491
00:23:54,767 --> 00:23:56,185
You black people are taking a lot of risks,
492
00:23:56,268 --> 00:23:58,646
being in Long Beach.
493
00:23:59,313 --> 00:24:01,565
I saw that the police arrested a brother
494
00:24:01,649 --> 00:24:03,984
when he came here.
The black man had his hands in the air
495
00:24:04,068 --> 00:24:05,694
and said, "What?"
496
00:24:06,070 --> 00:24:07,780
They were searching him and shit like that.
497
00:24:08,405 --> 00:24:10,491
I bet they took him to jail.
498
00:24:12,368 --> 00:24:13,661
When he came to Berkeley,
499
00:24:13,744 --> 00:24:16,163
said he wanted to do it
something totally different,
500
00:24:16,246 --> 00:24:19,708
Otherwise I would stop doing comedy.
501
00:24:19,792 --> 00:24:21,835
There were times
where I had to throw the number away
502
00:24:21,919 --> 00:24:23,545
and say, "I'll do it,
503
00:24:23,629 --> 00:24:25,673
my stuff like...
This is my life.
504
00:24:25,756 --> 00:24:27,174
That's what I like.
505
00:24:27,257 --> 00:24:29,301
That's what it was
before show business.
506
00:24:29,385 --> 00:24:30,636
And what he did in Berkeley
507
00:24:30,719 --> 00:24:31,887
it was totally different.
508
00:24:31,970 --> 00:24:35,683
It involved all those taboo subjects,
509
00:24:35,766 --> 00:24:39,603
such as race, sex, poverty
510
00:24:39,687 --> 00:24:42,189
everything I couldn't talk about
on television.
511
00:24:42,272 --> 00:24:44,316
I remember thinking this was good.
512
00:24:44,858 --> 00:24:48,278
Because I think comics
They are mainly anarchists.
513
00:24:48,362 --> 00:24:51,990
I'm all for anarchy since
that can maintain room service.
514
00:24:53,659 --> 00:24:56,954
Pryor left Berkeley
with a rejuvenated career.
515
00:24:57,037 --> 00:24:58,622
I think his career is over
516
00:24:58,706 --> 00:25:00,624
when he left the Aladdin stage.
517
00:25:01,291 --> 00:25:04,461
But he wanted this career to end.
518
00:25:04,795 --> 00:25:07,005
I think a new Richard Pryor has been born.
519
00:25:07,089 --> 00:25:09,425
And that all those people
520
00:25:09,508 --> 00:25:11,552
who were angry
because he left...
521
00:25:11,635 --> 00:25:13,721
... I thought they would never see him again.
522
00:25:13,804 --> 00:25:17,850
Until they were forced
to go see him again,
523
00:25:17,933 --> 00:25:21,979
because his popularity
had overcome prejudice,
524
00:25:22,062 --> 00:25:25,190
their ignorance and stupidity.
525
00:25:25,274 --> 00:25:29,695
Because Richard Pryor became
a man that day,
526
00:25:29,778 --> 00:25:34,658
a comic of comics,
a comedic genius.
527
00:25:34,742 --> 00:25:37,995
He hit bottom, without any money,
528
00:25:38,078 --> 00:25:40,622
had white girlfriends in Berkeley,
529
00:25:40,706 --> 00:25:42,499
hung out with the Black Panthers
530
00:25:42,583 --> 00:25:45,627
and then Richard Pryor came back.
531
00:25:45,836 --> 00:25:47,796
Once Richard discovered his voice,
532
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,423
the genie was out of the bottle
533
00:25:49,506 --> 00:25:51,884
and I wasn't going to go in again.
534
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:53,886
The new Richard Pryor
535
00:25:53,969 --> 00:25:57,181
I was going to fight against thestatus quo.
536
00:25:57,264 --> 00:25:59,516
Two grab the legs,
one grabs the head,
537
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,144
they snap... Shit, it broke.
538
00:26:03,604 --> 00:26:05,189
Can you break a nigga? Is it allowed?
539
00:26:05,272 --> 00:26:06,857
Let's see in the manual. Yes, page eight.
540
00:26:06,940 --> 00:26:08,942
"A nigga can break", here it is.
541
00:26:10,194 --> 00:26:14,364
And your weapon of choice
it was his vocabulary.
542
00:26:14,448 --> 00:26:17,117
The aim was to use language as a weapon,
543
00:26:17,201 --> 00:26:19,828
use language to get attention
544
00:26:19,912 --> 00:26:23,123
to these larger social problems
545
00:26:23,207 --> 00:26:24,958
and, as often happens,
546
00:26:25,042 --> 00:26:27,753
Many truths are told jokingly.
547
00:26:27,836 --> 00:26:29,797
The word"black" is not a person,
548
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:31,215
It's a personality.
549
00:26:33,300 --> 00:26:36,303
That's what he was referring to.
Richard Pryor said:
550
00:26:36,386 --> 00:26:38,514
"The word 'black' describes
our own misfortune."
551
00:26:43,393 --> 00:26:45,813
I think he was saying things
552
00:26:45,896 --> 00:26:48,023
how you heard them in your head
553
00:26:48,232 --> 00:26:50,567
and I think it was authentic for him,
554
00:26:50,651 --> 00:26:52,319
but I don't think it was vulgar.
555
00:26:52,402 --> 00:26:53,821
I don't think I would try to be that.
556
00:26:53,904 --> 00:26:55,906
I don't think I would try to shock anyone.
557
00:26:55,989 --> 00:26:58,408
I think he should always talk like that.
558
00:26:59,743 --> 00:27:03,413
Planned swearing is not comedy.
559
00:27:03,497 --> 00:27:06,834
There is a spontaneity
560
00:27:06,917 --> 00:27:08,836
where it fits.
561
00:27:08,919 --> 00:27:10,754
It's just like that.
562
00:27:10,838 --> 00:27:12,714
And it's not planned.
563
00:27:13,257 --> 00:27:14,508
But when Richard did it,
564
00:27:14,591 --> 00:27:15,801
there was substance there.
565
00:27:15,884 --> 00:27:17,052
There was a meaning
566
00:27:17,135 --> 00:27:18,470
and a reason to use them.
567
00:27:19,304 --> 00:27:22,766
There is a frustration filter
in housing complexes.
568
00:27:22,850 --> 00:27:26,395
Poverty, frustration,
It's a powder keg. That's where it comes from.
569
00:27:26,645 --> 00:27:28,522
People use these words
570
00:27:28,605 --> 00:27:31,650
when there is frustration, poverty and all that.
571
00:27:31,733 --> 00:27:34,486
I come from. Richard was coming from.
