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00:00:16,085 --> 00:00:20,924


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The two most beautiful words
in the world of comedy -


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Richard Pryor.


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Good evening. Wait for the people
to get from the bathroom.


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They're in there pissing.
Wait, the shit's started.


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Richard Pryor, undisputed champion
of the world.


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The greatest of all times. Case
closed. Period. Exclamation point.


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This is the fun part for me
when the white people come back


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after intermission and find out
Niggers have stole their seats.


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"We were sitting here, weren't we?"
"Yes, we were sitting right there."


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"Well, you ain't sitting there now,
motherfucker!"


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It's amazing to see him live. It's
like saying you saw Coltrane play.


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What you taking my picture for?


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You know you ain't got no film
in the camera.


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Just flash and ain't nothing
flash. Sit your ugly ass down.


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Most of us saw Richard
and thought, he's free flying.


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I want to free fly. I love
when white dudes get mad and cuss.


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Cos you're all some funny
motherfuckers when you cuss.


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Says, "Like, come on, pecker head!"


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"Come on, you fucking jerk-off.
Come on!"


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Yeah. You fucking
ain't right, buddy.


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Niggers speak like, "Buddy this."


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Always talked about making them
brave enough to see themselves.


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And the demons he wanted
to exorcise in the audience


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became demons that he found hard
to exorcise in himself.


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Richard Pryor,
the comedian and writer,


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was badly burned in an accident at
his home in California last night.


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Authorities say Richard Pryor
either walked or ran


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nearly a mile and a half
from his house to this location,


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where an ambulance rescued him.


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There was an indication that a
butane lighter exploded on Mr Pryor.
What can you tell us about that?


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Right now, I'm not going to say
anything about cause or determination


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until we know anything for sure.


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Is there any indication there might
have been some manufacturing
of drugs on the premises?


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I can't say that either at this time.


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Pryor's attorney talked
with reporters


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and disputed the LAPD theory that
Pryor was using freebase cocaine.


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He had a glass of rum in his hand.


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He was lighting a cigarette
when boom.


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No cocaine. No cocaine.


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If anyone is monitoring
the intercom, let me inform you


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that we have the right to check
the premises for flammables.


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We intend to make entry by force
if necessary.


45
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We have a verbal search warrant.


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Fire and police investigators
obtained a search warrant


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and forcibly entered Pryor's home
to look for clues this morning.


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But police said someone had already
cleaned up the scene of the fire


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and they could find no evidence.


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Everybody had this sense that
something was ultimately going


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to happen and it finally did.


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This is it.
He's finally killed himself.


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For the first time on television,
Richard Pryor.


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Er, I'm going to tell you
a few things about myself,


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because a lot of you probably
don't know me. I'm not a New Yorker.


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My home's in Peoria, Illinois.
And, er...


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Thank you.


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I'm from an average type family -
11 kids.


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No mother and father, just kids.


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I was roaming
around Greenwich Village


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and I wandered
into the Cafe au Go Go.


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And I saw this guy


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do a set


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and I was completely mesmerised.


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I thought this guy is going to be
a major star,


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if I can get him to be able to put
two sentences together


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without "fuck, motherfucker, cunt".


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The next party you go to,
everybody'll be dancing away,
having a heck of a time.


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There will be one guy in the corner
by himself, checking himself out.


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Everybody else will be dancing.
One guy in the corner... Hm. Doo.


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Richard and I would have
to goes through the material,


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rehearsing and preparing.


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And it was never to make it funny.
It was to make cleaner.


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I went to the opening night
at his first legitimate gig


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at The Living Room,
which was a chic East Side boite.


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And it was very crowded.


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The maitre d' said,
could Nipsey Russell join you?


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Sure. Nipsey sat down.


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All during the show, Nipsey's
going... Hm. Tsk.


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I said, what's wrong? At the end
of the show. What was wrong?


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He said, "He's doing Bill Cosby."


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Bill Cosby did what
they called the crossover.


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He'd gotten white people to like him.


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I think Richard thought
he had to imitate Bill to get


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over to become part of the circus
or whatever it was.


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Success came within a year. Yes.


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How is it up here? Oh, wow!
How does it come out?


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Oh, hostile. Really? Oh, yes. I go
out. I don't know. I go crazy.


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Tell us the big things
that are going to happen to you.


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A big thing that's going to happen
is, I'm going to Las Vegas.


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He plays Vegas in 1966.
He's a huge success.


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That world that he so aspired
to join, wanted to impress


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everybody, wanted to be a big star
with his name in lights.


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Suddenly, there's a hollowness
to that price.


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Richard Pryor.


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APPLAUSE


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I want to really tell you,
it's really wow being here.


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My home's in Midwest, Illinois.
Peoria.


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Peoria where? Yeah. Peoria where?
Peoria, Illinois.


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When he was in Las Vegas performing,
he looked out in the audience


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and saw some white people.


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Dean Martin was in the audience
and he was looking at him.


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And Richard said, "I looked
at Dean Martin through his own eyes


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"and saw me looking
like a damn fool."


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It was like an epiphany. I don't
want to do it that way any more.


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I want to do it the way I hear it.


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That was probably when Richard Pryor
decided to become Richard Pryor.


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In the middle of the night,
I got a call.


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You'd better get out here, because
Richard Pryor has just gone nuts


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and he's literally hanging
from the chandeliers in the lobby.


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I want him out of the hotel,
and he is finished.


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No. Nice talking to you. You know.


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It was all over town.
You heard what happened last night.


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And I think he was fired
the next day.


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It was so public, he had a Vegas
gig. That's what every comic wants.


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And you blew it?!


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And I guess everybody thought, well,
that's the end of Richard Pryor.


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I did not hear from him.


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I did not know where he was.


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Richard was gone.


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Don't try to find no logic.


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A lot of this in here,
logic is omitted.


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At some time to understand Richard,
you had to first omit logic.


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And then you come close.


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What you think it ought to be, it
ain't going to be nothing like it.


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# Talking, talking to the people


127
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# Try to get them to go your way


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# Tell the girl not to worry... #


129
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Richard has to start
all over again. He had a new name.


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It was Edward or Edwin
or something stupid.


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It's what I'm going to call myself.


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I'm going to come and pretend like
I have nothing and see how,


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get to know these people here, the
hippies, I'm going to be one of them.


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He gave up everything.


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He gave up his driver's licence,
his bank account.


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He gave up any kind of ID.


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He lived in this horrible little
clapboard boarding house.


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He invited me
to go to an after party.


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And, um, we weren't apart
for like six years.


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I am. I am. A revolutionary.


141
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There was a lot of things going on.


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People asserting their rights.
Demonstrations.


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A lot of ferment in the big areas.


144
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Something different was happening
with African-American culture.


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It had come into its own.


146
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Richard showed up.
And gave it new life.


147
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There used to be
some beautiful black man,


148
00:10:22,984 --> 00:10:24,777
would come through
the neighbourhood,


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dressed in African shit.


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Really nice shit, you know.
They'd be, "Peace, love,
black is beautiful.


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"Remember the essence of life.
We are people of the universe.


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"Life is beautiful." My parents go,
"That Nigger crazy."


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No-one had heard him using
the N-word the way he does.


154
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He was just starting to do that.
He was tiptoeing into it.


155
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In comedy, you'd just never heard
anything like this.


156
00:10:48,927 --> 00:10:52,347
Richard would nudge this audience
to some kind of feeling


157
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about who they really were.
So, he's telling the joke.


158
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And, er, white guy in the back
says,


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"You ought to be glad
I've got a sense of humour."


160
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Richard said, "Yeah, I am glad
you've got a sense of humour,


161
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"because I know
what you do to us Niggers."


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He was acutely aware of the dynamics
of political, racial segregation.


163
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I'd hate to be white...


164
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This audience that
he was playing to was as hip


165
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an audience as you could get.


166
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And they weren't sure
they were going to go along.


167
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That's how radical Richie was.


168
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I think he was very conscious
of what he was doing.


169
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Richard knew how to drop
atomic bomb words.


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He knew that words were powerful.


171
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They accidentally shoot
more Niggers out here
than any place in the world.


172
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Every time you pick up a paper,


173
00:11:42,313 --> 00:11:44,566
"Nigger accidentally shot
in the ass."


174
00:11:44,566 --> 00:11:48,278
How do you accidentally shoot
a Nigger six times in the chest?


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"Well, my gun fell
and just went crazy."


176
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He was fully blown as Richie Pryor.
It was astonishing.


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His point of view, his attack
on the culture from every version.


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No holds barred.
Not thinking about a career.


179
00:12:05,753 --> 00:12:09,966
Not thinking about what you have
to do to be right and wrong.


180
00:12:09,966 --> 00:12:12,135
He wasn't a civil rights leader,


181
00:12:12,135 --> 00:12:15,138
like you would say Louie Newton
or Martin Luther King.


182
00:12:15,138 --> 00:12:21,352
But he was somebody who inculcated
the spirit of the movement.


183
00:12:25,023 --> 00:12:28,568
Richard, in Berkeley, was, you know,
a lovable person.


184
00:12:28,568 --> 00:12:30,820
But Berkeley's not the world.


185
00:12:30,820 --> 00:12:35,408
You had to meet the monster.
You had to go through Hollywood.


186
00:12:35,408 --> 00:12:39,329
# Where do I go
when this world forsakes me


187
00:12:39,329 --> 00:12:43,166
# Who do I turn to
when they put me down?


188
00:12:43,166 --> 00:12:46,920
# You are my hope when they all
can't stop me


189
00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:51,257
# You're my beginning, my middle
My end... #


190
00:12:54,844 --> 00:12:57,514
I met Richard Pryor in 1972.


191
00:12:57,514 --> 00:13:00,683
At an upscale garden party
in Beverly Hills.


192
00:13:01,768 --> 00:13:05,146
I asked him what he was doing,
and he said, "Nothing."


193
00:13:05,146 --> 00:13:06,898
I said,
"I know you're doing nothing,


194
00:13:06,898 --> 00:13:08,191
"but what are you working at?"


195
00:13:08,191 --> 00:13:11,152
He said, "I'm not working
at anything. I'm unemployed."


196
00:13:11,152 --> 00:13:14,155
I said, "How long have you been
unemployed?" He said, "A long time."


197
00:13:14,155 --> 00:13:16,908
I said, "Really?
Who's managing you?" "Nobody."


198
00:13:16,908 --> 00:13:19,494
"Whose agenting you?" "Nobody."


199
00:13:19,494 --> 00:13:22,121
He didn't really have any place
to go at that time,


200
00:13:22,121 --> 00:13:27,210
so he took a job,
doing punch-up lines for Red Fox.


201
00:13:27,210 --> 00:13:29,712
I thought, "This is not right."


202
00:13:29,712 --> 00:13:33,967
So, I said to Richie,
"Let's record an album."


203
00:13:33,967 --> 00:13:37,637
Don't ever marry a white woman
in California.


204
00:13:37,637 --> 00:13:39,597
A lot of you sisters are probably,


205
00:13:39,597 --> 00:13:42,267
"Don't marry a white woman anyway,
Nigger."


206
00:13:42,267 --> 00:13:43,643
CHEERING


207
00:13:43,643 --> 00:13:45,812
"Why should you be happy?"


208
00:13:49,649 --> 00:13:52,277
Sisters look at you
like you killed your mama


209
00:13:52,277 --> 00:13:54,404
when you're out with a white woman.


210
00:13:54,404 --> 00:13:56,781
You can't laugh
that shit off either.


211
00:13:56,781 --> 00:13:59,242
"She's not with me."


212
00:14:00,869 --> 00:14:06,541
Richard said, "Look, I know that you
like it and I know that I like it.


213
00:14:06,541 --> 00:14:08,501
"Black people don't like this."


214
00:14:08,501 --> 00:14:11,087
I said, "Richard, I can't
answer that. I don't know."


215
00:14:11,087 --> 00:14:15,300
He said, "Let's hope so.
If not, we're both out of business."


216
00:14:15,300 --> 00:14:17,760
I don't know how you feel
about the title of your album,


217
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,221
but I find it difficult to say.
You do.


218
00:14:20,221 --> 00:14:23,600
Most white people,
it's hard to say "crazy".


219
00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,936
No, the title. You tell them the
title of the album. I can't say that.


220
00:14:26,936 --> 00:14:31,107
The title of the album is
"That Nigger's Crazy."


221
00:14:31,107 --> 00:14:34,527
See now, you can just say that.
If I said that, won't you get mad?


222
00:14:34,527 --> 00:14:37,488
I'd punch you out.


223
00:14:42,952 --> 00:14:47,498
When I was in my college years,


224
00:14:47,498 --> 00:14:52,045
we'd get together
and play Richard Pryor LPs


225
00:14:52,045 --> 00:14:54,964
and have listening parties.


226
00:14:54,964 --> 00:14:58,259
My father was fun.
"Hey, bitch, where the food?"


227
00:14:58,259 --> 00:15:02,805
"Goddamn mother, come on.
Oh, you motherfucker!"


228
00:15:02,805 --> 00:15:05,642
Saying "fuck" in those days
was unheard of.


229
00:15:05,642 --> 00:15:09,521
They had blue laws, for crying
out loud. It was just a secret.


230
00:15:09,521 --> 00:15:14,776
It was like learning how to say,
"Motherfucker, bitch. Kiss my ass."


231
00:15:16,611 --> 00:15:22,325
The people that had it first, I don't
know why. They were pimps and hos.


