Pryor Lives How Richard Pryor Became Richard Pryor By Cecil Brown
How did a scraggly standup comic became one of America's most
controversial social satirists? How did Richard Pryor take the
traditional stand-up form and used it to become a cultural hero?
Cecil Brown, who, after witnessing Mr. Pryor's performance at
Mandrake's in 1969 in Berkeley, California, became his running
buddy for the next 30 years. He traveled with Mr. Pryor, wrote
screenplays for him, and collaborated with him on other projects.
Using many years of intimate experiences behind the scenes, Mr.
Brown traces the evolution of Mr. Pryor's "white bread" comedy,"
(in which he imitated Bill Cosby) to the hilariously raunchy
material that catapulted him to international fame. Following Mr.
Pryor's career from the small standup performances in Berkeley to
his performances at the Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard in
Hollywood, the author shows how Mr. Pryor used his stage
performances to transform the harsh unforgiving realities of his
life (tax evasion, domestic violence, freebase meltdown, heart
attacks) into classic American comic art. Tracking Mr. Pryor's rise
to star power, this book shows how Mr. Pryor made Stand-Up, into an
instrument of spontaneity and a serious platform for public joking.
If Pryor had stayed with this program, he would have been just
another brilliant comedian. But, as Brown reveals, Mr. Pryor went
further. His art depended on his locating, exposing, and tracking
the demons that plagued his audience. His performance on stage
resembled a shaman performing a ritual of exorcism. As a healer, he
used comedy to nurse the damaged souls of the counter-culture, the
black power community, the hippies, the new-age, the born-again
Christians back to health. There is no better example of this
phenomena than the Hollywood Bowl incident that took place in 1977
in Los Angeles, in which Mr. Pryor addressed a 17, 000 crowd that
was celebrating support for Gay Pride. He chastised the white and
largely gay audience for not giving attention to the suffering of
inner city Blacks. The audience booed and hissed him. As one member
of the audience later recalled, "Pryor presented his backside to us
and informed us we could kiss his 'rich, black ass '." The honesty
that Mr. Pryor offered that evening still reverberates in our
society today and has caused the gay community to become for aware
of the misfortunate of others. Written in a humorous, scholarly,
witty style, this biography earns the accolades that Pryor himself
wrote about his friend. "I have never met a writer who loved his
work as much as Cecil Brown," Pryor wrote in praise of Brown's
novel, Days Without Weather (1983), "The humor, the warmth, and
even the smell are beautiful. The gentleness with which he handles
his memories of his character is great." "A great writer, and a
great friend," he said, on the Bicentennial Nigger album.
Book Reviews: Forget about those other books written ostensibly
about Richard Pryor Finally, there is a sensitive, revealing and
truthful book concerning Richard Pryor and how he became the
funniest man in America on stage and on film. Part memoir, and part
eyewitness to Show Business history, Cecil Brown's book, PRYOR
LIVES is the most definitive book to date about the late comedian's
rise to unparalleled stardom. From living and working in Berkeley,
California - to being swallowed up by the infested shark-filled
waters of Hollywood, the reader will see Richard Pryor with a new,
eye-opening perspective - as Cecil Brown writes with empathy and
passion about Pryor's comedy, his life-style, and the tragic events
that encompassed his life. Read this book It's ground breaking in
its scope and style And it is funny as hell Robert N. Zagone Film
Director
General
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