572
00:27:35,737 --> 00:27:38,490
Black funerals
are no different from those of white people.
573
00:27:38,574 --> 00:27:40,659
Black people let it all hang out at the funeral.
574
00:27:40,742 --> 00:27:42,119
They don't want to know. They do...
575
00:27:49,251 --> 00:27:52,462
Take me, God, take me.
576
00:27:52,546 --> 00:27:54,965
And then they fall on their asses.
577
00:27:55,048 --> 00:27:56,967
It's like, "Damn, honey.
578
00:27:57,050 --> 00:27:58,385
Get your big ass up.”
579
00:28:00,596 --> 00:28:02,806
Pryor's new number
it was a potent mix
580
00:28:02,890 --> 00:28:04,224
of colorful epithets,
581
00:28:04,308 --> 00:28:07,519
personality studies of street types
terribly accurate
582
00:28:07,603 --> 00:28:11,732
and hilarious hostility towards
the inequalities between whites and blacks.
583
00:28:12,649 --> 00:28:14,818
When you were in his world,
it was a circus
584
00:28:14,902 --> 00:28:16,445
and he talked about it.
585
00:28:16,528 --> 00:28:19,281
The good, the bad and the ugly.
586
00:28:21,617 --> 00:28:23,368
But actually, what are you doing
587
00:28:23,452 --> 00:28:26,413
it's the same thing
than the guys on the street corners,
588
00:28:26,705 --> 00:28:28,415
the guys in the pool halls
589
00:28:28,498 --> 00:28:30,417
and the guys on the bandstand.
590
00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:32,252
That's all he's doing.
591
00:28:32,336 --> 00:28:33,962
He is the spokesperson,
592
00:28:34,046 --> 00:28:38,926
but now, this way of speaking
593
00:28:39,218 --> 00:28:42,387
can be expressed in public,
594
00:28:42,471 --> 00:28:45,140
while before it was private.
595
00:28:48,060 --> 00:28:50,187
Pryor had put his finger on the wound
596
00:28:50,270 --> 00:28:53,148
in the American part
who still lived in denial
597
00:28:53,232 --> 00:28:54,775
about your prejudices.
598
00:28:55,484 --> 00:28:57,319
People are upset
599
00:28:57,402 --> 00:28:59,571
because these private conversations
600
00:28:59,655 --> 00:29:02,532
that black people had among themselves,
601
00:29:02,616 --> 00:29:05,452
were now being broadcast
through the public.
602
00:29:05,535 --> 00:29:07,537
Richard was like the megaphone.
603
00:29:08,205 --> 00:29:11,041
That could leave
uncomfortable people,
604
00:29:11,124 --> 00:29:13,585
but Richard was like that and he said:
605
00:29:13,669 --> 00:29:15,921
"Well, this is where I'm from, damn it.
606
00:29:16,004 --> 00:29:18,340
That's what I went through.
This is my life.
607
00:29:18,423 --> 00:29:19,800
I will contain it."
608
00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:23,011
And the public devoured it.
609
00:29:23,095 --> 00:29:24,513
We could disagree,
610
00:29:24,596 --> 00:29:25,973
but we couldn't ignore it.
611
00:29:26,056 --> 00:29:29,685
He made it so that we had
to deal with these ideas
612
00:29:29,768 --> 00:29:33,313
that otherwise people
they would rather sweep it under the rug.
613
00:29:33,397 --> 00:29:35,440
He said it so to our faces, he was so frank,
614
00:29:35,524 --> 00:29:38,193
so direct,
but that's part of politics,
615
00:29:38,402 --> 00:29:41,071
force people to deal with it,
in one way or another.
616
00:29:41,488 --> 00:29:44,283
To the great surprise of the record companies,
617
00:29:44,366 --> 00:29:46,493
Pryor's career soared.
618
00:29:46,576 --> 00:29:48,704
African-American audiences loved him,
619
00:29:48,787 --> 00:29:52,499
but the white public
I also bought his albums.
620
00:29:52,582 --> 00:29:54,543
Say the album title.
I can't say.
621
00:29:54,626 --> 00:29:55,919
The album title is...
622
00:29:56,003 --> 00:29:57,754
- My daddy...
- That black guy is crazy.
623
00:29:58,964 --> 00:30:00,924
Doesn't the black guy look crazy?
624
00:30:02,467 --> 00:30:03,969
He's a completely crazy black guy.
625
00:30:04,052 --> 00:30:07,306
Well, it doesn't stay...
See, you can say that and...
626
00:30:07,389 --> 00:30:08,390
Yes, see.
627
00:30:08,473 --> 00:30:09,891
If I said that, wouldn't you be angry?
628
00:30:09,975 --> 00:30:11,059
He punched him.
629
00:30:13,270 --> 00:30:15,647
Before Richard Pryor, norapper
630
00:30:15,731 --> 00:30:19,276
no one could use it
publicly the language
631
00:30:19,359 --> 00:30:24,656
that Jay-Z and others used
to become millionaires.
632
00:30:25,073 --> 00:30:28,368
Before Richard Pryor,
no one could even start
633
00:30:28,452 --> 00:30:31,788
using language
the way rappersdo it.
634
00:30:31,872 --> 00:30:35,334
Richard was the pioneer at this level.
635
00:30:37,544 --> 00:30:38,712
Ready to fire
636
00:30:38,795 --> 00:30:42,382
with the most controversial and profane number
improvised comedy
637
00:30:42,466 --> 00:30:45,802
Richard Pryor goes full throttle
towards stardom.
638
00:30:45,886 --> 00:30:48,180
Brought black and white audiences
639
00:30:48,263 --> 00:30:53,101
to the same arena,
sitting next to each other,
640
00:30:53,185 --> 00:30:55,854
while he did imitations of white people,
641
00:30:55,937 --> 00:30:57,397
and few people
642
00:30:57,481 --> 00:31:00,359
had made imitations of white people,
at height.
643
00:31:00,442 --> 00:31:04,613
It was a very funny thing.
644
00:31:04,780 --> 00:31:07,157
Yes, come on, cockhead.
645
00:31:08,241 --> 00:31:11,203
Son of a bitch, come on.
646
00:31:16,583 --> 00:31:18,502
Pryor makes several tours
647
00:31:18,585 --> 00:31:21,630
and releases several albums
Grammy winners
648
00:31:21,755 --> 00:31:23,048
that reach platinum.
649
00:31:24,549 --> 00:31:25,926
He simply changed the world.
650
00:31:26,593 --> 00:31:28,553
If I didn't have a Richard Pryor album,
651
00:31:28,637 --> 00:31:30,972
I shouldn't be in comedy.