232
00:15:22,325 --> 00:15:25,828
This is the only guy really touching
on some shit like,


233
00:15:25,828 --> 00:15:30,250
"Oh, taboo to other people.
Don't go there."


234
00:15:30,250 --> 00:15:32,794
He was the Messiah - the messenger.


235
00:15:32,794 --> 00:15:34,838
For the real Niggers in the streets


236
00:15:34,838 --> 00:15:38,758
that wanted to express
themselves but couldn't.


237
00:15:38,758 --> 00:15:41,094
The album was a Grammy award winner.


238
00:15:41,094 --> 00:15:45,265
Number one on the R&B charts
in 1974 for five weeks,


239
00:15:45,265 --> 00:15:49,978
which is unheard of for
a comedy album in the R&B charts.


240
00:15:49,978 --> 00:15:53,106
This was a time when Richard
was moving up very quickly.


241
00:15:53,106 --> 00:15:56,484
It was rather like
being fired out of a cannon.


242
00:15:56,484 --> 00:15:59,863
We hardly ever went
to two gigs in sequence.


243
00:15:59,863 --> 00:16:04,033
From LA, to Washington, back to LA,
to New York, back to LA.


244
00:16:05,326 --> 00:16:07,537
You use the term, "Nigger."


245
00:16:07,537 --> 00:16:10,915
Now, does the black community get
on you for using that on a show?


246
00:16:10,915 --> 00:16:13,001
Sure. How do you answer that?
What do you say?


247
00:16:13,001 --> 00:16:16,004
I say, "Nigger, get out of my face!"


248
00:16:16,004 --> 00:16:18,923
People were fascinated with Richard,
especially white people.


249
00:16:18,923 --> 00:16:21,926
They never heard anybody talk like
that. They were fascinated.


250
00:16:21,926 --> 00:16:25,805
How could this young, black person
have this kind of power?


251
00:16:25,805 --> 00:16:27,682
That's power.


252
00:16:32,353 --> 00:16:34,856
When he would drive down and perform,
word would spread.


253
00:16:34,856 --> 00:16:37,942
Everybody got on the phone and said,
"Richard's at The Comedy Store."


254
00:16:37,942 --> 00:16:39,694
The word got out so quickly


255
00:16:39,694 --> 00:16:41,988
that Richard was backstage
at The Comedy Store.


256
00:16:41,988 --> 00:16:46,117
By the time he got on,
there wasn't a comedian in town


257
00:16:46,117 --> 00:16:47,869
who wasn't in the audience.


258
00:16:47,869 --> 00:16:51,706
I took some acid once, too. A white
dude get me some. At a party.


259
00:16:51,706 --> 00:16:54,125
"This is far out."


260
00:16:54,125 --> 00:16:56,419
Get the fuck out of my face!


261
00:16:56,419 --> 00:16:59,964
About 20 minutes later,
I left the party. I can't breathe!


262
00:16:59,964 --> 00:17:02,842
I don't remember how to breathe!


263
00:17:04,969 --> 00:17:07,514
"I told you it was far out."


264
00:17:09,098 --> 00:17:13,895
When he performed, he would sometimes
make a couple of notes


265
00:17:13,895 --> 00:17:16,773
on the back of an envelope
of some of the things he might do.


266
00:17:16,773 --> 00:17:21,444
He never worked out in advance what
his... It wasn't really a routine.


267
00:17:21,444 --> 00:17:24,781
Every night,
you see something different


268
00:17:24,781 --> 00:17:26,491
that you hadn't seen before.


269
00:17:26,491 --> 00:17:29,911
He would do a riff here and a riff
there. Just spontaneously.


270
00:17:29,911 --> 00:17:31,955
What kind of shit
are you handing me?


271
00:17:31,955 --> 00:17:34,874
What the fuck is it? I don't know
what you're handing me to sign.


272
00:17:34,874 --> 00:17:37,418
What the fuck does it say on it?


273
00:17:37,418 --> 00:17:40,880
Champagne! Listen, I ain't signing
for no goddamn champagne.


274
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:42,799
He was always doing something new.


275
00:17:42,799 --> 00:17:45,635
All of a sudden, "Oh, my God,
look what he's doing now!"


276
00:17:45,635 --> 00:17:49,389
He wasn't just telling jokes,
he was telling stories.


277
00:17:49,389 --> 00:17:53,685
And stories that were so vivid
and so funny


278
00:17:53,685 --> 00:17:56,604
that you had to stay with him.


279
00:17:56,604 --> 00:17:59,649
And you think, "OK, that's amazing."


280
00:17:59,649 --> 00:18:02,735
I mean, he just had
that laser-like wit.


281
00:18:02,735 --> 00:18:07,532
Bringing so much tenderness
to it. Doing the wino on the street.


282
00:18:07,532 --> 00:18:11,160
I'm going to help you, boy, because
I think you've got potential.


283
00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,122
That's right. You can do
with some money. You're shot.


284
00:18:14,122 --> 00:18:16,207
You know what I mean?
Try some of that.


285
00:18:16,207 --> 00:18:20,086
Don't you drop it, Nigger.
Put it safe.


286
00:18:20,086 --> 00:18:21,796
Watching the world...


287
00:18:21,796 --> 00:18:26,384
If these were my kids, I would never
have known but for Richard Pryor.


288
00:18:26,384 --> 00:18:30,555
What a colourful world it is
that he paints.


289
00:18:30,555 --> 00:18:34,142
He'd go out and he'd do two minutes,
three minutes - sometimes,


290
00:18:34,142 --> 00:18:37,145
if the wind was right,
he'd do four or five minutes.


291
00:18:37,145 --> 00:18:40,607
Eventually, there'd
be about 40 minutes of material.


292
00:18:40,607 --> 00:18:42,817
In those 40 minutes of material,


293
00:18:42,817 --> 00:18:47,280
he knew then he could get
from there to a concert.


294
00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,451
I discovered masturbating
by accident.


295
00:18:51,451 --> 00:18:55,413
I'm not lying.
I was about ten. I was in a tub.


296
00:18:55,413 --> 00:19:00,919
And that's when you used to hold
your dick with two fingers.


297
00:19:00,919 --> 00:19:03,421
Hey!


298
00:19:06,132 --> 00:19:09,052
I'm on to something here.


299
00:19:09,052 --> 00:19:12,180
I bet Dad don't know about this.


300
00:19:12,180 --> 00:19:15,934
He understood how to excavate
the human soul on stage


301
00:19:15,934 --> 00:19:18,853
in front of 600 people
without blinking.


302
00:19:18,853 --> 00:19:22,899
First time I came to ejaculate,
it scared the fuck out of me.


303
00:19:22,899 --> 00:19:25,068
I thought something was wrong.


304
00:19:25,068 --> 00:19:28,404
I just went, this woman, "Look,
what the fuck you've done there!"


305
00:19:30,114 --> 00:19:33,785
About an hour later, I was back.
"Can you do it again?"


306
00:19:34,994 --> 00:19:37,705
I think if comedy was a woman
I'm in love with,


307
00:19:37,705 --> 00:19:41,251
I know Richard Pryor
would just fuck the shit out of her.


308
00:19:41,251 --> 00:19:44,337
He'd fuck her in every orifice
of her body.


309
00:19:44,337 --> 00:19:48,466
Can I...? Is there anywhere this guy
didn't fucking put his prints on?


310
00:19:50,844 --> 00:19:54,472
Richard had become big
in the live concert,


311
00:19:54,472 --> 00:19:57,517
doing his brand of risque humour.


312
00:19:57,517 --> 00:20:01,062
These large audiences
were fascinated with Richard.


313
00:20:01,062 --> 00:20:03,982
He had not crossed into film.


314
00:20:06,276 --> 00:20:10,488
Somehow, Berry Gordy
tracked him down and wanted him


315
00:20:10,488 --> 00:20:14,784
to audition for the role
of Piano Man in the film


316
00:20:14,784 --> 00:20:20,248
he was about to do of Billie Holiday,
which was going to star Diana Ross.


317
00:20:20,248 --> 00:20:24,127
Lady Sings The Blues, when Richard
auditioned, they let him do improv.


318
00:20:24,127 --> 00:20:27,797
You can't let Richard to improv,
he'll steal the show.


319
00:20:27,797 --> 00:20:29,632
Which he did. The rest is history.


320
00:20:29,632 --> 00:20:32,051
Everybody got
a room full of girls at home.


321
00:20:32,051 --> 00:20:34,053
You're just going to be another one.


322
00:20:34,053 --> 00:20:37,140
Billie, you've got too much going.
You don't need this.


323
00:20:37,140 --> 00:20:39,434
He was huge in Lady Sings The Blues.


324
00:20:39,434 --> 00:20:41,853
It sealed it for him
in terms of his performance


325
00:20:41,853 --> 00:20:45,231
and having the audience crave
to see more of him.


326
00:20:45,231 --> 00:20:48,818
We're coming.


327
00:20:48,818 --> 00:20:51,696
That part got bigger
and bigger and bigger.


328
00:20:51,696 --> 00:20:53,948
By the time they finished
cutting that movie,


329
00:20:53,948 --> 00:20:56,409
Richard was co-star in that movie.


330
00:21:01,831 --> 00:21:07,837
I met him in '72. He wasn't that
famous, but the word was out.


331
00:21:10,715 --> 00:21:14,636
I said to him, why don't you meet me
for breakfast? He said, "Breakfast.


332
00:21:14,636 --> 00:21:19,474
"OK. I'll meet you at four."
I said, "Four?!"


333
00:21:19,474 --> 00:21:23,978
I told him about a black sheriff
in 1874. He loved the idea.


334
00:21:23,978 --> 00:21:25,605
He just loved it.


335
00:21:25,605 --> 00:21:29,817
I said, "I'm going to fight for you
to be the lead in Blazing Saddles."


336
00:21:29,817 --> 00:21:32,320
I said, "Look, I'm going to write it
like a gang comedy.


337
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,365
"Anybody got a good idea, it's in.
We're all going to be equal.


338
00:21:35,365 --> 00:21:38,535
"I will be a little more equal
than anybody else,


339
00:21:38,535 --> 00:21:42,705
"but we're all going to be equal
and we're all going to have fun.


340
00:21:42,705 --> 00:21:46,584
"I want you to be
one of the writers."


341
00:21:46,584 --> 00:21:48,670
He called me up.


342
00:21:48,670 --> 00:21:51,798
And said, "Listen, I would like
to be the star of that film,


343
00:21:51,798 --> 00:21:54,092
"Blazing Saddles.
That would be terrific."


344
00:21:54,092 --> 00:21:56,427
This is going to be something big.


345
00:21:56,427 --> 00:21:57,887
I wrote most of the black jokes,


346
00:21:57,887 --> 00:21:59,973
and Richard wrote
most of the Mongo jokes.


347
00:21:59,973 --> 00:22:03,184
He was like this big, tough baby.


348
00:22:03,184 --> 00:22:08,731
Richard wrote lines like,
"Mongo only pawn in game of life."


349
00:22:08,731 --> 00:22:11,192
He wrote these meshuggener,
wacky lines.


350
00:22:11,192 --> 00:22:14,988
The next day, he showed
up in my apartment with cigars


351
00:22:14,988 --> 00:22:19,659
and a very expensive Dunhill
lighter, and I said, "What's this?"


352
00:22:19,659 --> 00:22:22,829
He said, "We're going to be signing
a lot of contracts."


353
00:22:26,958 --> 00:22:29,961
Somebody high up at Warner Brothers
had heard


354
00:22:29,961 --> 00:22:33,298
that Richard was doing drugs
and Richard was unreliable


355
00:22:33,298 --> 00:22:35,133
and I was fighting.


356
00:22:35,133 --> 00:22:38,303
He said, "We appreciate
his contribution as a writer.


357
00:22:38,303 --> 00:22:41,973
"It's the starring role.
We won't star him in the picture."


358
00:22:41,973 --> 00:22:46,186
It got to the fucking board
of Warner Brothers,


359
00:22:46,186 --> 00:22:50,148
where he lost on some vote,
and that was it. You know.


360
00:22:52,775 --> 00:22:55,320
He wished that he got
the starring role.


361
00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:59,616
That was a disappointment,
a major disappointment.


362
00:23:00,825 --> 00:23:03,953
Just put him over the edge
when they said that.


363
00:23:03,953 --> 00:23:08,208
And he became high,
so high and out of control.


364
00:23:08,208 --> 00:23:11,211
So he decided to shoot up the house.


365
00:23:12,545 --> 00:23:16,925
We had a huge saltwater fish tank -
150 gallons. It was huge.


366
00:23:16,925 --> 00:23:22,597
And, of course, it killed
all the fish and buckled the floor


367
00:23:22,597 --> 00:23:27,143
and shot the Charlie Parker painting
that was hanging above the fireplace.


368
00:23:27,143 --> 00:23:29,062
A huge Charlie Parker painting.


369
00:23:29,062 --> 00:23:31,356
He shot him in the heart.


370
00:23:36,402 --> 00:23:39,239
It's really hard
to live in Hollywood.


371
00:23:39,239 --> 00:23:41,699
It's so controlled by white men.


372
00:23:41,699 --> 00:23:47,038
Very hard to do anything, because
they're so greedy. So insecure.


373
00:23:47,038 --> 00:23:51,251
He decided he was going to fire
everyone and start all over.


374
00:23:51,251 --> 00:23:55,338
New lawyers, new agent, new manager.


375
00:23:55,338 --> 00:23:59,175
He called Ron
and just said it was over.


376
00:23:59,175 --> 00:24:02,720
I mean, it was a pretty harsh,
cold moment.


