We've Lost Our King of Comedy

By Pepper of the Daily Pepper

I know it seemed like he was dead, so he and his wife even aired a special on Comedy Central called I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!!, but Richard Pryor's death shook everyone up. The Heretik held a Pryor Party last night, and he has a bundle of tribute links. Pam's statement about Pryor's work is excellent: "Yes, he was profane, yes, he could be outrageous, but the things that made people uncomfortable were his observations on the painful truth about cultural difference between the races at a time when sensitivies were running high and emotions were barely in check."

Richard Pryor gave us everyone we think is funny today. He was revolutionary, not only in his subject matter but in his confrontational delivery. He also deserves the credit for turning comedians into rock stars. So, in honor of Pryor, what's your favorite Pryor movie? Mine after the jump.

I saw Bustin' Loose on television when I was a little kid, and I thought Richard Pryor was the next best thing to sliced bread. I know it isn't supposed to be one of his better movies, but I would go nuts whenever I saw what I called "the school-bus movie with the funny man."

I didn't get half of it, and I certainly didn't know that, at the time of filming, he set himself on fire while freebasing, and then they dared to keep a scene in which Pryor rumbles with a budding pyromaniac. And it was wonderful that he made Miss Priss Cicely Tyson fall in love with him.

That's why I always loved Richard Pryor - because he was able to appeal to everyone, even when he told them what they didn't want to hear. He never tried to make himself liked, but he had this knack of connecting with everyone - he could set himself on fire freebasing, and then he could turn right around and release a mild comedy like Bustin' Loose.