652
00:31:31,056 --> 00:31:33,892
You should listen to these albums today
653
00:31:33,975 --> 00:31:36,144
and they'll make you laugh.
654
00:31:36,228 --> 00:31:37,479
His albums are
655
00:31:37,562 --> 00:31:39,981
the most popular thing in the world.
656
00:31:40,065 --> 00:31:42,776
He becomes a figure
657
00:31:42,859 --> 00:31:46,446
which is transversal to culture.
658
00:31:46,530 --> 00:31:49,699
The public can't seem to get enough of him.
659
00:31:50,617 --> 00:31:52,244
It's just a matter of time
660
00:31:52,327 --> 00:31:54,454
until Hollywood shows up
661
00:31:54,538 --> 00:31:57,874
to want to make a profit
with Pryor's popularity.
662
00:31:57,958 --> 00:32:01,837
Richard Pryor's transition
fromstand-upto cinema
663
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,589
It's a natural progression in Hollywood.
664
00:32:04,673 --> 00:32:05,674
The joke makes money.
665
00:32:08,969 --> 00:32:10,345
What could be considered
666
00:32:10,429 --> 00:32:12,389
the biggest opportunity of your career,
667
00:32:12,806 --> 00:32:14,891
chosen to play opposite
with Diana Ross
668
00:32:14,975 --> 00:32:18,478
and Billy Dee Williams inA Woman's Destiny.
669
00:32:19,479 --> 00:32:22,315
Richard stole the show
just with that little bit
670
00:32:22,399 --> 00:32:24,484
and got all the recognition.
671
00:32:24,568 --> 00:32:26,153
It didn't go well for Billy
672
00:32:26,236 --> 00:32:28,697
and no one talked about him in the film,
673
00:32:28,780 --> 00:32:30,323
although he played a great role.
674
00:32:30,407 --> 00:32:32,284
They only talked about who was the new guy,
675
00:32:32,367 --> 00:32:33,577
Richard Pryor.
676
00:32:33,660 --> 00:32:35,370
And from then on, Richard...
677
00:32:35,454 --> 00:32:37,205
... the push for cinema began.
678
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,543
For your work in Destino de Mulher,
679
00:32:41,626 --> 00:32:43,670
Pryor would receive critical acclaim.
680
00:32:43,753 --> 00:32:47,799
The transition fromstand-up to cinema
681
00:32:47,883 --> 00:32:51,094
It wasn't difficult for him,
because he was natural
682
00:32:51,178 --> 00:32:54,014
and a depth
that the actors try to find.
683
00:32:54,222 --> 00:32:56,433
Not everyone can do it
this transition
684
00:32:56,516 --> 00:32:58,894
to the big screen,
but Richard Pryor did it.
685
00:32:58,977 --> 00:33:01,438
He realized that, on the big screen,
686
00:33:01,521 --> 00:33:02,731
we have to do it big.
687
00:33:02,898 --> 00:33:04,900
He understood camera angles.
688
00:33:04,983 --> 00:33:08,278
He understood how to be funny.
He was being himself.
689
00:33:08,361 --> 00:33:10,030
He let the camera find him.
690
00:33:14,242 --> 00:33:15,994
Quickly has a flourishing career
691
00:33:16,077 --> 00:33:17,996
as a secondary actor in films,
692
00:33:18,079 --> 00:33:20,415
including Uptown Saturday Night,
693
00:33:20,499 --> 00:33:23,376
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars
and Motor Kings,
694
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,464
and the 1976 release,
The Chicago Express.
695
00:33:27,631 --> 00:33:29,925
Richard Pryor was a great actor
because it didn't represent.
696
00:33:30,634 --> 00:33:33,386
That's when we know we have a great actor.
697
00:33:33,470 --> 00:33:35,013
The best thing about Richard Pryor
698
00:33:35,096 --> 00:33:38,141
That, like the great comedian he was,
699
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:39,935
his films were different,
700
00:33:40,018 --> 00:33:42,312
he was a totally different person
701
00:33:42,395 --> 00:33:43,688
at the cinema.
702
00:33:43,772 --> 00:33:46,316
He had no idea how good an actor he was.
703
00:33:46,399 --> 00:33:52,322
Each film was its own marvel.
704
00:33:54,908 --> 00:34:00,622
Richard expanded
the vocabulary of black guys
705
00:34:00,705 --> 00:34:02,832
as far as Hollywood is concerned.
706
00:34:02,916 --> 00:34:04,334
In Crazy at the Wheel,
707
00:34:04,417 --> 00:34:06,419
he portrays Wendell Scott,
708
00:34:06,503 --> 00:34:09,756
the first African-American
car corridor.
709
00:34:12,467 --> 00:34:15,345
Afterwards, he interpreted
ambitiously three roles
710
00:34:15,428 --> 00:34:17,055
inWhich Way Is Up?
711
00:34:17,472 --> 00:34:21,059
When I was developing
the film with Richard,
712
00:34:22,185 --> 00:34:26,690
I realized that he could interpret
not only the main character,
713
00:34:26,982 --> 00:34:31,653
but also the other two characters,
714
00:34:31,736 --> 00:34:36,116
his father is a smuggling preacher.
715
00:34:36,533 --> 00:34:38,034
Without a doubt the first black film
716
00:34:38,118 --> 00:34:42,038
which had several characters
played by a single actor.
717
00:34:43,164 --> 00:34:48,878
And Richard just loved it
the experience
718
00:34:49,379 --> 00:34:51,339
and it was full of laughter.
719
00:34:51,423 --> 00:34:54,634
My most difficult role
it was trying to stop the team from laughing.
720
00:34:55,427 --> 00:34:59,723
This was so successful
than other directors,
721
00:34:59,806 --> 00:35:02,475
as comedian Eddie Murphy
and so on,
722
00:35:02,559 --> 00:35:04,311
they started doing the same thing.
723
00:35:04,394 --> 00:35:05,854
But this was one of the things
724
00:35:05,937 --> 00:35:08,815
which Richard contributed
to the cinema.
725
00:35:11,943 --> 00:35:17,365
He is the biggest attraction in popular culture,
without exaggeration.
726
00:35:17,616 --> 00:35:22,329
Black, white, music, cinema,
Whatever it is, Richard Pryor is the man.
727
00:35:22,495 --> 00:35:24,956
Pryor also contributes
with your writing talents
728
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:26,374
for other comedians.
729
00:35:26,666 --> 00:35:29,002
Writes plays for The Flip Wilson Show
730
00:35:29,085 --> 00:35:30,629
andSanford And Son.
731
00:35:31,671 --> 00:35:35,216
In 1973, he won an Emmy for his screenplay
732
00:35:35,300 --> 00:35:37,677
from the television specialLily,
733
00:35:37,761 --> 00:35:39,179
with Lily Tomlin as the protagonist.