377
00:24:03,763 --> 00:24:06,432
So, what became
of the change of heart?


378
00:24:06,432 --> 00:24:09,644
He said, "I don't know, man.
Just did."


379
00:24:09,644 --> 00:24:13,940
I puzzled over that
for many, many years.


380
00:24:13,940 --> 00:24:16,442
I don't movies when they don't have
no Niggers in them.


381
00:24:23,491 --> 00:24:26,327
I went to see Logan's Run, right.


382
00:24:26,327 --> 00:24:28,746
They had a movie of the future
called Logan's Run,


383
00:24:28,746 --> 00:24:30,415
and there ain't no Niggers in it.


384
00:24:30,415 --> 00:24:34,002
I said, "Well, white folks
ain't planning for us to be here."


385
00:24:36,796 --> 00:24:39,799
That's why we've got to make movies.


386
00:24:44,971 --> 00:24:49,809
David was a very powerful black
manager, based out of Atlanta.


387
00:24:49,809 --> 00:24:52,896
Very militant. Very pro-black.


388
00:24:52,896 --> 00:24:55,190
Very, very smart.


389
00:24:55,190 --> 00:24:58,943
A gift for making huge deals
and huge money.


390
00:24:58,943 --> 00:25:02,238
And Hollywood loved David.


391
00:25:02,238 --> 00:25:08,161
David Franklin was a pudgy,
brilliant, black man, who stuttered.


392
00:25:08,161 --> 00:25:10,246
And Richard loved that.


393
00:25:10,246 --> 00:25:15,418
He said, "Because he st-st-utters,
he can ge-get sympathy."


394
00:25:15,418 --> 00:25:20,840
So, David went on to manage Richard,
be his agent and act as his lawyer.


395
00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,176
Other than Richard's pure talent,


396
00:25:23,176 --> 00:25:30,016
David was absolutely responsible for
Richard becoming really big in film.


397
00:25:30,016 --> 00:25:32,393
We did nine or ten pictures together.


398
00:25:32,393 --> 00:25:36,147
The first of them, The Bingo Long
Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings,


399
00:25:36,147 --> 00:25:38,858
about the Negro National Leagues.


400
00:25:38,858 --> 00:25:40,568
Like batting averages.


401
00:25:40,568 --> 00:25:42,987
See, you take the number of times
a man been in bat


402
00:25:42,987 --> 00:25:45,907
and you divide that by the number
of times a man got a hit.


403
00:25:45,907 --> 00:25:50,286
Like me, I've been in bat 100 times.
I've got 25 hits. That's simple.


404
00:25:50,286 --> 00:25:53,957
25 goes into 100 four times. It
gives me a batting average of four.


405
00:25:53,957 --> 00:25:57,335
That's wrong.
That ain't no way to do that.


406
00:25:57,335 --> 00:25:59,671
The second film was Car Wash.


407
00:25:59,671 --> 00:26:02,257
I wasn't going to make
that movie without Richard.


408
00:26:02,257 --> 00:26:07,428
Believe in the Lord and, most of
all, believe in that federal dream.


409
00:26:08,555 --> 00:26:12,684
I remember the day that David came
back from a meeting with Richard,


410
00:26:12,684 --> 00:26:15,812
driving a brand-new Rolls-Royce.


411
00:26:15,812 --> 00:26:19,065
He must have been doing something
that was making Richard pretty happy


412
00:26:19,065 --> 00:26:22,110
for Richard to give him
a brand-new Rolls-Royce as a gift.


413
00:26:22,110 --> 00:26:25,321
Right at that moment,
the notion that he could hold


414
00:26:25,321 --> 00:26:29,993
the lead in a picture was a totally
unproven notion.


415
00:26:29,993 --> 00:26:32,537
Take this radio.
When you step out of here,


416
00:26:32,537 --> 00:26:35,039
you got
to step out of here like king shit.


417
00:26:35,039 --> 00:26:37,375
Right, you bad.
Put that radio to your ear.


418
00:26:37,375 --> 00:26:39,002
That's going to help cover
your face.


419
00:26:39,002 --> 00:26:40,712
Just move with the rhythm
of the music.


420
00:26:40,712 --> 00:26:42,714
Move your body
with the rhythm of the music.


421
00:26:42,714 --> 00:26:45,133
That's all you've got to do now.
Let me see you try.


422
00:26:45,133 --> 00:26:48,094
Step to the music.
Step to the music. Yeah.


423
00:26:48,094 --> 00:26:50,889
Step to the music. Stop.


424
00:26:50,889 --> 00:26:53,391
How come you whities got such
a tight ass, man? Do it.


425
00:26:53,391 --> 00:26:55,685
Can't you feel it?


426
00:27:01,524 --> 00:27:05,111
He basically launched a new genre
of comedy.


427
00:27:05,111 --> 00:27:07,071
Interracial buddy comedy.


428
00:27:07,071 --> 00:27:11,201
This was a new kind of formula
for comedy in Hollywood.


429
00:27:11,201 --> 00:27:13,536
He broke the glass ceiling.


430
00:27:13,536 --> 00:27:17,040
He made earning a certain amount
of money for black people


431
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,876
that was not
possible at that time, possible.


432
00:27:19,876 --> 00:27:22,921
One of the films I did with him,
called Which Way Is Up?,


433
00:27:22,921 --> 00:27:26,883
I designed the film
around his stand-up routine.


434
00:27:26,883 --> 00:27:31,137
Come on, Bob, get your ass
out here. Richard played himself.


435
00:27:31,137 --> 00:27:33,765
He played his father.


436
00:27:33,765 --> 00:27:35,850
Fuck you!


437
00:27:35,850 --> 00:27:38,561
I heard that. Fuck you too, boy!


438
00:27:38,561 --> 00:27:41,189
And he played a bootleg preacher.


439
00:27:41,189 --> 00:27:45,318
What kind of lowlife dog, scoundrel,
snake in the grass...


440
00:27:45,318 --> 00:27:50,281
This was the first black film
that ever did multiple characters.


441
00:27:50,281 --> 00:27:53,826
Richard would come and say,
"Come to watch this."


442
00:27:53,826 --> 00:27:57,205
I come upstairs and he said, "Look!"


443
00:27:57,205 --> 00:27:59,916
I look out the window,
and, by the swimming pool,


444
00:27:59,916 --> 00:28:07,215
would be sitting famous
white people - famous producers.


445
00:28:07,215 --> 00:28:10,134
Dying to be allowed
to come up the stairs,


446
00:28:10,134 --> 00:28:13,847
up to the place where we were.
Do you ever go home? Yes, I do.


447
00:28:13,847 --> 00:28:16,432
I'm not allowed in Peoria any more.
I didn't know that.


448
00:28:16,432 --> 00:28:19,477
When you make some money, Negros
don't want you in town no more.


449
00:28:19,477 --> 00:28:24,649
He desired to be
the biggest star in entertainment.


450
00:28:24,649 --> 00:28:28,444
As big as Cosby, as big as Poitier.


451
00:28:28,444 --> 00:28:32,198
He also wanted to be
the blackest star. You know.


452
00:28:32,198 --> 00:28:34,742
As black as Malcolm X.


453
00:28:34,742 --> 00:28:38,121
Bird head. Cracker.


454
00:28:38,121 --> 00:28:42,041
Spear checker. White trash.


455
00:28:42,041 --> 00:28:44,669
Jungle bunny. Honky.


456
00:28:44,669 --> 00:28:48,464
His appearances
on Saturday Night Live were very


457
00:28:48,464 --> 00:28:52,343
instrumental in walking the
very thin line between what was


458
00:28:52,343 --> 00:28:55,805
acceptable on television
and his mind.


459
00:28:55,805 --> 00:28:58,141
Nigger. Dead honky.


460
00:28:59,309 --> 00:29:02,645
My grandmother would walk
by the living room and she'd say,


461
00:29:02,645 --> 00:29:04,439
"Are you watching that Negro again?"


462
00:29:04,439 --> 00:29:07,275
It was the only black
person my grandmother would allow


463
00:29:07,275 --> 00:29:08,943
in the house was Richard Pryor.


464
00:29:08,943 --> 00:29:12,614
The audiences absolutely loved it.
The network loved it.


465
00:29:12,614 --> 00:29:15,200
That's why the network
went after him


466
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:19,537
and said, "We want you to do
a television show."


467
00:29:23,416 --> 00:29:25,460
We had the best time.


468
00:29:25,460 --> 00:29:30,131
When you have the support of someone
who carries that much weight,


469
00:29:30,131 --> 00:29:34,344
it trickles down to everybody to be
courageous and crazy.


470
00:29:34,344 --> 00:29:36,387
Mr President, Mr President. Yes.


471
00:29:36,387 --> 00:29:38,890
Mr President,
since you've become President,


472
00:29:38,890 --> 00:29:41,434
you've been courting
an awful lot of white women.


473
00:29:41,434 --> 00:29:43,102
Will this continue?


474
00:29:47,732 --> 00:29:50,735
As long as I can keep it up.


475
00:29:50,735 --> 00:29:53,112
I actually hired
a court stenographer,


476
00:29:53,112 --> 00:29:54,697
because the ideas were...


477
00:29:54,697 --> 00:29:56,699
One day he walked
into the conference room,


478
00:29:56,699 --> 00:30:00,453
he jumped on the table and said,
"Let Bojaws handle it."


479
00:30:00,453 --> 00:30:02,372
We didn't know who Bojaws was.


480
00:30:02,372 --> 00:30:04,666
What do you say?


481
00:30:04,666 --> 00:30:06,543
Are you crippled?


482
00:30:06,543 --> 00:30:09,629
Let Bojaws handle it.


483
00:30:09,629 --> 00:30:14,342
Bojaws was this weird medicine man
that lived in the Louisiana bayou.


484
00:30:14,342 --> 00:30:18,179
Healing people. Mr Bojaws,
I've got a bad arm.


485
00:30:18,179 --> 00:30:19,764
I can't move it.


486
00:30:19,764 --> 00:30:22,058
He's got a bad arm


487
00:30:22,058 --> 00:30:24,227
and he can't move it.


488
00:30:24,227 --> 00:30:26,437
Argh!


489
00:30:28,398 --> 00:30:30,817
Let Bojaws handle it.


490
00:30:30,817 --> 00:30:35,655
It was ground-breaking
within the rules of how mundane


491
00:30:35,655 --> 00:30:38,825
television was at the time. There's
a lot of things written about me.


492
00:30:38,825 --> 00:30:40,994
People wondering
if I'm going to have a show,


493
00:30:40,994 --> 00:30:44,622
if I'm not going to have a show.
Well, I'm having a show.


494
00:30:44,622 --> 00:30:48,418
People say, "How can you have
a show? You've got to compromise.


495
00:30:48,418 --> 00:30:53,590
"You've got to give up everything."
Is that a joke or what?


496
00:30:53,590 --> 00:30:56,968
Well, look at me!
I'm standing here naked.


497
00:30:58,761 --> 00:31:02,182
I've given up absolutely nothing.


498
00:31:07,228 --> 00:31:09,397
So, enjoy the show.


499
00:31:11,065 --> 00:31:12,984
It was pretty crazy.
It was wonderful.


500
00:31:12,984 --> 00:31:17,155
He was always pushing the envelope.
That's when I went, wow!


501
00:31:17,155 --> 00:31:20,575
That was the best thing, the start
of the season. It was like, wow!


502
00:31:20,575 --> 00:31:22,410
He was always between two worlds.


503
00:31:22,410 --> 00:31:26,789
He was between that acceptable,
sort of mainstream white world,


504
00:31:26,789 --> 00:31:31,461
and, of course, a much stronger,
harder, knowing street place.


505
00:31:31,461 --> 00:31:35,215
But the networks were
so leery of him, so scared of him.


506
00:31:35,215 --> 00:31:38,843
The show was supposed
to air that night.


507
00:31:38,843 --> 00:31:41,638
NBC censored the opening.


508
00:31:41,638 --> 00:31:44,015
Called Richard at home and said,


509
00:31:44,015 --> 00:31:46,684
"You know we're going to edit out
the naked opening.


510
00:31:46,684 --> 00:31:49,020
"It caused a shit storm."


511
00:31:49,020 --> 00:31:50,396
He quit.


512
00:31:53,816 --> 00:31:55,401
The first thing to start off going,


513
00:31:55,401 --> 00:31:57,737
"This is my attempt
to make a statement.


514
00:31:57,737 --> 00:32:01,074
If they don't air that, that really
sets the rules. OK.


515
00:32:01,074 --> 00:32:04,160
You're not going to let me do what
I'm going to do.


516
00:32:07,664 --> 00:32:10,416
Richard came back and, after
pleasantries, Richard said,


517
00:32:10,416 --> 00:32:14,295
"Television chews you up and spits
you out, and I don't want that


518
00:32:14,295 --> 00:32:18,883
"to happen to me, so I've decided
not to do the series."


519
00:32:19,926 --> 00:32:23,680
He went to NBC, and they said
Richard had to do the show.


520
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,140
They weren't going to let him
off the hook.


521
00:32:26,140 --> 00:32:28,977
From the looks of things,
I'll be seeing you next time.


522
00:32:28,977 --> 00:32:33,064
NBC made sure of that.
I'm not going anywhere.


523
00:32:36,484 --> 00:32:38,778
They kept saying,
you've got to be more mainstream.


524
00:32:38,778 --> 00:32:41,030
He was going, "No, fuck you.
No, we can't."


