[.cnI redruM]

Pryor was funny, but then again, barbarians often are, until you drop your guard and they are ready to kill you.

[TexasCajun]

Pat Grey had a great parody eulogy on the foul mouth crack head this morning.

[al baby]

So a real role model would be tookie williams?

[Mr. Mojo]

Comedian's vulgarity made him no role model.

No one ever said Pryor was a role model, nor did he claim to be.

But he sure was funny.

[TexasCajun]

I thought I heard on ABC that his grandmother was a Madame and mother a prostitute?

[Paradox]

Comedian's vulgarity made him no role model.

Nope, but he was a great comedian.

[atomicpossum]

Geez, imagine what a depraved weasel George Carlin is.

[rattrap]

Since when was he supposed to be a role model? Stupid article.

[wallcrawlr]

Of course, Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam is the ultimate coon show

huh?

[Bigg Red]

...the new minstrelsy in which millions of dollars are made by "normalizing" demeaning imagery and misogyny.

&&
Well put.

[commish]

Comedian's vulgarity made him no role model. But it did make him funny as hell. He was a bit over the top at times, but much of Pryor's funniest bits would not have had the same effect without the use of certain words. Especially when is sketch was actually skewering the people who use that language everyday as a standard part of thier speech. When making fun of them, the parody is lost without the same verbage they used.

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.

[Maceman]

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.

[Revolting cat!]

Stanley Crouch is correct. But, let's have that cake and eat it too anyway, by mourning the decline of popular culture, and, at the same time, celebrating crude, vulgar comedians and [c]rappers!

[kajingawd]

A fine thread indeed separates Comedy and Drama.

Pryor was funny, and a realist.

[paul51]

Pryor was a comedienne, an entertainer. People who felt like watching and listening paid to be entertained. Who said he was or wanted to be a role model or considered himself to be one. If he was foul mouthed, crude or whatever, so what. No one was forced to watch him.

[reagan_fanatic]

I agree that Pryor's material was vulgar and at times extremely offensive. But damn, that man was funny! It's too bad he wasn't able to channel that ability into something a little less disgusting.

[naturalized]

"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."

Venice is sinking, and we all think we are going to stay dry.

[gcruse]

It's all Pryor's fault.

Oh wait. George Carlin and the seven words you can't say on television came along about the same time if not before.

No, it must have been Lenny Bruce. That's the ticket.

Come to think of it, there's something pathetic in blaming comedians for the crap Cassius Clay started. Or was it Red Foxx?

Some many sins. So few targets.

[TravisBickle]

As he revealed in his last performance films, Pryor understood the prison he had built for himself . . .

This reminds of a time I saw him on the Tonight Show, or some such interview program. He had just finished working on Stir Crazy, which takes place in a prison. During the interview, he mentioned how he had gone to a real prison to get a feel for what it was really like, and after getting to meet some of the residents, he said, "Thank God, they got penitentiaries!"

I'm not so sure I'd agree with Stanley Crouch that Pryor begat so much of the vulgar culture that exists today. There has been ample opportunity for denouncements, and there are far too few. Bill Cosby is one who speaks out, and I wonder what Pryor might have done if not for his health. In Richard Pryor:Live From The Sunset Strip, he pretty much disavows much of his past language and bitterness. But that doesn't draw too many headlines.

[add925]

Some confuse novelty with talent....Pryor was one of the first of his type; vulgar, crass....Once you go there, what's the encore?

Today, ask copycat Eddie Murphy how many gigs he has lined up. Funny at first....Old at last.

If you saw a trainwreck every day on your way into work, after a while you'd wouldn't even slow down to watch.

Ask Eddie Murphy.

[discostu]

Pryor tried to make white America uncomfortable? Gosh then I guess he wasn't nearly as good as I thought, being in white America and having enjoyed Pryor for as long as I can remember and never having felt uncomfortable because of his humor if that was his goal then he was a miserable failure. I always thought that what made Pryor so great was that he managed to be so popular in white America while remaining a truly black comedian (as opposed to somebody like Cosby whose comedy is basically neutral).