734
00:35:39,929 --> 00:35:42,265
However,
Pryor's work on television
735
00:35:42,349 --> 00:35:44,225
will prove problematic.
736
00:35:49,397 --> 00:35:51,441
They invited him to be a guest presenter
737
00:35:51,524 --> 00:35:54,277
in the first season
from Saturday Night Live.
738
00:35:54,361 --> 00:35:58,615
Lorne Michaels really wants
let Richard be the presenter
739
00:35:58,698 --> 00:36:00,909
of the inaugural program,
740
00:36:00,992 --> 00:36:04,579
what does it tell us
how important Richard Pryor was
741
00:36:04,663 --> 00:36:07,374
at that time, in 1975.
742
00:36:09,793 --> 00:36:11,127
NBC gets nervous.
743
00:36:12,128 --> 00:36:14,172
Station managers and branches
744
00:36:14,255 --> 00:36:17,926
they think Richard is too dangerous
to be on live television.
745
00:36:18,593 --> 00:36:19,719
He had a track record.
746
00:36:19,803 --> 00:36:22,472
Unable to secure the role
in Trouble in the West,
747
00:36:22,555 --> 00:36:24,391
who wrote with Mel Brooks,
748
00:36:24,474 --> 00:36:26,267
but they end up choosing Cleavon Little,
749
00:36:26,351 --> 00:36:28,895
because Richard is famous
750
00:36:28,978 --> 00:36:31,731
from beating up people to drug use.
751
00:36:32,691 --> 00:36:34,734
It was live
and when he went live,
752
00:36:34,818 --> 00:36:36,319
when you leave, the lights come on,
753
00:36:36,403 --> 00:36:38,488
the public... May have a script,
754
00:36:38,571 --> 00:36:40,365
being able to have your cards there
755
00:36:40,448 --> 00:36:41,991
but if the public laughs at something,
756
00:36:42,075 --> 00:36:43,785
can go in a different direction.
757
00:36:44,411 --> 00:36:46,996
NBC managers
they are not willing to take the risk.
758
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:48,873
They couldn't put it in the first program,
759
00:36:48,957 --> 00:36:50,583
the station was worried,
760
00:36:50,667 --> 00:36:52,794
therefore, they end up creating a delay.
761
00:36:54,963 --> 00:36:56,089
Richard spoke
762
00:36:56,172 --> 00:36:57,716
and the transmission would be delayed
763
00:36:57,799 --> 00:36:59,968
so the station can censor
764
00:37:00,051 --> 00:37:03,012
something
that could be considered offensive.
765
00:37:03,096 --> 00:37:05,932
They created the five second delay,
766
00:37:06,015 --> 00:37:08,017
which I participated
for seven seasons,
767
00:37:08,101 --> 00:37:09,227
because of Richard Pryor.
768
00:37:10,478 --> 00:37:12,772
Today, thanks to Richard Pryor,
769
00:37:12,856 --> 00:37:15,942
almost all live events
on television
770
00:37:16,025 --> 00:37:18,903
have a delay of five to seven seconds.
771
00:37:19,738 --> 00:37:20,989
In my opinion,
772
00:37:21,072 --> 00:37:23,742
It's one of the greatest compliments
773
00:37:23,825 --> 00:37:25,744
that you can imagine.
774
00:37:25,827 --> 00:37:27,787
Being so important
775
00:37:27,871 --> 00:37:30,582
that Lorne Michaels has to have you
on his program,
776
00:37:30,665 --> 00:37:33,668
in such a way that the station will create
777
00:37:33,752 --> 00:37:38,006
a special protocol just to fit you in.
778
00:37:38,089 --> 00:37:40,675
This tells us,
maybe better than anything else,
779
00:37:40,759 --> 00:37:43,720
how important Richard Pryor was
in 1975.
780
00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:50,268
Even with mixed reviews on television,
781
00:37:50,351 --> 00:37:54,022
it cannot be denied that Richard Pryor
He's a comic superstar
782
00:37:54,105 --> 00:37:56,065
at the height of its popularity.
783
00:37:59,194 --> 00:38:02,614
But despite its success,
Pryor's personal life
784
00:38:02,697 --> 00:38:05,200
is spiraling out of control.
785
00:38:05,408 --> 00:38:09,078
And being a comedian,
You don't trust many people.
786
00:38:09,162 --> 00:38:10,955
Not many people are allowed in
in our life.
787
00:38:11,039 --> 00:38:13,249
Our life is very different
of others.
788
00:38:13,333 --> 00:38:14,626
We are not, we are back, we have lives,
789
00:38:14,709 --> 00:38:16,503
we have children
790
00:38:16,586 --> 00:38:18,421
and we get involved with someone and they will say:
791
00:38:18,505 --> 00:38:20,673
"Why are you always outside?
Why do you drink so much?
792
00:38:20,757 --> 00:38:23,384
Why are you always silent?
Why don't we talk?"
793
00:38:26,679 --> 00:38:28,723
There are problems at home.
794
00:38:28,807 --> 00:38:30,892
Pryor was married seven times.
795
00:38:31,226 --> 00:38:32,977
She loved women,
796
00:38:33,061 --> 00:38:35,772
but with his explosive temper
and its trend
797
00:38:35,855 --> 00:38:38,566
isolating yourself for days on end
798
00:38:38,650 --> 00:38:40,902
their relationships didn't last.
799
00:38:40,985 --> 00:38:43,738
I dare anyone to tell you, honestly,
800
00:38:43,822 --> 00:38:45,490
leaving the stage
801
00:38:45,573 --> 00:38:47,742
and who have a better life
outside of it than in it.
802
00:38:47,826 --> 00:38:49,577
It is impossible for anyone
803
00:38:49,661 --> 00:38:51,746
what do you dostand-up for a living tell you
804
00:38:51,830 --> 00:38:55,416
that your life is better
off stage than on stage.
805
00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:57,585
Your things and your home
could be better
806
00:38:57,669 --> 00:39:01,464
your car could be better,
but we suffer.
807
00:39:01,548 --> 00:39:04,551
I need someone
to reach an understanding.
808
00:39:04,634 --> 00:39:07,512
I support you to continue doing
809
00:39:08,429 --> 00:39:10,056
exactly what attracted me to you.
810
00:39:10,139 --> 00:39:12,642
As opposed to stop doing
811
00:39:12,725 --> 00:39:13,935
what attracted me to you.
812
00:39:14,018 --> 00:39:16,855
That's when the conflict began
with many of the women.