525
00:32:41,030 --> 00:32:43,199
If it wasn't real, fuck you.


526
00:32:43,199 --> 00:32:46,035
You know what I mean?
He wasn't compromising.


527
00:32:46,035 --> 00:32:49,080
Rocco is the token
white person on the show.


528
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:51,165
He wanted a lot of changes made.


529
00:32:51,165 --> 00:32:54,502
More black people
involved in production staff.


530
00:32:54,502 --> 00:32:57,463
He only wanted
three whities to come back.


531
00:32:57,463 --> 00:32:59,465
We're in a rehearsal hall one day,


532
00:32:59,465 --> 00:33:06,848
and a guy walks in with an African
cap, a dashiki and a stick.


533
00:33:06,848 --> 00:33:09,350
I said, "Richard, who is that guy?"


534
00:33:09,350 --> 00:33:11,728
He said,
"His name is Prophet Jennings.


535
00:33:11,728 --> 00:33:13,563
"He's a Nigger expert."


536
00:33:13,563 --> 00:33:16,191
Who was the one to judge
whether Richard was black enough?


537
00:33:16,191 --> 00:33:20,653
Richard looked at him, and he'd
either go like this or like that.


538
00:33:20,653 --> 00:33:24,866
I love American people.
I want to say, I had two for lunch.


539
00:33:27,452 --> 00:33:29,537
In the end,
they demanded that he do stand-up,


540
00:33:29,537 --> 00:33:32,999
which didn't sit well with him,
making demands on him.


541
00:33:32,999 --> 00:33:35,585
So they recorded 45 minutes
of him doing stand-up.


542
00:33:35,585 --> 00:33:37,462
They had ten seconds they could use.


543
00:33:37,462 --> 00:33:39,756
A lot of people here
might be offended.


544
00:33:39,756 --> 00:33:42,842
So you should leave, because
I'm going to say fuck and suck.


545
00:33:44,719 --> 00:33:47,430
And shit and doo-doo.


546
00:33:47,430 --> 00:33:50,975
It's amazing that he got things
on that he got on, but it's only


547
00:33:50,975 --> 00:33:54,145
because 90% of what
he wanted to get on he didn't get on


548
00:33:54,145 --> 00:33:56,481
that 10% of it
actually got through them,


549
00:33:56,481 --> 00:33:59,901
because they couldn't fight with him
that much.


550
00:33:59,901 --> 00:34:02,028
Those bells again!


551
00:34:02,028 --> 00:34:04,405
That was it. He went out swinging.


552
00:34:07,534 --> 00:34:11,037
Well, good night. See you next week.


553
00:34:20,588 --> 00:34:23,341
And we're delighted to have
with us two of the very best friends


554
00:34:23,341 --> 00:34:27,929
I have who dropped by,
Miss Pam Grier and Mr Richard Pryor.


555
00:34:33,476 --> 00:34:38,481
Richard was dating Pam Grier. You
know, she was crazy about that guy.


556
00:34:38,481 --> 00:34:42,110
We bumped into each other on the set
of Greased Lightning, in which


557
00:34:42,110 --> 00:34:46,489
we were both starring in, which
will be released some time in April.


558
00:34:46,489 --> 00:34:49,367
You say you bumped
into each other. Yes, we bumped.


559
00:34:49,367 --> 00:34:52,620
That must have been
quite a collision.


560
00:34:53,788 --> 00:34:57,584
I know that Richard's grandmother
wanted Richard to marry Pam.


561
00:34:57,584 --> 00:35:00,128
She thought she was certainly
an accomplished actress.


562
00:35:00,128 --> 00:35:04,465
She was black and she was a healthy
girl. She wasn't a party girl.


563
00:35:04,465 --> 00:35:06,634
I'll be jogging in the morning,
police.


564
00:35:06,634 --> 00:35:09,971
Me and Rashan, two black men,
will be jogging.


565
00:35:09,971 --> 00:35:12,348
We're not robbing anything.


566
00:35:12,348 --> 00:35:14,350
Richard was completely sober.


567
00:35:14,350 --> 00:35:17,187
He played tennis
every morning at seven o'clock.


568
00:35:17,187 --> 00:35:20,440
It was a Richard I had not seen.


569
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,525
Richard came into my office
and said,


570
00:35:22,525 --> 00:35:24,485
"I'm getting married tomorrow."


571
00:35:24,485 --> 00:35:29,199
I'll be late.
I said, "Wow! Congratulations!"


572
00:35:29,199 --> 00:35:31,075
That's fucking great.


573
00:35:31,075 --> 00:35:34,162
# Baby, save me


574
00:35:34,162 --> 00:35:38,166
# From this heart of mine... #


575
00:35:39,417 --> 00:35:41,669
I had a cake this big.


576
00:35:41,669 --> 00:35:45,882
Congratulations, Richard and Pam.


577
00:35:45,882 --> 00:35:49,719
# I can't sleep at night
It's taking over... #


578
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:53,264
My phone rings and Pam says,
"You tell the son of a bitch


579
00:35:53,264 --> 00:35:55,975
"I'm coming down
and I'm going to kill him."


580
00:35:58,770 --> 00:36:01,940
Richard Pryor had married a girl


581
00:36:01,940 --> 00:36:05,360
he got pregnant. And he walks in.


582
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,111
I start moving the cake out.


583
00:36:07,111 --> 00:36:09,572
He looks at the cake and realises
it's Pamela there


584
00:36:09,572 --> 00:36:11,699
and here's Richard
with this other woman.


585
00:36:11,699 --> 00:36:15,078
There was a prompt card,
and it had plastic flowers on.


586
00:36:15,078 --> 00:36:18,039
I shoved it
in the middle of the cake,


587
00:36:18,039 --> 00:36:21,668
to blur out Pam and Richard.


588
00:36:21,668 --> 00:36:24,879
A lot of people were surprised
that Richard married Deborah,


589
00:36:24,879 --> 00:36:27,882
because it did come out of,
sort of come out of nowhere.


590
00:36:27,882 --> 00:36:31,344
There were many women
in Richard's life.


591
00:36:31,344 --> 00:36:33,763
I recognised and he told me this,


592
00:36:33,763 --> 00:36:36,099
that they wouldn't be around
that long.


593
00:36:36,099 --> 00:36:38,434
This is about the time
I'd been married,


594
00:36:38,434 --> 00:36:42,313
and it was really exciting
because I really am trying,


595
00:36:42,313 --> 00:36:46,109
I really am trying.


596
00:36:46,109 --> 00:36:50,029
I'm telling you I'm fucking trying,
OK?


597
00:36:50,029 --> 00:36:55,743
But it's hard to wake up and see the
same person all the fucking time.


598
00:36:55,743 --> 00:37:00,999
Richard had, I done forgotten now.
Eight, nine, 12 wives. I don't know.


599
00:37:00,999 --> 00:37:06,796
But I know that all of them was what
they was to him when they was.


600
00:37:08,256 --> 00:37:13,261
Was once was.
Richard had a pimp's mentality.


601
00:37:13,261 --> 00:37:16,848
He pretends like he's controllable.
He's like a spider.


602
00:37:16,848 --> 00:37:19,350
That's to lure you in till you get
caught in the web.


603
00:37:19,350 --> 00:37:22,520
Richard had a compulsion
to be married,


604
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:24,105
because he didn't want to be alone.


605
00:37:24,105 --> 00:37:28,193
But once he would marry,
the magic would be off.


606
00:37:28,193 --> 00:37:35,491
It would be gone because he won. If
he wanted you, you had that power.


607
00:37:35,491 --> 00:37:38,620
And usually that would
just about last until he got you.


608
00:37:38,620 --> 00:37:41,206
And then it would be time to go
after another woman.


609
00:37:41,206 --> 00:37:43,249
And that was the game with Richard.


610
00:37:43,249 --> 00:37:44,918
Then the whole
fun of the game was,


611
00:37:44,918 --> 00:37:46,878
"How do I get this bitch
out of my house?"


612
00:37:46,878 --> 00:37:51,925
I was the best man at a wedding
with Jennifer in Hana, Maui.


613
00:37:51,925 --> 00:37:55,595
And the next morning after
the wedding, I was in my room,


614
00:37:55,595 --> 00:37:58,806
and about seven in the morning,
there is a knock on the door.


615
00:37:58,806 --> 00:38:01,684
I go and open the door,
and there's Richard Pryor.


616
00:38:01,684 --> 00:38:06,523
I said, "Richard, what are you doing
here at seven in the morning?"


617
00:38:06,523 --> 00:38:09,150
And he says, "I want a divorce."


618
00:38:09,150 --> 00:38:12,445
No, I'd like to die like my father
died.


619
00:38:12,445 --> 00:38:15,573
Right, my father died fucking.


620
00:38:15,573 --> 00:38:21,204
He did. My father was 57 when
he died, right. The woman was 18.


621
00:38:21,204 --> 00:38:24,624
My father came and went
at the same time.


622
00:38:29,254 --> 00:38:32,674
Would you like to introduce our next
guest? Yes, who? Your grandmother.


623
00:38:32,674 --> 00:38:35,093
Oh, man, don't do that.


624
00:38:42,642 --> 00:38:46,020
I'm told that you run
a pool hall. Yes, I do.


625
00:38:46,020 --> 00:38:48,106
Did Richard spend much
time in the pool hall?


626
00:38:48,106 --> 00:38:50,859
Yes, he used to come down there
and shoot pool after school.


627
00:38:50,859 --> 00:38:53,403
They used to cuss in the pool
room before she took over.


628
00:38:53,403 --> 00:38:55,488
Now the language is, "Why you..."


629
00:38:56,948 --> 00:38:58,533
I keep them in their place.


630
00:38:58,533 --> 00:39:01,369
See, I'm an old lady
and I stay in old ladies place


631
00:39:01,369 --> 00:39:04,873
and I respect them young men,
and they must respect me,
isn't that right?


632
00:39:04,873 --> 00:39:06,416
That's exactly right.


633
00:39:06,416 --> 00:39:08,001
APPLAUSE


634
00:39:09,961 --> 00:39:12,088
I remember meeting Marie Carter.


635
00:39:12,088 --> 00:39:15,300
She's a grandmother
that you see in books.


636
00:39:15,300 --> 00:39:20,180
She had the long white hair
and she was dressed very smart.


637
00:39:20,180 --> 00:39:25,351
I bow to her. And this old bitch
hit me in my chest so hard.


638
00:39:25,351 --> 00:39:26,519
Boom!


639
00:39:28,313 --> 00:39:32,442
And I felt the breath leave out
and before I let her hit me again,


640
00:39:32,442 --> 00:39:34,527
I rushed and started choking.


641
00:39:34,527 --> 00:39:36,779
And he started laughing at me.


642
00:39:36,779 --> 00:39:39,657
She'd laugh like it was
the funniest shit she had seen.


643
00:39:39,657 --> 00:39:43,912
And Richard stood to the left and he
said, "That's my grandmother, man."


644
00:39:47,290 --> 00:39:51,211
I was born Richard Franklin Lennox
Thomas Pryor III.


645
00:39:52,837 --> 00:39:55,507
I got names from pimps
and gangsters.


646
00:39:55,507 --> 00:40:01,387
Grew up seeing my mother
go into rooms with men


647
00:40:01,387 --> 00:40:03,598
and my aunties go into rooms
with men.


648
00:40:03,598 --> 00:40:06,309
I remember tricks used to come
through our neighbourhood.


649
00:40:06,309 --> 00:40:08,144
That's where I first met
white people.


650
00:40:08,144 --> 00:40:11,272
They come down through our
neighbourhood to help the economy.


651
00:40:11,272 --> 00:40:12,982
Man, but I met nice white men.


652
00:40:12,982 --> 00:40:16,611
"Hello, little boy, is your mother
home? I'd like a blowjob."


653
00:40:17,654 --> 00:40:21,699
When he told us about it, we
laughed. "Get the fuck out of here.


654
00:40:21,699 --> 00:40:26,538
"Your mother sucked dick?"
We didn't really grasp it.


655
00:40:26,538 --> 00:40:30,333
And when you realise it really
happened. It wasn't jokes.


656
00:40:30,333 --> 00:40:35,171
It makes us, if you didn't have that
experience go, "What is that like?"


657
00:40:35,171 --> 00:40:39,008
And how do you maintain love?
His uncle and his daddy were pimps.


658
00:40:40,593 --> 00:40:45,098
I'm talking about not no play pimps,
real pimps.


659
00:40:45,098 --> 00:40:48,309
Them guys would pimp a Barbie doll.


660
00:40:48,309 --> 00:40:50,603
"Bitch, go out and get the money."


661
00:40:50,603 --> 00:40:54,607
The grandmother was the madam
in chief of the whole operation.


662
00:40:54,607 --> 00:40:58,903
Basically, keep the girls in line.
Keep the johns in line.


663
00:40:58,903 --> 00:41:01,072
That's when I realised who she was.


664
00:41:01,072 --> 00:41:04,951
In terms of this is the whole house,
she runs everything.


665
00:41:04,951 --> 00:41:07,078
You know, she lived in the south
side in Peoria


666
00:41:07,078 --> 00:41:09,539
and she could sleep with
the door unlocked.


667
00:41:09,539 --> 00:41:12,542
People knew you're not coming
up in this house.


668
00:41:12,542 --> 00:41:16,337
You know if you do come up in the
house, you know what's going to
happen.


669
00:41:17,964 --> 00:41:21,968
The grandmother was
the matriarch of the family,


670
00:41:21,968 --> 00:41:25,054
upon whom everybody else's
survival depended.


