Posted on 12/12/2005 8:49:58 AM PST by .cnI redruM
Richard Pryor's world was filled with prostitutes, pimps, winos and those others of undesirable ilk.
This past Saturday Richard Pryor left this life and bequeathed to our culture as much darkness as he did the light his extraordinary talent made possible. When we look at the remarkable descent this culture has made into smut, contempt, vulgarity and the pornagraphic, those of us who are not willing to drink the Kool-Aid marked "all's well," will have to address the fact that it was the combination of confusion and comic genius that made Pryor a much more negative influence than a positive one.
I do not mean positive in the way Bill Cosby was when his television show redefined situation comedy by turning away from all of the stereotypes of disorder and incompetence that were then and still are the basic renditions of black American life in our mass media.
Richard Pryor was not that kind of a man. His was a different story.
Pryor was troubled and he had seen things that so haunted him that the comedian found it impossible to perform and ignore the lower-class shadow worlds he had known so well, filled with pimps, prostitutes, winos and abrasive types of one sort or another.
The vulgarity of his material, and the idea a "real" black person was a foul-mouthed type was his greatest influence. It was the result of seeing the breaking of "white" convention as a form of "authentic" definition.
Pryor reached for anything that would make white America uncomfortable and would prop up a smug belief among black Americans that they were always "more cool" and more ready to "face life" than the members of majority culture.
Along the way, Pryor made too many people feel that the N word was open currency and was more accurate than any other word used to describe or address a black person.
In the dung piles of pimp and gangster rap we hear from slime meisters like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent, the worst of Pryor's influence has been turned into an aspect of the new minstrelsy in which millions of dollars are made by "normalizing" demeaning imagery and misogyny.
What is so unfortunate is that the heaviest of Pryor's gifts was largely ignored by so many of those who praised the man when he was alive and are now in the middle of deifying him.
The pathos and the frailty of the human soul alone in the world or insecure or looking for something of meaning in a chaotic environment was a bit too deep for all of the simpleminded clowns like Andrew Dice Clay or those who thought that mere ethnicity was enough to define one as funny, like the painfully square work of Paul Rodriguez.
Of course, Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam is the ultimate coon show update of human cesspools, where "cutting edge" has come to mean traveling ever more downward in the sewer.
In essence, Pryor stunned with his timing, his rhythm, his ability to stand alone and fill the stage with three-dimensional characters through his remarkably imaginative gift for an epic sweep of mimicry.
That nuanced mimicry crossed ethnic lines, stretched from young to old, and gave poignancy to the comedian's revelations about the hurts and the terrors of life.
The idea of "laughing to keep from crying" was central to his work and has been diligently avoided by those who claim to owe so much to him.
As he revealed in his last performance films, Pryor understood the prison he had built for himself and the shallow definitions that smothered his audience's understanding of the humanity behind his work.
But, as they say, once the barn door has been opened, you cannot get all of the animals to return by whistling. So we need to understand the terrible mistakes this man of comic genius made and never settle for a standard that is less than what he did at his very best, which was as good as it has ever gotten.
So a real role model would be tookie williams?
No one ever said Pryor was a role model, nor did he claim to be.
But he sure was funny.
Stir Crazy still comes to mind...
Nope, but he was a great comedian.
Geez, imagine what a depraved weasel George Carlin is.
Since when was he supposed to be a role model? Stupid article.
huh?
nah a couple of ny papers were alluding to that
...the new minstrelsy in which millions of dollars are made by "normalizing" demeaning imagery and misogyny.
&&
Well put.
Good movie.
For me, Richard Pryor Live in Concert (1979) was his peak performance.
Pryor's comedy was not for everyone, that is for sure, but he was a genious and should be remembered as one of the best comedians ever.
Since when was he supposed to be a role model?
**
I don't think that the writer is saying that Pryor called himself a role model. He alludes to the comments made by pundits that set Pryor up as one. I heard tv commentators make a few such comments myself.
Yeah, no one denies his talents. The question comes when you stop and wonder how much, if any of it, sinks in. I guess it depends on how much an entertainer actual influences how we behave when it's time to take things seriously.
Pryor was HYSTERICAL.
Why would ANYONE use a Comedian as a role-model?
I'm sorry, but I disagree.
I do abhor society's descent in vulgarity. But Pryor showed us the darkness that exists, that was his whole life, and made it human and compelling with his brilliance.
He was the Charlie Parker of comedy, a man whose dazzling brilliance and virtuosity made me and others laugh more than almost any other comedian.
I am sorry he is gone, I am sorry that the last years of his life were filled with such debility. And I am grateful to have seen his work.
RIP, Richard.
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