813
00:39:18,398 --> 00:39:19,732
Pryor is a heavy smoker
814
00:39:19,816 --> 00:39:21,359
and drinks a lot,
815
00:39:21,442 --> 00:39:24,654
which leads to a heart attack in 1977.
816
00:39:26,531 --> 00:39:30,243
But Richard Pryor's real demon
would turn out to be drugs.
817
00:39:30,535 --> 00:39:32,662
Richard was part of the drug culture.
818
00:39:33,037 --> 00:39:34,581
In his time, it was cocaine.
819
00:39:36,958 --> 00:39:41,796
Pryor consumes cocaine
since the early 1960s.
820
00:39:42,297 --> 00:39:44,257
Richard was a drug addict. He was an addict.
821
00:39:44,549 --> 00:39:47,594
In terms of indulgence,
Richard was the kind of person
822
00:39:47,677 --> 00:39:51,931
who always went into deep waters
823
00:39:52,348 --> 00:39:57,061
and that's always the dangerous place.
824
00:39:57,270 --> 00:40:00,690
A hundred dollar a day addiction
cost now
825
00:40:00,773 --> 00:40:03,484
hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
826
00:40:03,568 --> 00:40:07,655
Sometimes, there were even drug dealers,
827
00:40:07,739 --> 00:40:10,783
and Richie even said that in his comedy,
828
00:40:10,867 --> 00:40:12,911
but I know, because it was there,
829
00:40:12,994 --> 00:40:14,871
who refused to sell to him.
830
00:40:14,954 --> 00:40:17,123
And they had all kinds of drugs,
831
00:40:17,498 --> 00:40:19,459
but they refused to sell to him,
832
00:40:19,542 --> 00:40:23,755
because he wasn't going to buy
one or two grams,
833
00:40:23,838 --> 00:40:25,882
he bought the entire supply.
834
00:40:25,965 --> 00:40:29,844
In 1980, Pryor was purifying cocaine
835
00:40:29,928 --> 00:40:34,349
using volatile ether to help
lighting up the drug to smoke.
836
00:40:34,724 --> 00:40:38,227
It would prove to be an almost fatal combination.
837
00:40:40,063 --> 00:40:42,357
Richard Pryor,
the comedian and screenwriter,
838
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,442
was seriously burned in an accident
839
00:40:44,525 --> 00:40:46,694
at his home in California,
last night.
840
00:40:46,778 --> 00:40:49,781
The burns cover
the upper part of his body.
841
00:40:49,864 --> 00:40:52,492
They are serious enough
to put your life at risk.
842
00:40:54,118 --> 00:40:57,372
According to reports,
Richard Pryor should have died
843
00:40:57,455 --> 00:40:59,374
June 9, 1980.
844
00:40:59,457 --> 00:41:01,125
I was there when Richard burned,
845
00:41:01,501 --> 00:41:03,461
but I didn't know it was Richard.
846
00:41:03,753 --> 00:41:07,173
When he ran past me
and left the house,
847
00:41:07,256 --> 00:41:09,175
That's when I realized it was Richard.
848
00:41:12,595 --> 00:41:14,180
The Los Angeles Police Report
849
00:41:14,263 --> 00:41:17,475
declares that Pryor burned himself
when I was going to smoke cocaine.
850
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:21,604
Honestly, I was scared
851
00:41:21,688 --> 00:41:23,398
when I smoked drugs with Richard,
852
00:41:23,481 --> 00:41:25,650
because the flame was so big
853
00:41:25,733 --> 00:41:28,444
that it was inevitable that, one day,
854
00:41:28,528 --> 00:41:30,655
with the flame and that...
855
00:41:30,738 --> 00:41:33,574
... could cum
the wrong way, right?
856
00:41:33,658 --> 00:41:36,411
And other people had
similar accidents,
857
00:41:36,494 --> 00:41:40,581
but when he did so, it ended in a fire.
858
00:41:40,957 --> 00:41:42,542
There were also rumors
859
00:41:42,625 --> 00:41:44,794
that Pryor had tried to commit suicide.
860
00:41:44,877 --> 00:41:49,549
Richard's burns
were not an attempt to kill himself,
861
00:41:49,632 --> 00:41:51,217
except in a symbolic form.
862
00:41:51,300 --> 00:41:52,719
In a symbolic form,
863
00:41:52,802 --> 00:41:56,139
artists are always quite
dissatisfied with their work.
864
00:41:56,222 --> 00:41:59,058
I remember when I met Richard,
in Berkeley,
865
00:41:59,142 --> 00:42:00,893
your work was perfect,
but he said:
866
00:42:00,977 --> 00:42:03,271
"I want something different."
867
00:42:03,354 --> 00:42:05,356
Everything was resolved that night,
868
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:07,608
on June 9, 1980.
869
00:42:07,692 --> 00:42:09,360
The slate was clean.
870
00:42:09,694 --> 00:42:12,780
The probability of Pryor surviving
it was one in three,
871
00:42:13,406 --> 00:42:16,576
but after six weeks
a cycle of torturous treatment,
872
00:42:16,868 --> 00:42:19,245
he was released from the hospital.
873
00:42:23,124 --> 00:42:25,168
Of everyone who smokes cocaine,
874
00:42:25,251 --> 00:42:28,171
ever heard of
of someone who was blown up?
875
00:42:29,464 --> 00:42:30,590
Why me?
876
00:42:33,217 --> 00:42:37,221
In 1982, Richard Pryor returns to the stage
877
00:42:37,305 --> 00:42:41,100
one of the biggest returns
from the history of entertainment.
878
00:42:41,184 --> 00:42:44,896
It was live at Sunset.
He threw that down.
879
00:42:44,979 --> 00:42:48,775
We saw an incredible and miraculous thing
happen right in front of us,
880
00:42:48,858 --> 00:42:53,571
starting from nothing to something
and for a big thing.
881
00:42:55,031 --> 00:42:57,742
He continued taking the stage.
Never gave up.
882
00:42:57,825 --> 00:42:59,077
Never disappeared.
883
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:02,288
In my opinion,
the best stand-up comedy
884
00:43:02,371 --> 00:43:03,623
that has already been registered.
885
00:43:03,706 --> 00:43:08,294
But I saw history being made.
886
00:43:08,711 --> 00:43:15,384
I saw a guy building
a beautiful Maserati on stage
887
00:43:15,635 --> 00:43:17,970
and lead him out of there.
888
00:43:19,639 --> 00:43:21,099
Filmed two years
889
00:43:21,182 --> 00:43:23,643
after his near-fatal accident,
890
00:43:24,018 --> 00:43:25,812
live on the Sunset Strip,
891
00:43:25,895 --> 00:43:28,064
an unrestricted Pryor appeared
892
00:43:28,147 --> 00:43:30,983
talking about his almost fatal drug addiction.