671
00:41:25,054 --> 00:41:30,977
She was Richard's nurturer,
the punisher, the disciplinarian.


672
00:41:30,977 --> 00:41:32,687
Everything rolled into one.


673
00:41:32,687 --> 00:41:34,689
My grandmother would wake my ass up,
you know.


674
00:41:34,689 --> 00:41:39,485
"Get your ass, put your hand up.
Don't you run from me.


675
00:41:39,485 --> 00:41:43,990
"Don't you run...from...me."


676
00:41:43,990 --> 00:41:49,370
You were 15 years old when your first
child was born? Yeah. Yeah.


677
00:41:51,122 --> 00:41:54,709
How could you... It was fun.
And then after she was born?


678
00:41:54,709 --> 00:41:57,003
I didn't know my father was
making love to her too.


679
00:41:57,003 --> 00:41:59,839
And I was standing in the dining
room crying.


680
00:41:59,839 --> 00:42:02,217
My mother said,
"What's wrong with the boy, Bucky?"


681
00:42:02,217 --> 00:42:04,385
My father said,
"Ain't nothing wrong with him.


682
00:42:04,385 --> 00:42:06,596
"He got some girl pregnant."


683
00:42:08,264 --> 00:42:12,560
I think, when you grow
up around a bordello, you see


684
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:17,106
people at their very core, in a way.


685
00:42:17,106 --> 00:42:21,319
There's no facade,
there's no masks on.


686
00:42:23,446 --> 00:42:27,575
I don't know what it was
that made me that way,


687
00:42:27,575 --> 00:42:29,369
that could laugh at anything.


688
00:42:31,162 --> 00:42:36,334
Nothing was too sad, some humour
could not be found in it.


689
00:42:38,795 --> 00:42:43,174
His sensitivity made him
so brilliant as a comedian.


690
00:42:43,174 --> 00:42:48,847
But some things were so painful
that he wanted to be somewhere else.


691
00:42:48,847 --> 00:42:53,726
I think if you are a sensitive
type that it...


692
00:42:54,769 --> 00:42:57,188
that you self-medicate.


693
00:42:57,188 --> 00:42:59,107
It's easier to self-medicate.


694
00:43:02,402 --> 00:43:07,031
I snorted cocaine for about 15
years. I must have snorted up Peru.


695
00:43:09,909 --> 00:43:13,288
He'd do a line and drink some
Courvoisier. That's lunch.


696
00:43:14,664 --> 00:43:16,082
Go back to work.


697
00:43:16,082 --> 00:43:20,086
Watching Dad doing drugs, you know,
doing some lines or smoking...


698
00:43:20,086 --> 00:43:23,673
those were things
that you didn't really question.


699
00:43:23,673 --> 00:43:27,760
Listen, I was doing so much,
I embarrassed cocaine dealers.


700
00:43:29,220 --> 00:43:31,931
They would say,
"Richard, man, God damn.


701
00:43:33,224 --> 00:43:35,268
"Well, how much do you want?"
"Kilo.


702
00:43:37,312 --> 00:43:38,688
"Just for the weekend."


703
00:43:40,648 --> 00:43:43,902
A lot of people came to the house
to play cards, hang out.


704
00:43:43,902 --> 00:43:47,780
For the drugs, of course,
because he bought coke by the key.


705
00:43:47,780 --> 00:43:51,951
Low-lifes, drug dealers,
card people, hookers.


706
00:43:51,951 --> 00:43:53,828
I don't like cocaine, I love it.


707
00:43:53,828 --> 00:43:55,705
And that's why
I have to stay away from it.


708
00:43:55,705 --> 00:43:57,624
I enjoyed it for a long time.


709
00:43:57,624 --> 00:43:59,667
Maybe you want to change
your whole life


710
00:43:59,667 --> 00:44:02,462
and you swear tomorrow
I'll never do this again.


711
00:44:02,462 --> 00:44:03,963
Success doesn't change you.


712
00:44:03,963 --> 00:44:06,674
It only magnifies
who you've been all your life.


713
00:44:06,674 --> 00:44:10,303
And success magnified
the kid from Peoria with Richard.


714
00:44:10,303 --> 00:44:14,557
But now he had endless money,
endless fame.


715
00:44:14,557 --> 00:44:18,561
When he would betray himself,
which he did with some frequency,


716
00:44:18,561 --> 00:44:22,899
he thought that that betrayal
belonged to everyone else.


717
00:44:22,899 --> 00:44:25,026
If he was in a particularly
good mood


718
00:44:25,026 --> 00:44:27,487
and he was being nice to everybody,
he could charm


719
00:44:27,487 --> 00:44:31,407
anyone on the set and then he would
go home that night and stew


720
00:44:31,407 --> 00:44:35,995
and say, "What kind of Tom am I?
I'm everybody's black pal."


721
00:44:35,995 --> 00:44:38,081
And the next day, he would be mean.


722
00:44:38,081 --> 00:44:42,460
Richard was about
13 different personalities.


723
00:44:42,460 --> 00:44:45,797
Nine of them you could deal with.


724
00:44:45,797 --> 00:44:49,300
But them other four could be
a motherfucker now.


725
00:44:49,300 --> 00:44:52,095
Richard was very intense...


726
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:59,102
..about his personal pride. And
he didn't care where it took him.


727
00:44:59,102 --> 00:45:05,483
There was a huge benefit for gay
pride at the Hollywood Bowl.


728
00:45:06,860 --> 00:45:11,406
A lot of performers
were at the Hollywood Bowl


729
00:45:11,406 --> 00:45:12,866
to lend their support,


730
00:45:12,866 --> 00:45:14,617
Richard being one of them.


731
00:45:14,617 --> 00:45:18,621
Richie came on, and the audience
was waiting for him.


732
00:45:18,621 --> 00:45:20,874
Great applause, and he said,
"You know,


733
00:45:20,874 --> 00:45:26,212
"I've sucked some cock myself." That
was the first thing that he said.


734
00:45:26,212 --> 00:45:30,425
I thought, "Uh-oh. Here we go." But
the audience, of course, cheered.


735
00:45:30,425 --> 00:45:34,053
And then he went on to just
really go a little nuts.


736
00:45:51,863 --> 00:45:54,365
They wanted to shock,
because it was the truth.


737
00:45:54,365 --> 00:45:57,410
And the truth defends itself.
And it was quiet.


738
00:45:57,410 --> 00:46:00,622
It was quiet. You could hear a rat
pissing on cotton in Georgia.


739
00:46:00,622 --> 00:46:02,165
I mean, it was real quiet.


740
00:46:15,595 --> 00:46:19,599
Y'all can just kiss my rich,
black ass.


741
00:46:19,599 --> 00:46:24,604
And walked off. So...


742
00:46:24,604 --> 00:46:26,731
Centre stage. Hello, everybody.


743
00:46:26,731 --> 00:46:27,982
I'm terribly embarrassed


744
00:46:27,982 --> 00:46:30,693
and I don't know what to
say about what just happened.


745
00:46:30,693 --> 00:46:32,403
But I do think...


746
00:46:35,156 --> 00:46:38,743
May I please finish talking?
They stood up.


747
00:46:38,743 --> 00:46:43,081
Booing, hissing, throwing some
chairs.


748
00:46:43,081 --> 00:46:46,668
It was the scariest event
that I've ever been at.


749
00:46:47,752 --> 00:46:49,921
Everyone in showbusiness was there.


750
00:46:49,921 --> 00:46:52,340
I thought, "We're never going
to hear from him again."


751
00:46:55,927 --> 00:46:57,554
I got a call from David Franklin,


752
00:46:57,554 --> 00:47:01,182
and he said, "Ce-Ce-Cecil,"
cos he stuttered.


753
00:47:01,182 --> 00:47:04,060
He said,
"R-Richard fucked up l-last night."


754
00:47:05,270 --> 00:47:08,523
So I drove over to Richard's house,
and nobody was in the house.


755
00:47:08,523 --> 00:47:10,859
I went out, and he was
sitting by a swimming pool.


756
00:47:10,859 --> 00:47:13,236
He was smoking a cigarette,
and he had a scotch


757
00:47:13,236 --> 00:47:16,406
and an orange juice
and vodka was his drink.


758
00:47:16,406 --> 00:47:20,285
And I said, "Man, what happened?"
He said, "Man, fuck it, man.


759
00:47:20,285 --> 00:47:23,746
He said, "I just told them to kiss
my ass." "But why?"


760
00:47:23,746 --> 00:47:26,249
He said,
"If that's the way they want me,


761
00:47:26,249 --> 00:47:28,334
"I don't have a career
any damn way."


762
00:47:31,629 --> 00:47:35,008
It wasn't Hollywood that beat him
in any way.


763
00:47:35,008 --> 00:47:38,511
He defeated himself
with what his bad habits were.


764
00:47:41,723 --> 00:47:43,016
Pryor went to court


765
00:47:43,016 --> 00:47:45,435
because of an incident
at his home on New Year's Day.


766
00:47:45,435 --> 00:47:48,938
He's been charged with two counts
of assault with a deadly weapon


767
00:47:48,938 --> 00:47:51,482
and one count of felony
malicious mischief.


768
00:47:51,482 --> 00:47:57,113
I don't want to never see no more
police in my life.


769
00:47:57,113 --> 00:47:59,199
At my house.


770
00:48:00,241 --> 00:48:01,993
Taking my ass to jail.


771
00:48:04,162 --> 00:48:05,705
For killing my car.


772
00:48:07,582 --> 00:48:10,168
I shot the motor. The motor fell
out of the motherfucker.


773
00:48:10,168 --> 00:48:11,586
The motor say, "Fuck it."


774
00:48:13,755 --> 00:48:15,423
Then the police came.


775
00:48:15,423 --> 00:48:16,591
I went into the house.


776
00:48:17,675 --> 00:48:19,928
Cos they got Magnums too.


777
00:48:21,804 --> 00:48:26,100
And they don't kill
cars...they kill nigg-ah.


778
00:48:27,143 --> 00:48:29,270
You know, Richard Pryor
was always in the news.


779
00:48:29,270 --> 00:48:31,814
Richard Pryor shoots his car.


780
00:48:31,814 --> 00:48:34,692
Richard Pryor has a heart attack.


781
00:48:34,692 --> 00:48:37,779
He ran into these tragedies
one after another.


782
00:48:37,779 --> 00:48:40,990
But you also knew that three months
would go by or six months


783
00:48:40,990 --> 00:48:42,909
would go by or a year
would go by, and then


784
00:48:42,909 --> 00:48:45,495
he was going to bring
this experience back to you.


785
00:48:45,495 --> 00:48:49,874
Anyone here ever had a heart attack?
Them motherfuckers hurt.


786
00:48:49,874 --> 00:48:53,127
I'm not bullshitting, man.
I was walking in the front yard.


787
00:48:53,127 --> 00:48:56,673
I was just walking along,
and something said, "Don't breathe."


788
00:48:58,341 --> 00:49:00,593
I said, "Huh?"
"You heard me, motherfucker.


789
00:49:00,593 --> 00:49:03,346
"I said, 'Don't breathe.' "


790
00:49:03,346 --> 00:49:07,392
"OK, I won't breathe."
"Then shut the fuck up, then." "OK.


791
00:49:07,392 --> 00:49:12,355
"Don't kill me." "Get on one knee
and prove it." "I'm on one knee."


792
00:49:12,355 --> 00:49:16,276
"Thinking about dying now, ain't
you?" "Yeah, I'm thinking about
dying."


793
00:49:16,276 --> 00:49:19,904
"You didn't think about it
when you was eating all that pork."


794
00:49:39,549 --> 00:49:42,719
We was on the road
and seen Marie Carter


795
00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:45,346
every day while she was dying.


796
00:49:45,346 --> 00:49:48,808
We'd do the shows,
go check on his grandmother.


797
00:49:48,808 --> 00:49:51,060
She said, "You watch out for my boy."


798
00:49:51,060 --> 00:49:54,689
She was dying, and basically they
said, "You have to get here now."


799
00:49:54,689 --> 00:49:56,566
So we rushed there.


800
00:49:56,566 --> 00:49:58,776
We went into her hospital room.


801
00:49:58,776 --> 00:50:02,739
I remember she touched
his camel-hair coat.


802
00:50:02,739 --> 00:50:05,408
And said, "That's blue azure.


803
00:50:05,408 --> 00:50:06,910
"Is it warm enough?"


804
00:50:08,536 --> 00:50:10,622
And he said,
"Yes, Mom, it's warm enough."


805
00:50:12,165 --> 00:50:16,794
We went back to the hotel,
and she died a few hours later.


806
00:50:35,897 --> 00:50:39,192
Like my grandmother, Marie,
used to say, "They can kill you,


807
00:50:39,192 --> 00:50:41,236
"but they can't eat you."


808
00:50:43,238 --> 00:50:44,822
I love you, Grandmother.


809
00:50:44,822 --> 00:50:47,659
Wherever you are.


810
00:50:47,659 --> 00:50:52,497
She was his conduit to reality,
to the world.


811
00:50:52,497 --> 00:50:57,085
To everything that tethered him
to earth.


812
00:50:57,085 --> 00:51:00,547
And I really think that that's
when he started to come apart.


813
00:51:05,677 --> 00:51:08,263
Dr Al Canning came
and told Richard and he said,


814
00:51:08,263 --> 00:51:10,640
"When you finish going
through this...


815
00:51:12,225 --> 00:51:15,436
"..go to Africa. You need to find
out something about yourself."


