Richard Pryor

The funniest man who ever lived is gone.

Richard Pryor, the groundbreaking comedian whose profanely personal insights into race relations and modern life made him one of Hollywood's biggest black stars, died of a heart attack Saturday. He was 65.

Pryor died shortly before 8 a.m. after being taken to a hospital from his home in the San Fernando Valley, said his business manager, Karen Finch. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.

"We loved him and will miss you," his ex-wife, Flynn Pryor, said from her Florida home.

It's not a surprise, due to his illness and to his use and abuse of various substances, but it still hurts. He was the first "blue" comedian I ever heard and, as I was just saying the other day, his comedy stands the test of time. Remember the 'monkey' routine? Remember 'Mudbone?' Remember him joking about the freebasing incident? Milk and cookies, indeed.

He was even funny on television, where he had to clean it up considerably. (He had his own series for a short time.)

As the former Mrs. Pryor said--he had a knack for keeping the love of his many ex-wives--I will love and miss that Crazy...man.

UPDATE: Roger L. Simon--who worked with The Great Pryor--pays tribute.

Comments

[Skinner]

He was funnier than hell but Everytime I think of him I think of when he and Gene wilder got put in jail and stuck in the cell with th big goo holy shit Im busting a gut as I write this
He was funny as shit and a CLASS ACT Getting old sucks when you see these people go.

[Skinner]

I was laughing to much the big goon is what I meant

[DEAN BERRY -- REAL AMERICAN]

[BLAH, BLAH, BLAH]

AND BE A MAN. [ROTFL. You first, hon.] POST THIS COMMENT. [Nope. Appeals to my "manhood" aside.]

[billy]

Asides form the almost comical irrelevance to the original topic, you're lagging behind. Everyone knows the war is unjust; it's the torture thing that's getting the world motivated against america now.

[Lisa]

Okay, I'm going to now remove us from the Twillight Zone and make a comment pertaining to the original post (way too early in the morning for me to digest the preceding comments...yikes!)

Thanks for sharing a great post about a great comedian; I enjoyed Richard Pryor very much. I still remember going to the movies as a kid and seeing him, he was great.

Good luck with the whackos...

[Marty]

I remember buying "Richard Pryor's Greatest Hits" when I was 15 (the one that has him on the cover with a guitar) and secretly listening to him in my bedroom, laughing my ass off at "Dracula," "Mudbone," "I've been snortin' coke for 15 years and I ain't hooked yet!" etc.

He will be truly missed.

[StinKerr]

I'd just like to make a comment to this part of the story: "...made him one of Hollywood's biggest black stars,..."

Indeed he was one of the biggest stars. No qualifiers needed. He was the equal of most and the better of many.

[I tried the HTML 'strike' code to make my comment but it appears to be disabled.]

[StinKerr]

Billy, there was a time when "everyone knew" the earth was flat. Find a better rationale.

[John Salmon]

The concert movies were brilliantly funny. Nobody will ever touch Pryor as a standup comic, even Cosby or Carson. RIP.

[Phelps]

Blazing Saddles is still one of my top 5 movies of all time, and it really tears me up trying to decide how I feel about the casting in it. Richard's writing was brilliant, and quite frankly, I can't imagine him playing the role anymore, since Cleavon Little did so damned well in the job. I keep thinking, "maybe this time, the studio DID make the right call," but I keep thinking, what if Richard had been allowed to play the role?

[Tony]

When I was dating my wife over 20 years ago, we decided to watch Richard Prior on Home Box.

We watched about 10 minutes of effing effing effing (some non swear words) effing effing mother effing effing [CLICK] channel change time.

I guess we just didn't get the humor.

[torchy]

Typepad still busted I see