893
00:43:31,067 --> 00:43:34,904
It was so long ago that drug dealers
They even tried not to sell me anything.
894
00:43:34,987 --> 00:43:36,864
That's what it is, when drug dealers say:
895
00:43:36,948 --> 00:43:38,533
"I'm not giving you any more of this shit."
896
00:43:38,741 --> 00:43:40,910
When it burned,
there was someone to whom I owed
897
00:43:40,993 --> 00:43:43,913
around 300 or 400 thousand dollars.
898
00:43:43,996 --> 00:43:46,999
Two or three days
after leaving the hospital,
899
00:43:47,083 --> 00:43:48,835
He said: "Take this to so-and-so."
900
00:43:48,918 --> 00:43:50,294
"Give them their money."
901
00:43:50,378 --> 00:43:52,130
And I said, "Pryor, don't do that.
902
00:43:52,213 --> 00:43:53,840
They don't care now."
903
00:43:53,923 --> 00:43:56,175
And he insisted on paying them.
904
00:43:56,259 --> 00:43:58,928
I don't think he celebrated the drug
in that thing,
905
00:43:59,011 --> 00:44:03,766
but I think he said:
"I became a slave to drugs."
906
00:44:03,850 --> 00:44:05,893
It was there burning
907
00:44:05,977 --> 00:44:09,480
and something said, "What a beautiful blue.
908
00:44:11,524 --> 00:44:15,194
You know what else? It feels like… fire!”
909
00:44:18,489 --> 00:44:19,866
Live On The Sunset Strip
910
00:44:19,949 --> 00:44:22,994
not only revealed Pryor
at your most vulnerable moment,
911
00:44:23,077 --> 00:44:25,163
how it proved to be a turning point
912
00:44:25,246 --> 00:44:28,666
to a known man
for its provocative vocabulary.
913
00:44:28,749 --> 00:44:32,211
Pryor would report
a transformative trip to Africa
914
00:44:32,295 --> 00:44:34,005
which would forever change the form
915
00:44:34,088 --> 00:44:36,674
as he referred to it
to other African Americans.
916
00:44:37,175 --> 00:44:40,011
And a voice said, "Do you see any black people?"
917
00:44:41,554 --> 00:44:42,847
And I said, "No."
918
00:44:44,932 --> 00:44:47,393
They say:
"Do you know why? Because they don't exist."
919
00:44:47,602 --> 00:44:49,145
It was there that Richard,
920
00:44:50,438 --> 00:44:52,356
just like Malcolm X,
921
00:44:52,815 --> 00:44:54,650
started to see the difference.
922
00:44:54,859 --> 00:44:57,778
And it made me think, "Oh my God, I was wrong.
923
00:44:57,862 --> 00:45:00,907
It was wrong.
I have to rethink my shit.”
924
00:45:00,990 --> 00:45:02,909
I said, "I'll never call again
925
00:45:02,992 --> 00:45:04,452
'black' to another black person."
926
00:45:05,453 --> 00:45:08,831
It was like when Malcolm came back
from abroad
927
00:45:09,373 --> 00:45:11,292
and said he had prayed alongside white people
928
00:45:11,375 --> 00:45:12,835
and he didn't know it was like that,
929
00:45:12,919 --> 00:45:14,670
because he had been told something.
930
00:45:15,004 --> 00:45:17,214
That word is dead.
We are men and women.
931
00:45:17,298 --> 00:45:20,676
We are descendants
of the first people on Earth.
932
00:45:22,053 --> 00:45:24,472
Pryor's decision to quit
to use the word
933
00:45:24,555 --> 00:45:28,351
in your stand-up comedyit would become
yet another controversy
934
00:45:28,643 --> 00:45:30,811
in his always controversial life.
935
00:45:30,895 --> 00:45:32,647
When he shared this,
936
00:45:32,730 --> 00:45:35,524
many in Hollywood
937
00:45:36,025 --> 00:45:37,360
they didn't like it.
938
00:45:38,778 --> 00:45:41,739
He was trying to get past black
939
00:45:41,822 --> 00:45:44,742
which had been in the 1970s
940
00:45:45,034 --> 00:45:50,039
for a black movie star
conventional in the 1980s.
941
00:45:50,122 --> 00:45:53,125
I think Richard wants to be conventional
942
00:45:53,209 --> 00:45:54,835
and if you don't want to be conventional,
943
00:45:54,919 --> 00:45:56,963
without a doubt he wants conventional money.
944
00:45:57,046 --> 00:45:59,048
I don't think Richard has changed much
945
00:45:59,131 --> 00:46:01,384
after returning from Africa.
946
00:46:01,467 --> 00:46:04,220
It was for public use,
947
00:46:04,303 --> 00:46:06,430
not necessarily from Richard.
948
00:46:07,181 --> 00:46:08,808
I always said,
949
00:46:08,891 --> 00:46:11,811
as soon as Richard Pryor stops
to use the word "black",
950
00:46:11,894 --> 00:46:14,689
It will be the moment when it stops being funny,
951
00:46:14,772 --> 00:46:20,236
because you can't
stop doing something like that
952
00:46:20,319 --> 00:46:24,407
when our entire identity
based on this
953
00:46:24,490 --> 00:46:26,867
as a central part of who we are.
954
00:46:27,118 --> 00:46:29,996
Well that would mean
that you could just do
955
00:46:30,705 --> 00:46:33,082
an album saying that word
and we would have been successful.
956
00:46:33,165 --> 00:46:34,709
That wasn't true.
957
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:39,422
Pryor keeps doing it
stand-up comedy,
958
00:46:39,505 --> 00:46:42,216
But actually
dedicates the rest of the 1980s
959
00:46:42,299 --> 00:46:45,511
starring
many conventional Hollywood films,
960
00:46:46,220 --> 00:46:49,265
includingDear Puppet,
Millionaire is Strength
961
00:46:49,348 --> 00:46:50,599
and Superman III,
962
00:46:50,683 --> 00:46:52,977
where he made four million dollars,
963
00:46:53,060 --> 00:46:55,354
allegedly more
than the protagonist of the film,
964
00:46:55,438 --> 00:46:57,148
Christopher Reeve.
965
00:46:57,940 --> 00:47:00,609
Richard Pryor, Hollywood superstar,
966
00:47:00,693 --> 00:47:02,486
was now one of the African-American actors
967
00:47:02,570 --> 00:47:05,156
highest paid at the time.
968
00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:07,074
He did them for money,
969
00:47:07,450 --> 00:47:10,578
he didn't put his soul into them.