816
00:51:15,436 --> 00:51:18,356
MUSIC: "Stand Up"
by Lee Fields and Sugarmen & Co


817
00:51:23,820 --> 00:51:25,363
# Stand up


818
00:51:25,363 --> 00:51:29,158
# Let's get it right


819
00:51:29,158 --> 00:51:31,286
# Stand up


820
00:51:31,286 --> 00:51:33,663
# Let's keep it tight. #


821
00:51:33,663 --> 00:51:37,458
I went home to the motherland.
I was going to find my roots.


822
00:51:37,458 --> 00:51:42,005
700 million black people - not
one of them motherfuckers knew me.


823
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:46,801
I looked in every
phone book in Africa.


824
00:51:46,801 --> 00:51:50,180
I didn't find one goddamn Pryor.


825
00:51:50,180 --> 00:51:53,308
What he saw was black people
who were walking around.


826
00:51:53,308 --> 00:51:57,395
Everybody was professional, everybody
had their own lives and purpose.


827
00:51:57,395 --> 00:52:01,149
And he felt really at home
on that land.


828
00:52:01,149 --> 00:52:04,194
I was sitting in the hotel,
and a voice said to me, he said,


829
00:52:04,194 --> 00:52:07,363
"Look around,"
said, "do you see any niggers?"


830
00:52:09,240 --> 00:52:12,660
I said, "No." "You know
why? Cos there aren't any."


831
00:52:13,786 --> 00:52:16,998
And it made me think,
"Oh, my God. I've been wrong.


832
00:52:16,998 --> 00:52:20,585
I said, "I ain't going to never
call another black man nigger."


833
00:52:20,585 --> 00:52:22,295
APPLAUSE


834
00:52:24,506 --> 00:52:27,759
He really had this epiphany
that he was never going to use


835
00:52:27,759 --> 00:52:29,010
the word again.


836
00:52:30,386 --> 00:52:33,640
When he came back, he said,
"I'm not going to use that no more."


837
00:52:35,058 --> 00:52:36,226
And he stuck with it.


838
00:52:37,435 --> 00:52:40,647
When he went to Africa,
the word had no meaning.


839
00:52:42,607 --> 00:52:46,569
But on the streets of Detroit,
it might be something else.


840
00:52:46,569 --> 00:52:49,280
He'd tell the same joke,
just take nigger out.


841
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:50,990
"Oh, he's not funny no more."


842
00:52:52,283 --> 00:52:56,079
So, the punchline
was nigger for y'all?


843
00:52:56,079 --> 00:52:59,082
And that bothered him that
some people just wouldn't elevate.


844
00:53:00,500 --> 00:53:03,127
He was at such a point
of a growth spurt.


845
00:53:04,212 --> 00:53:05,463
And he didn't want the job.


846
00:53:06,798 --> 00:53:11,344
You know, I'm a fucking artist. I do
what I do. Leave me the fuck alone.


847
00:53:11,344 --> 00:53:14,138
And shortly thereafter
freebase was introduced.


848
00:53:17,559 --> 00:53:20,186
At the time,
everybody was doing cocaine.


849
00:53:20,186 --> 00:53:22,814
We were snorting cocaine.


850
00:53:22,814 --> 00:53:27,694
A lot changed when everybody
switched from snorting cocaine


851
00:53:27,694 --> 00:53:29,362
to freebasing cocaine.


852
00:53:30,488 --> 00:53:35,159
Somehow, everybody knew that
this was a really bad thing,


853
00:53:35,159 --> 00:53:36,911
that turned dark.


854
00:53:36,911 --> 00:53:39,122
And he found freebase.


855
00:53:39,122 --> 00:53:41,374
And after two weeks of watching him


856
00:53:41,374 --> 00:53:44,043
get really addicted to this stuff,


857
00:53:44,043 --> 00:53:46,588
I moved out, because it was clear


858
00:53:46,588 --> 00:53:52,051
the drug had moved in and it had
become his lover, his everything.


859
00:53:52,051 --> 00:53:55,889
And I didn't exist any more.


860
00:53:55,889 --> 00:54:00,852
Richard wasn't an addict.
He was a flat-out full-blown junkie.


861
00:54:00,852 --> 00:54:05,398
I mean, he might be clean for
four days but be drinking booze.


862
00:54:05,398 --> 00:54:09,694
Be clean for a week
but just snorting a little coke.


863
00:54:09,694 --> 00:54:12,238
So he was not honest with himself.


864
00:54:15,408 --> 00:54:18,536
June 9th, 1980.


865
00:54:18,536 --> 00:54:23,541
Richard had walked off the set
of Stir Crazy a few days earlier.


866
00:54:23,541 --> 00:54:25,251
The freebase had been escalating.


867
00:54:26,628 --> 00:54:28,755
He was not able to stop.


868
00:54:28,755 --> 00:54:33,218
Richard was so coked out that he
began withdrawing large sums


869
00:54:33,218 --> 00:54:35,929
of money out of the bank.


870
00:54:35,929 --> 00:54:41,351
And I'm talking like 500,000,
100,000, another 250,000.


871
00:54:41,351 --> 00:54:43,686
He was hiding it at his house.


872
00:54:43,686 --> 00:54:45,438
Rashan had called.


873
00:54:45,438 --> 00:54:48,733
He was calling and recruiting several
people that he felt were close


874
00:54:48,733 --> 00:54:51,319
enough to Richard to come to the
house.


875
00:54:51,319 --> 00:54:54,280
To rescue Richard to try to get
Richard to stop.


876
00:54:55,532 --> 00:54:57,992
Richard was in a very scary place.


877
00:54:57,992 --> 00:55:00,954
Richard didn't just have
a couple of ounces of cocaine.


878
00:55:00,954 --> 00:55:05,333
I'm talking about a mound
of cocaine on his bed.


879
00:55:05,333 --> 00:55:07,252
On the bed.


880
00:55:07,252 --> 00:55:11,714
And he had the pipe and the torch,
and he wasn't going to put it down.


881
00:55:11,714 --> 00:55:15,802
You could see that
he was absolutely manic.


882
00:55:15,802 --> 00:55:19,389
When I saw him,
I didn't know him any more.


883
00:55:19,389 --> 00:55:23,893
He looked like something had
been taken from him.


884
00:55:23,893 --> 00:55:27,105
You know, some spirit had been
ripped out of him.


885
00:55:29,941 --> 00:55:36,030
He was high. We were watching
the Vietnam special.


886
00:55:36,030 --> 00:55:41,703
Where they were showing the monks
protest to the war.


887
00:55:41,703 --> 00:55:43,788
And this particular monk
took gasoline


888
00:55:43,788 --> 00:55:46,332
and poured it on himself
and he lit it.


889
00:55:46,332 --> 00:55:49,961
I said to Richard,
"Look at this man's commitment."


890
00:55:49,961 --> 00:55:53,256
And Richard looked at me and said,


891
00:55:53,256 --> 00:55:55,592
"Fuck his commitment,
he didn't even flinch."


892
00:55:57,177 --> 00:56:01,264
He laughed.
And I went up to go to the kitchen.


893
00:56:01,264 --> 00:56:06,019
On my way back to the room, a ball
of fire is running towards me.


894
00:56:07,312 --> 00:56:09,397
And I just jumped out of the way.


895
00:56:09,397 --> 00:56:11,900
I seen it run past me, and I got up
against the wall,


896
00:56:11,900 --> 00:56:13,651
and it run down this long hallway


897
00:56:13,651 --> 00:56:16,613
and then outside
and then I see it outside, running.


898
00:56:16,613 --> 00:56:18,072
Ball of fire.


899
00:56:22,952 --> 00:56:28,249
In Richard's room before I leave,
there was a fifth of 151 rum.


900
00:56:28,249 --> 00:56:30,668
3/4ths of the bottle was gone.


901
00:56:32,337 --> 00:56:34,589
I got a call saying that Richard


902
00:56:34,589 --> 00:56:37,467
was in an ambulance on the way
to the Grossman Burn Centre.


903
00:56:38,801 --> 00:56:44,557
I called Dr Grossman, who I knew.
And I said, "This guy is my friend.


904
00:56:44,557 --> 00:56:46,226
"Make sure he lives."


905
00:56:56,486 --> 00:57:01,115
This is my impression of a heart
talking to a brain.


906
00:57:01,115 --> 00:57:02,825
HE IMPERSONATES A HEARTBEAT


907
00:57:05,870 --> 00:57:08,456
Brain.


908
00:57:10,041 --> 00:57:11,501
Brain.


909
00:57:14,963 --> 00:57:16,506
What do you want?


910
00:57:19,634 --> 00:57:21,594
You've been naughty.


911
00:57:23,847 --> 00:57:25,181
Go to hell.


912
00:57:27,767 --> 00:57:29,477
Don't make me angry, brain.


913
00:57:32,605 --> 00:57:33,815
Drop dead.


914
00:57:38,111 --> 00:57:39,946
LAUGHTER


915
00:57:55,670 --> 00:57:57,839
The police had just
brought in a burn victim


916
00:57:57,839 --> 00:58:00,633
who had been running down the street.


917
00:58:00,633 --> 00:58:02,760
And he was awake.


918
00:58:02,760 --> 00:58:08,641
He had burns of his face, neck,
chest, abdomen, back and arms.


919
00:58:08,641 --> 00:58:11,811
That was like 35-40%
of his body burnt.


920
00:58:11,811 --> 00:58:15,440
Dr Grossman told me that based
on the severe extent of those burns,


921
00:58:15,440 --> 00:58:18,151
there was almost no chance
he would live.


922
00:58:19,777 --> 00:58:24,532
I flew back to Los Angeles
and went the Sherman Oaks Burn Centre


923
00:58:24,532 --> 00:58:28,995
where everyone else was having
a vigil about Richard.


924
00:58:28,995 --> 00:58:30,705
The word kept coming out.


925
00:58:30,705 --> 00:58:33,124
Everybody kept saying
that Richard had died.


926
00:58:33,124 --> 00:58:36,377
When he got burned, all of them
showed up at the hospital.


927
00:58:36,377 --> 00:58:39,297
And I had to turn
to a security guard.


928
00:58:39,297 --> 00:58:41,716
I said, "Them bitches
was about to kill people


929
00:58:41,716 --> 00:58:44,928
"if you couldn't let him
go to the burns centre."


930
00:58:47,972 --> 00:58:49,641
I told the doctor's,


931
00:58:49,641 --> 00:58:53,895
"He's on Courvoisier,
he's on vodka, he's on cocaine."


932
00:58:53,895 --> 00:58:58,024
Cos I knew, you give him morphine,
you could overdose him.


933
00:59:01,110 --> 00:59:04,697
On my desk at the studio, I had
a phone that Mr Wasserman,


934
00:59:04,697 --> 00:59:06,157
the chairman of the company,


935
00:59:06,157 --> 00:59:08,826
used to call me on, and nobody
else used that phone.


936
00:59:08,826 --> 00:59:12,038
It ran at ten o'clock one morning.


937
00:59:12,038 --> 00:59:16,084
And I said, "Hello,"
and I heard a voice say...


938
00:59:16,084 --> 00:59:18,962
HE EXHALES


939
00:59:18,962 --> 00:59:20,755
And I said, "Who's this?"


940
00:59:20,755 --> 00:59:23,174
HE EXHALES


941
00:59:23,174 --> 00:59:25,844
And I realised it's Richard.


942
00:59:25,844 --> 00:59:28,221
And he said...


943
00:59:28,221 --> 00:59:31,558
"Am I going to die?"


944
00:59:31,558 --> 00:59:33,810
And I said, "No, Richard,
you're not going to die."


945
00:59:33,810 --> 00:59:35,520
And then he hung up.


946
00:59:35,520 --> 00:59:37,021
And I called the doctor, I said,


947
00:59:37,021 --> 00:59:41,109
"There's a fucking phone in
Richard's room next to his bed."


948
00:59:41,109 --> 00:59:42,610
And he said, "What?!"


949
00:59:42,610 --> 00:59:46,197
Comedian Richard Pryor,
critically burned Monday night,


950
00:59:46,197 --> 00:59:48,449
was sitting up in
his hospital bed today


951
00:59:48,449 --> 00:59:51,327
and eating Cream of Wheat
and talking to his doctors.


952
00:59:51,327 --> 00:59:55,039
They said his chance of recovery
was still only about one in three,


953
00:59:55,039 --> 00:59:58,293
but they were more optimistic
than they were yesterday.


954
00:59:58,293 --> 01:00:01,296
All day long, I've been hearing
that he's improving.


955
01:00:01,296 --> 01:00:03,256
Is there still a chance
he would die?


956
01:00:03,256 --> 01:00:06,092
I want you to understand
that you have a man who still has


957
01:00:06,092 --> 01:00:08,970
a 50% burn on third-degree nature...


958
01:00:08,970 --> 01:00:11,306
who's very, very sick.


959
01:00:11,306 --> 01:00:15,435
And until all of that burn tissue
is taken off of his body...


960
01:00:15,435 --> 01:00:19,314
and covered with grafts - which will
require a number of operations -


961
01:00:19,314 --> 01:00:21,441
he's going to be that sick.


962
01:00:21,441 --> 01:00:25,987
A burn, you know, you got to let it
form a scab first before,


963
01:00:25,987 --> 01:00:29,157
then you got to brush that off.


964
01:00:29,157 --> 01:00:32,076
He was crying like
a baby, rightly so.


965
01:00:32,076 --> 01:00:36,623
And when that guy hit that brush
and did all this here,


966
01:00:36,623 --> 01:00:42,170
I could see not the pain at that
time but the pain in his life.


967
01:00:42,170 --> 01:00:43,713
That come back.


968
01:00:43,713 --> 01:00:45,340
Cos he starts talking.


969
01:00:45,340 --> 01:00:47,634
"Mom, I didn't mean to do it.


970
01:00:47,634 --> 01:00:49,427
"Mama, I didn't want to do it."


971
01:00:52,931 --> 01:00:55,850
Everybody had said
it was an accident.


972
01:00:55,850 --> 01:00:58,269
He said, "No, no,
I did it on purpose.


973
01:00:58,269 --> 01:01:03,107
"I poured the rum on myself
and lit myself on fire."


974
01:01:03,107 --> 01:01:06,653
Now keep in mind he was high,
so whether it was...


975
01:01:08,613 --> 01:01:10,240
..an unconscious suicide attempt


976
01:01:10,240 --> 01:01:12,617
or a conscious suicide
attempt, who knows?


977
01:01:12,617 --> 01:01:15,495
But he definitely deliberately
set himself on fire.


978
01:01:15,495 --> 01:01:18,039
I just think he was
in a pain at that moment.


979
01:01:20,500 --> 01:01:22,585
And liked to smoke.


980
01:01:22,585 --> 01:01:26,256
Committed,
but to what, he don't know.


981
01:01:26,256 --> 01:01:28,591
Junkies are just dumb.


982
01:01:28,591 --> 01:01:30,009
They do dumb shit.


983
01:01:30,009 --> 01:01:32,428
They set themselves on fire.


984
01:01:32,428 --> 01:01:37,725
But then I'm sure he went, "What's
that smell? Hey, I think that's me.


985
01:01:37,725 --> 01:01:40,687
"Aargh!" And that's what
he basically says he did.


986
01:01:40,687 --> 01:01:44,190
It's almost like jumping
off a building.


987
01:01:44,190 --> 01:01:45,483
And then you lived.


988
01:01:45,483 --> 01:01:47,151
You fucked up.


989
01:01:47,151 --> 01:01:48,736
But you lived.


990
01:01:48,736 --> 01:01:50,321
I tried to commit suicide.


991
01:01:55,785 --> 01:01:57,537
Intentionally?


992
01:01:57,537 --> 01:01:59,330
That's all I want to say.


993
01:02:03,710 --> 01:02:05,128
Next question.


994
01:02:06,963 --> 01:02:08,923
It didn't work.


995
01:02:08,923 --> 01:02:10,675
Yes, it did.


996
01:02:10,675 --> 01:02:13,303
You killed the old Richard Pryor?


997
01:02:13,303 --> 01:02:14,804
Yeah, that person's dead.


998
01:02:18,683 --> 01:02:20,226
Was a horrible man.


999
01:02:27,400 --> 01:02:29,611
An executive from one
of the studios called me


1000
01:02:29,611 --> 01:02:32,780
and asked me to go see him,
because he needed help.


1001
01:02:32,780 --> 01:02:38,244
So I flew over to Maui,
and he came out to greet me.


1002
01:02:38,244 --> 01:02:41,831
I could see the burns all over him.


1003
01:02:41,831 --> 01:02:44,167
And I was kind of taken aback.


1004
01:02:44,167 --> 01:02:48,213
And I remember he looked down, he
said, "Don't worry, my junk is OK.


1005
01:02:48,213 --> 01:02:50,089
"I still got my junk."


1006
01:02:50,089 --> 01:02:54,802
I thought, "OK!" And I shook
his hand, and we started talking.


1007
01:02:54,802 --> 01:02:58,014
And I learned that he was dead
broke, owned money to the IRS.


1008
01:02:58,014 --> 01:03:00,099
And he thought his career was over.


1009
01:03:00,099 --> 01:03:03,811
What we discovered was there
was a lot of inconsistencies,


1010
01:03:03,811 --> 01:03:05,855
financial inconsistencies.


1011
01:03:05,855 --> 01:03:08,858
Richard suspected that
David Franklin


1012
01:03:08,858 --> 01:03:11,361
and his lawyers were cheating him.


1013
01:03:11,361 --> 01:03:15,657
People came in and they uncovered
a lot of these business dealings


1014
01:03:15,657 --> 01:03:17,700
that were crooked.


1015
01:03:17,700 --> 01:03:20,411
Richard sued David Franklin.


1016
01:03:20,411 --> 01:03:23,957
And got a million dollars back,
but the most important thing


1017
01:03:23,957 --> 01:03:27,752
to Richard was getting David
to apologise to him.


1018
01:03:27,752 --> 01:03:31,381
That was more important to Richard
than the million dollars.


1019
01:03:32,841 --> 01:03:35,468
I had to figure out where
he was financially,


1020
01:03:35,468 --> 01:03:37,428
and he owed a lot of money
to a lot of people,


1021
01:03:37,428 --> 01:03:41,182
and I came up with an idea
for him to do a concert movie.


1022
01:03:43,059 --> 01:03:45,562
He was really needing to heal.


1023
01:03:45,562 --> 01:03:49,482
And the lawyer said to him, "You got
to get back on that horse now,


1024
01:03:49,482 --> 01:03:52,277
"it's your time. If you don't it now,
you're never going to do it.


1025
01:03:52,277 --> 01:03:54,153
"They're going to forget you."


1026
01:03:54,153 --> 01:03:57,323
The worst thing Richard
could have done was come back.


1027
01:03:57,323 --> 01:03:59,701
He wanted to go back to work.


1028
01:03:59,701 --> 01:04:01,911
You got to understand something,


1029
01:04:01,911 --> 01:04:04,747
you don't make Richard Pryor
do anything.


1030
01:04:04,747 --> 01:04:09,669
Richard Pryor has to WANT
to do whatever he's doing.


1031
01:04:09,669 --> 01:04:11,462
I'm going to see Richard Pryor!


1032
01:04:14,007 --> 01:04:15,508
Yeah!


1033
01:04:15,508 --> 01:04:17,677
He better be funny!


1034
01:04:17,677 --> 01:04:19,304
Tell Richard he better be funny.


1035
01:04:22,724 --> 01:04:24,475
The who's who of Hollywood,


1036
01:04:24,475 --> 01:04:27,270
they filled the theatre
up at the Palladium.


1037
01:04:29,814 --> 01:04:31,482
Then Richard got on stage.


1038
01:04:32,859 --> 01:04:35,111
And it was the worst show
I've ever seen him do.


1039
01:04:36,988 --> 01:04:39,240
Where was I?


1040
01:04:39,240 --> 01:04:41,117
I was here - what's the date?


1041
01:04:43,453 --> 01:04:45,163
This camera's looking at me.


1042
01:04:45,163 --> 01:04:48,082
MAN: You're doing fine! Thank you,
brother, I needed to hear that.


1043
01:04:48,082 --> 01:04:49,918
APPLAUSE


1044
01:04:49,918 --> 01:04:52,545
He started doing his act backwards.


1045
01:04:52,545 --> 01:04:54,047
And he got confused.


1046
01:04:57,800 --> 01:05:02,096
It was rough, and you just
knew it wasn't going to be OK.


1047
01:05:07,227 --> 01:05:09,020
LAUGHTER


1048
01:05:13,316 --> 01:05:15,026
That mother...


1049
01:05:15,026 --> 01:05:17,195
The Lord doesn't want
me to smoke it.


1050
01:05:19,322 --> 01:05:21,616
MAN: Burn it up.
Burn it up.


1051
01:05:25,370 --> 01:05:27,747
Tough group.


1052
01:05:27,747 --> 01:05:30,708
Richard didn't feel
it was a perfect fit.


1053
01:05:30,708 --> 01:05:32,919
The audience didn't think it was.


1054
01:05:32,919 --> 01:05:36,756
Let me say this to you, this is
honest, this shit didn't work.


1055
01:05:36,756 --> 01:05:38,091
For me, I mean...


1056
01:05:38,091 --> 01:05:41,052
I know y'all laugh
at something.... I feel...


1057
01:05:41,052 --> 01:05:44,681
I wanted it to be something else
that it's not, it's just not there.


1058
01:05:44,681 --> 01:05:48,643
It's just there right at this
moment in time and space, for me.


1059
01:05:48,643 --> 01:05:52,021
And I hope that nobody feels
cheated or nothing, cos at least


1060
01:05:52,021 --> 01:05:55,608
you're getting to see
a motherfucker crucify himself.


1061
01:05:55,608 --> 01:05:59,028
He was supposed to do 90 minutes,
he did about an hour.


1062
01:05:59,028 --> 01:06:00,655
And walked out.


1063
01:06:00,655 --> 01:06:02,198
AUDIENCE MURMURS


1064
01:06:02,198 --> 01:06:03,950
SCATTERED APPLAUSE


1065
01:06:03,950 --> 01:06:06,160
I thought there was going
to be a riot.


1066
01:06:06,160 --> 01:06:08,663
AUDIENCE MURMURS


1067
01:06:11,708 --> 01:06:14,252
He disappeared.


1068
01:06:14,252 --> 01:06:17,964
Of course I was concerned,
but I also know Richard.


1069
01:06:17,964 --> 01:06:21,509
And I knew how resilient he was.


1070
01:06:21,509 --> 01:06:23,720
And I knew that he'd come back.


1071
01:06:26,890 --> 01:06:30,393
The next day, same show, place.


1072
01:06:30,393 --> 01:06:33,813
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE


1073
01:06:33,813 --> 01:06:36,524
He was so upset and he
told all the people that,


1074
01:06:36,524 --> 01:06:38,902
"I'm going to
do it all over for you again,


1075
01:06:38,902 --> 01:06:40,695
"cos I messed the first one up."


1076
01:06:42,197 --> 01:06:45,241
He was going back on stage again.


1077
01:06:45,241 --> 01:06:47,702
He would be accepted or rejected.


1078
01:06:47,702 --> 01:06:50,330
Embraced or pushed aside.


1079
01:06:50,330 --> 01:06:54,709
There was something within him
that said, "Go forward."


1080
01:06:54,709 --> 01:06:56,920
The show was flawless.


1081
01:06:56,920 --> 01:06:59,923
All my friends know this to be true,
cos everybody knows me,


1082
01:06:59,923 --> 01:07:03,635
I usually, before I go to bed,
I have milk and cookies.


1083
01:07:07,847 --> 01:07:11,142
And one night, I had
some low-fat milk...


1084
01:07:11,142 --> 01:07:15,063
and some pasteurised,
and I mixed them together...


1085
01:07:15,063 --> 01:07:17,815
and I dipped my cookie,
and the shit blew up.


1086
01:07:21,319 --> 01:07:23,154
The audience went nuts.


1087
01:07:24,864 --> 01:07:29,035
I mean, I think the laughter
was at least 15 minutes.


1088
01:07:29,035 --> 01:07:33,164
I'll tell you one thing,
when that fire hits your ass...


1089
01:07:33,164 --> 01:07:35,834
that will sober your ass up quick.


1090
01:07:38,253 --> 01:07:41,714
I mean, I was standing there
on fire, and someone said,


1091
01:07:41,714 --> 01:07:43,716
"Why that's a pretty blue.


1092
01:07:45,927 --> 01:07:47,428
"You know what?


1093
01:07:47,428 --> 01:07:51,516
"That looks like...FIRE!"


1094
01:07:51,516 --> 01:07:53,518
And you know something I found out?


1095
01:07:53,518 --> 01:07:56,563
When you're on fire and running
down the street,


1096
01:07:56,563 --> 01:07:58,857
people will get out of your way.


1097
01:08:01,818 --> 01:08:04,112
Except for one old drunk
who's going,


1098
01:08:04,112 --> 01:08:05,989
"Hey, buddy, can I get a light?"


1099
01:08:07,448 --> 01:08:10,159
His latest performance,
Live On The Sunset Strip,


1100
01:08:10,159 --> 01:08:12,787
made his runaway
with the top box office spot.


1101
01:08:12,787 --> 01:08:14,706
Made 8 million in three days.


1102
01:08:14,706 --> 01:08:16,958
Would you welcome Richard Pryor?


1103
01:08:16,958 --> 01:08:18,585
APPLAUSE


1104
01:08:27,093 --> 01:08:29,679
Pryor's firm, headed by long-time
friend Jim Brown,


1105
01:08:29,679 --> 01:08:31,097
entered into a 40 million,


1106
01:08:31,097 --> 01:08:33,850
five-year deal
with Columbia Pictures.


1107
01:08:33,850 --> 01:08:40,523
Richard wanted very badly to elevate
the status of African-Americans.


1108
01:08:40,523 --> 01:08:43,318
Indigo was going to be the first
time that a black person


1109
01:08:43,318 --> 01:08:49,657
had a 40 million deal
with a major studio.


1110
01:08:49,657 --> 01:08:52,911
And so we were going to do films,
we were going to do this,


1111
01:08:52,911 --> 01:08:54,954
do that, we were going
to change the industry.


1112
01:08:54,954 --> 01:08:56,748
This was going to be it.


1113
01:08:57,874 --> 01:09:02,295
The phone rang, and he said, "It's
Richard. What are you doing?"


1114
01:09:02,295 --> 01:09:05,173
I said, "I'm about
to go to the bathroom."


1115
01:09:05,173 --> 01:09:08,009
He said, "After you take a shit,
come over to Columbia."


1116
01:09:08,009 --> 01:09:10,637
Richard Pryor is getting ready
to prepare for his role


1117
01:09:10,637 --> 01:09:14,182
in Jo Jo Dancer. It's a movie
written by himself,


1118
01:09:14,182 --> 01:09:16,935
based loosely on incidents
from his own life.