970
00:47:11,454 --> 00:47:14,331
In 1986, Pryor appears on The Tonight Show
971
00:47:14,415 --> 00:47:16,083
with Johnny Carson.
972
00:47:16,167 --> 00:47:19,045
It shocks the public
with his emaciated appearance.
973
00:47:19,545 --> 00:47:24,050
Being in 1986,
Rumors quickly pointed to AIDS.
974
00:47:24,383 --> 00:47:27,011
Pryor is forced to reveal
975
00:47:27,094 --> 00:47:30,222
who suffers from multiple sclerosis,
a degenerative disease
976
00:47:30,306 --> 00:47:32,600
which attacks the central nervous system.
977
00:47:32,683 --> 00:47:35,102
MS came out of nowhere.
978
00:47:36,020 --> 00:47:37,605
We think about all the other things
979
00:47:37,688 --> 00:47:39,523
what could have happened to him
and they didn't happen
980
00:47:39,607 --> 00:47:43,486
and this mysterious disease, MS,
That's what defeated him.
981
00:47:43,569 --> 00:47:44,820
And when he got sick,
982
00:47:44,904 --> 00:47:46,655
It must have been very hard for him
983
00:47:46,739 --> 00:47:49,617
because comedians are used to
to do what they want.
984
00:47:49,700 --> 00:47:51,660
From then on, whenever we saw him,
985
00:47:51,744 --> 00:47:56,207
he was thinner and getting worse.
986
00:47:57,708 --> 00:47:59,794
Staying true to your fighting spirit,
987
00:47:59,877 --> 00:48:01,545
Pryor continues acting.
988
00:48:01,629 --> 00:48:02,963
I still received the calls.
989
00:48:03,047 --> 00:48:04,632
Come talk about it.
990
00:48:04,715 --> 00:48:06,050
We want to make this film.
991
00:48:06,133 --> 00:48:08,677
Pryor would star in several other films,
992
00:48:08,761 --> 00:48:10,638
including Intensive Care,
993
00:48:11,013 --> 00:48:12,807
Blind, Deaf and Mad,
994
00:48:12,890 --> 00:48:14,141
andThe Night Kings.
995
00:48:14,225 --> 00:48:16,393
When we reached the end of the 1980s
996
00:48:16,477 --> 00:48:18,687
and Eddie Murphy does The Night Kings
997
00:48:18,771 --> 00:48:21,148
I think including Richard
and Redd Foxx is great
998
00:48:21,232 --> 00:48:24,110
because it connects tradition.
999
00:48:24,193 --> 00:48:26,153
But, at this point,
1000
00:48:26,237 --> 00:48:30,866
Richard's best days as an actor
they were already far away.
1001
00:48:34,161 --> 00:48:36,789
In 1990, it's painfully obvious
1002
00:48:36,872 --> 00:48:39,500
that Richard Pryor is a very sick man.
1003
00:48:39,792 --> 00:48:43,045
Suffers a second heart attack,
more serious,
1004
00:48:43,129 --> 00:48:46,298
and it is operated to put it in
atriple bypass.
1005
00:48:46,382 --> 00:48:48,759
Being confined to a wheelchair
1006
00:48:48,843 --> 00:48:51,428
and an electric cart
for the rest of your life,
1007
00:48:51,512 --> 00:48:55,182
but refuses to stop doingstand-up.
1008
00:48:56,183 --> 00:48:58,352
Yes, I'm in a wheelchair.
Push it there.
1009
00:48:58,435 --> 00:49:00,354
Still laugh about it.
1010
00:49:01,063 --> 00:49:02,398
Making jokes: "I know they laugh at me
1011
00:49:02,481 --> 00:49:04,066
for being in a wheelchair on stage,
1012
00:49:04,150 --> 00:49:05,317
but it doesn't hurt."
1013
00:49:05,401 --> 00:49:07,194
He still had a great sense of humor.
1014
00:49:07,278 --> 00:49:09,363
He was addicted to laughter.
1015
00:49:09,446 --> 00:49:12,158
Of all the drugs Richard took,
1016
00:49:12,241 --> 00:49:15,077
he was addicted to laughing.
1017
00:49:16,203 --> 00:49:18,414
Use EM as material
1018
00:49:18,497 --> 00:49:21,417
to describe MS killing your penis
1019
00:49:21,500 --> 00:49:24,587
and destroying your muscles,
1020
00:49:24,753 --> 00:49:27,965
but also not to hide
1021
00:49:28,048 --> 00:49:29,383
the fact that he was sick
1022
00:49:29,466 --> 00:49:32,678
That's what he always was,
1023
00:49:32,761 --> 00:49:33,971
courageous.
1024
00:49:35,556 --> 00:49:37,141
is the measure of multiple sclerosis
1025
00:49:37,224 --> 00:49:39,560
starts to affect your body,
1026
00:49:39,643 --> 00:49:42,813
Richard spends the rest of his life at home.
1027
00:49:42,897 --> 00:49:45,858
For me, it was almost like seeing
1028
00:49:47,276 --> 00:49:50,237
a friend being injured on the battlefield
1029
00:49:50,321 --> 00:49:52,531
and not being able to stop the bleeding.
1030
00:49:52,615 --> 00:49:55,659
We see him slowly leaving.
1031
00:49:58,245 --> 00:50:00,706
On December 10, 2005,
1032
00:50:00,789 --> 00:50:03,167
Pryor suffers another heart attack
1033
00:50:03,250 --> 00:50:06,045
and attempts to revive him fail.
1034
00:50:06,128 --> 00:50:07,546
At age 65,
1035
00:50:07,630 --> 00:50:12,009
Richard Franklin Lennox
Thomas Pryor dies.
1036
00:50:19,225 --> 00:50:23,979
Richard was a star
and such a phenomenal icon
1037
00:50:24,063 --> 00:50:27,733
that, at some point,
a new generation emerges.
1038
00:50:28,317 --> 00:50:31,403
Damon Wayans, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy
1039
00:50:31,487 --> 00:50:34,657
Arsenio, Tracy Morgan, Jamie Foxx,
1040
00:50:34,740 --> 00:50:36,367
Monique and myself...
1041
00:50:36,450 --> 00:50:38,118
Personally, I don't really know where I would be
1042
00:50:38,202 --> 00:50:40,913
if you hadn't followed
the light of Richard Pryor.
1043
00:50:40,996 --> 00:50:43,666
Over time,
we could see his influence
1044
00:50:43,958 --> 00:50:45,960
in this new generation.
1045
00:50:46,210 --> 00:50:48,837
We had the culture of hip-hop.
1046
00:50:48,921 --> 00:50:51,215
The music, the culture, the time
1047
00:50:51,298 --> 00:50:54,426
and the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s
1048
00:50:54,510 --> 00:50:56,095
and early 2000.
1049
00:50:56,178 --> 00:50:58,681
But when we look
for those who had the most influence
1050
00:50:58,764 --> 00:51:01,892
on the guys who do it now,
It was Richard.
1051
00:51:03,435 --> 00:51:05,729
It remains to this day.
1052
00:51:05,938 --> 00:51:09,566
He's still influencing
generations to come.
1053
00:51:09,650 --> 00:51:13,487
His comedy should give
on a channel 24 hours a day.
1054
00:51:13,570 --> 00:51:16,073
There should be a Richard Pryor channel
1055
00:51:16,156 --> 00:51:19,285
so everyone could see the man
1056
00:51:19,368 --> 00:51:20,703
and what he was trying to say.
1057
00:51:21,495 --> 00:51:23,122
Politics, race, religion,
1058
00:51:23,205 --> 00:51:26,125
talked about all these things
that people found offensive.
1059
00:51:26,208 --> 00:51:28,669
But the aim was to use
language as a weapon.
1060
00:51:28,877 --> 00:51:33,757
Through comedy,
we managed to spread and bring humor,
1061
00:51:33,841 --> 00:51:36,260
release it to our audience
1062
00:51:36,593 --> 00:51:38,721
and, presumably,
make them realize something
1063
00:51:38,804 --> 00:51:40,389
that they didn't realize before.
1064
00:51:41,015 --> 00:51:43,684
He basically did this
in a practical way.
1065
00:51:43,767 --> 00:51:47,521
Opened the language in the country
1066
00:51:48,063 --> 00:51:50,941
and the language
It's where people start to communicate.
1067
00:51:53,193 --> 00:51:55,529
Blacks, whites,
1068
00:51:55,612 --> 00:51:58,407
poor, rich. It was heavy.
1069
00:51:58,490 --> 00:52:00,617
Politicians, normal pawns.
1070
00:52:00,701 --> 00:52:02,244
Look at these audiences.
1071
00:52:02,536 --> 00:52:04,580
He's not the "black guy" up there.
1072
00:52:04,913 --> 00:52:08,292
His jokes transcended race.
1073
00:52:08,500 --> 00:52:12,629
He was always taking us
for his experience.
1074
00:52:12,838 --> 00:52:14,715
He was putting us in his place.
1075
00:52:14,965 --> 00:52:20,679
As human beings, we cannot help but
identify with it.
1076
00:52:20,763 --> 00:52:22,556
He knew what to say to make people laugh,
1077
00:52:22,639 --> 00:52:24,892
but Richard was also going to say
something.
1078
00:52:24,975 --> 00:52:27,728
Sexism, racism, prejudice...
1079
00:52:27,978 --> 00:52:30,272
He used the joke
to get our attention.
1080
00:52:33,275 --> 00:52:35,152
Knowing all these things
1081
00:52:35,235 --> 00:52:36,987
ran through his body, his mind,
1082
00:52:37,071 --> 00:52:39,031
came out of his hand, out of his mouth,
1083
00:52:39,114 --> 00:52:40,240
through everything he's been through,
1084
00:52:40,324 --> 00:52:42,284
through everything you left behind,
1085
00:52:42,368 --> 00:52:45,204
through each story,
Richard Pryor is, without a doubt,
1086
00:52:45,287 --> 00:52:47,247
a true American icon.
1087
00:52:47,331 --> 00:52:50,084
The consummate artist,
the consummate comedian
1088
00:52:50,167 --> 00:52:52,294
and, ultimately,
the consummate American.
1089
00:52:52,378 --> 00:52:55,756
He managed to provide the country with medicine
1090
00:52:56,048 --> 00:53:00,719
in a very funny hypodermic needle.
1091
00:53:00,928 --> 00:53:02,304
I remember him saying:
1092
00:53:02,388 --> 00:53:04,723
"Maybe I can touch someone's mind
1093
00:53:04,807 --> 00:53:06,517
or change someone's opinion
1094
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:08,811
or touch someone's heart." Perhaps.
1095
00:53:13,273 --> 00:53:15,025
Richard Pryor cared.
1096
00:53:15,109 --> 00:53:17,111
Unfortunately, not so much with himself
1097
00:53:17,194 --> 00:53:20,280
how he cared about everyone else.
1098
00:53:20,906 --> 00:53:22,449
He never lied to us.
1099
00:53:22,533 --> 00:53:24,118
That's why I adore him.
1100
00:53:24,201 --> 00:53:25,953
I got into trouble on stage
1101
00:53:26,036 --> 00:53:28,372
and said controversial things.
1102
00:53:28,455 --> 00:53:29,748
Richard too.
1103
00:53:29,832 --> 00:53:31,750
I don't compare myself to Richard
1104
00:53:31,834 --> 00:53:34,128
neither Gandhi nor Malcolm
1105
00:53:34,211 --> 00:53:36,130
neither Martin Luther King nor Kennedy,
1106
00:53:36,213 --> 00:53:38,590
but most great people
It's controversial.
1107
00:53:38,882 --> 00:53:40,509
Good thing he went against the grain.
1108
00:53:40,592 --> 00:53:42,136
I'm glad it was him,
1109
00:53:42,219 --> 00:53:44,054
otherwise it wouldn't be Richard Pryor.
1110
00:53:44,555 --> 00:53:48,142
If someone found the notebook
by Richard Pryor,
1111
00:53:48,225 --> 00:53:50,894
I couldn't steal
none of his work,
1112
00:53:50,978 --> 00:53:55,023
because it is the pain and the history
that come with it.
1113
00:53:57,734 --> 00:54:02,614
I like people to see
my photo and laugh
1114
00:54:03,240 --> 00:54:07,161
and have stories to tell.
Tell lies about me.
1115
00:54:07,244 --> 00:54:10,247
"He didn't make me laugh, so...
I was there, you know?
1116
00:54:10,330 --> 00:54:12,291
I was there, on Wednesday,
when he passed..."
1117
00:54:12,374 --> 00:54:13,959
Whatever.
1118
00:54:14,042 --> 00:54:16,712
Like this. To bring joy.
1119
00:54:17,296 --> 00:54:19,381
That's how he liked to be remembered.
1120
00:54:55,250 --> 00:54:57,336
This program is possible, in part,
1121
00:54:57,419 --> 00:54:59,963
due to contributions
to your PBS channel
1122
00:55:00,047 --> 00:55:01,673
from viewers like you.
Thank you.
1123
00:55:01,757 --> 00:55:02,966
Subtitles: Ana Sofia Pinto