1119
01:09:16,935 --> 01:09:21,439
He was an actor and
a producer and a director,


1120
01:09:21,439 --> 01:09:23,525
so Richard became a role model.


1121
01:09:25,568 --> 01:09:30,990
He hired Jim Brown to run
the company for him.


1122
01:09:30,990 --> 01:09:34,494
I think he made a decision
to have somebody tough,


1123
01:09:34,494 --> 01:09:40,834
but not somebody who really knew
the film business side of it.


1124
01:09:40,834 --> 01:09:44,003
I brought him the
Prince movie, Purple Rain.


1125
01:09:44,003 --> 01:09:49,050
And he said, "Great." And then Jim
Brown didn't want to do the movie,


1126
01:09:49,050 --> 01:09:54,138
because there wasn't
an all-black crew.


1127
01:09:54,138 --> 01:09:58,351
They kind of let a lot
of mistakes happen.


1128
01:09:58,351 --> 01:10:01,688
Think that was part of the
reason why that company


1129
01:10:01,688 --> 01:10:03,022
didn't take off.


1130
01:10:03,022 --> 01:10:07,235
It was a huge disappointment
for black filmmakers.


1131
01:10:07,235 --> 01:10:10,321
He really wanted to be who he was.
He wanted to be an artist.


1132
01:10:12,282 --> 01:10:13,992
And it was too much pressure.


1133
01:10:21,457 --> 01:10:26,004
Richard began this tragic role
where whites came in


1134
01:10:26,004 --> 01:10:28,214
and just gave him white scripts.


1135
01:10:28,214 --> 01:10:29,883
And that's what did him in.


1136
01:10:33,052 --> 01:10:35,597
I think he appeared in a movie
where he was this kid's toy.


1137
01:10:35,597 --> 01:10:38,808
His career, as far as we were
concerned, went downhill.


1138
01:10:40,518 --> 01:10:44,147
I'm doing a film called
Moving for Warner Brothers.


1139
01:10:44,147 --> 01:10:46,858
What's it about?
About two hours too long.


1140
01:10:49,110 --> 01:10:53,698
Eddie wrote, produced,
was directing Harlem Nights.


1141
01:10:53,698 --> 01:10:57,327
But Richard thought he should have
first credit, not Eddie,


1142
01:10:57,327 --> 01:11:00,747
and Eddie was a much bigger
star at that time than Richard.


1143
01:11:02,498 --> 01:11:04,125
It was finished then.


1144
01:11:04,125 --> 01:11:09,797
The whole thing had been untethered
so long and it never got back.


1145
01:11:15,011 --> 01:11:18,389
Went to The Comedy Store.
Richard wasn't there.


1146
01:11:18,389 --> 01:11:21,184
So I looked at everybody and said,
"Where's Richard?"


1147
01:11:21,184 --> 01:11:22,685
I ran upstairs.


1148
01:11:22,685 --> 01:11:24,312
And this comedian...


1149
01:11:26,189 --> 01:11:30,568
..had Richard against a wall
with the cocaine...


1150
01:11:30,568 --> 01:11:33,279
spoon,
holding it to Richard's nose.


1151
01:11:33,279 --> 01:11:37,200
I went fucking berserk.


1152
01:11:37,200 --> 01:11:41,246
And I put him up against the wall,
and his feet were off the floor.


1153
01:11:41,246 --> 01:11:45,250
And I'm choking him
and yelling at Richard,


1154
01:11:45,250 --> 01:11:47,293
"Da fuck is wrong with you?!"


1155
01:11:47,293 --> 01:11:49,963
I went to see him,
and he was back on drugs.


1156
01:11:49,963 --> 01:11:52,131
And I could see he was high.


1157
01:11:52,131 --> 01:11:54,259
And I said, "Richard...


1158
01:11:54,259 --> 01:11:55,885
"this doesn't work for me.


1159
01:11:55,885 --> 01:11:59,347
"I'm not going to stand by like
everybody did with John Belushi,


1160
01:11:59,347 --> 01:12:00,723
"let you do drugs."


1161
01:12:00,723 --> 01:12:05,854
So I said, "You and I are done
unless you go into rehab."


1162
01:12:05,854 --> 01:12:09,190
And then he sent me a letter firing
me and accusing me of this and this


1163
01:12:09,190 --> 01:12:11,776
and saying I hadn't done this
and I hadn't done that,


1164
01:12:11,776 --> 01:12:13,778
all which was a bunch of nonsense.


1165
01:12:16,072 --> 01:12:18,700
And he was going back...


1166
01:12:18,700 --> 01:12:23,246
to a dark place where he couldn't...
I didn't think would come back from.


1167
01:12:23,246 --> 01:12:26,374
He kind of tried drying out
for a while and he said,


1168
01:12:26,374 --> 01:12:29,711
he said he was too afraid to go
on stage, he was too vulnerable.


1169
01:12:29,711 --> 01:12:32,088
He was really raw.


1170
01:12:32,088 --> 01:12:37,051
It looked like...unlike the fire,
this time he gave up.


1171
01:12:37,051 --> 01:12:39,888
You just watched him begin
to deteriorate in front of you.


1172
01:12:44,100 --> 01:12:46,311
I felt really bad...


1173
01:12:46,311 --> 01:12:48,271
that, uh...


1174
01:12:49,689 --> 01:12:51,107
..that he was going down


1175
01:12:51,107 --> 01:12:56,487
to where I basically tried to help
take him out of. I mean...


1176
01:12:56,487 --> 01:12:58,781
I wanted him to have a good life.


1177
01:12:58,781 --> 01:13:02,869
I felt...I felt bad for him.
Not for me.


1178
01:13:04,746 --> 01:13:07,248
I think it was very self-destructive
on Richard's part.


1179
01:13:07,248 --> 01:13:09,667
I think that was a real
meaningful relationship.


1180
01:13:09,667 --> 01:13:12,879
A relationship of substance,
I should say.


1181
01:13:12,879 --> 01:13:17,634
That had real connection
and real affection.


1182
01:13:17,634 --> 01:13:20,136
And somebody really was
watching out for him.


1183
01:13:20,136 --> 01:13:21,763
There weren't a lot of those people.


1184
01:13:21,763 --> 01:13:23,806
And sometimes...


1185
01:13:23,806 --> 01:13:25,225
your best isn't good enough.


1186
01:13:26,726 --> 01:13:29,020
And you can't...


1187
01:13:29,020 --> 01:13:31,981
save them from themselves.


1188
01:13:40,114 --> 01:13:43,826
I remember I hadn't seen him
for a while.


1189
01:13:43,826 --> 01:13:46,788
And I went to some
premiere of something.


1190
01:13:46,788 --> 01:13:48,414
And he walked up on me


1191
01:13:48,414 --> 01:13:52,043
and he had lost so much weight
that I really didn't recognise him.


1192
01:13:52,043 --> 01:13:54,879
And then it hit me. I said,
"My God, that's Richard."


1193
01:13:54,879 --> 01:13:58,883
I lost 20 pounds to do a film
and I kept losing,


1194
01:13:58,883 --> 01:14:00,426
I couldn't get it back, you know?


1195
01:14:00,426 --> 01:14:03,513
I got real scared, Johnny, you know
cos I was losing weight,


1196
01:14:03,513 --> 01:14:08,351
and my pants were falling down,
and I said, "Something's wrong."


1197
01:14:08,351 --> 01:14:11,521
I said, "All these diseases
around, Richard,


1198
01:14:11,521 --> 01:14:14,232
"finally it's caught up with you.


1199
01:14:14,232 --> 01:14:16,526
"And you have one of them.


1200
01:14:16,526 --> 01:14:18,903
"And you're going to die."


1201
01:14:18,903 --> 01:14:22,657
So I was very calm about it,
you know, but I'm going to die.


1202
01:14:22,657 --> 01:14:24,617
A few months ago,
I was on The Tonight Show


1203
01:14:24,617 --> 01:14:26,244
and I was talking to Johnny Carson.


1204
01:14:26,244 --> 01:14:29,247
And then the next day, this
lady from the newspaper called


1205
01:14:29,247 --> 01:14:32,333
one of my ex-wives and said, "What
do you think's wrong with Richard?"


1206
01:14:32,333 --> 01:14:34,127
She said, "I think he has AIDS."


1207
01:14:36,087 --> 01:14:39,799
Guaranteeing that I would not get
no pussy until the year 2025.


1208
01:14:42,927 --> 01:14:46,264
One day, he called.
I said, "What's the matter?"


1209
01:14:46,264 --> 01:14:49,267
He said, "I got something wrong
with my eyes, I can't see straight."


1210
01:14:49,267 --> 01:14:50,977
I said, "OK, come over
to the hospital,


1211
01:14:50,977 --> 01:14:53,646
"and I'll get my ophthalmologist."
They look at him.


1212
01:14:53,646 --> 01:14:56,733
The intensivist doctor, neurologist.


1213
01:14:56,733 --> 01:14:59,027
And both of them said,
"He may have MS."


1214
01:15:06,242 --> 01:15:09,454
When we was doing Harlem Nights,
I remember saying to Richie,


1215
01:15:09,454 --> 01:15:11,414
he was getting ready
to go do a scene,


1216
01:15:11,414 --> 01:15:14,792
he had a Bic lighter in his
hand. And I said to him,


1217
01:15:14,792 --> 01:15:19,255
"This is a period piece,
they didn't have Bics back then."


1218
01:15:19,255 --> 01:15:23,510
Said he keeps a lighter in his hand
to disguise his fist balling up


1219
01:15:23,510 --> 01:15:25,386
and what was going on with him.


1220
01:15:25,386 --> 01:15:27,722
And that's when he let me
know he had the MS.


1221
01:15:32,393 --> 01:15:36,898
Yeah, back in those days, we never
thought it would turn out like that.


1222
01:15:46,616 --> 01:15:48,409
People that have it
know what I mean.


1223
01:15:48,409 --> 01:15:51,454
The shit fucks
with your nervous system.


1224
01:15:51,454 --> 01:15:54,916
When the doctor tells you you've got
it, and then you go, "Oh, I got it?


1225
01:15:54,916 --> 01:15:56,334
"What is it?"


1226
01:15:56,334 --> 01:15:58,127
"Uhhh..."


1227
01:15:58,127 --> 01:16:00,338
I'd never heard a doctor
say "Uhhh," before.


1228
01:16:02,549 --> 01:16:05,093
It's a blessing, though.


1229
01:16:05,093 --> 01:16:06,928
When you can't walk


1230
01:16:06,928 --> 01:16:10,473
and then you have to depend
on others to help you...


1231
01:16:11,891 --> 01:16:13,852
..you have to learn to trust them.


1232
01:16:15,395 --> 01:16:18,523
Which is very hard for me.


1233
01:16:18,523 --> 01:16:19,858
Very hard.


1234
01:16:27,866 --> 01:16:33,580
Jennifer came out to handle
his affairs when he was unable,


1235
01:16:33,580 --> 01:16:35,290
with the MS,


1236
01:16:35,290 --> 01:16:38,960
to do that much for himself.


1237
01:16:38,960 --> 01:16:42,755
I came back in '94.
The party was over.


1238
01:16:42,755 --> 01:16:44,632
No more cocaine.


1239
01:16:44,632 --> 01:16:47,635
That craziness was all gone.


1240
01:16:47,635 --> 01:16:51,848
Let's put it behind us and make
some lemonade out of the lemons.


1241
01:16:54,392 --> 01:16:58,897
The drug part of it was over.
He was clean from that point on.


1242
01:16:58,897 --> 01:17:02,609
He had really learned whatever
it was to be learned from the MS.


1243
01:17:04,277 --> 01:17:09,949
It was difficult to visit
Richard when he was sick,


1244
01:17:09,949 --> 01:17:17,040
after knowing him
as such a wiry, vital,


1245
01:17:17,040 --> 01:17:22,587
athletic type, you know,
moving around and never being,


1246
01:17:22,587 --> 01:17:27,967
you know, to all of a sudden
seeing him a wheelchair.


1247
01:17:27,967 --> 01:17:29,385
My dick is dead.


1248
01:17:30,887 --> 01:17:32,931
No, it died in my hand.


1249
01:17:34,682 --> 01:17:38,019
I had it in my hand,
would beat it...


1250
01:17:38,019 --> 01:17:40,438
and the dick looked at me
like I was crazy.


1251
01:17:45,068 --> 01:17:47,987
"What the fuck's wrong with you?"


1252
01:17:47,987 --> 01:17:50,949
"It's not me, it's you,
motherfucker."


1253
01:17:50,949 --> 01:17:52,867
Even when he got sick,


1254
01:17:52,867 --> 01:18:00,667
I mean, him wanting to be on stage
in his declining years, was,


1255
01:18:00,667 --> 01:18:02,126
to me, so heroic.


1256
01:18:02,126 --> 01:18:06,130
Warren Beatty's limousine
would show up.


1257
01:18:06,130 --> 01:18:07,882
This make me cry thinking about it.


1258
01:18:07,882 --> 01:18:10,510
And he'd be sitting there
looking out at Richard


1259
01:18:10,510 --> 01:18:13,555
and he'd be crying, because...


1260
01:18:13,555 --> 01:18:16,432
because he knew what a great
genius Richard was.


1261
01:18:18,768 --> 01:18:21,145
APPLAUSE


1262
01:18:23,898 --> 01:18:28,027
Richard Pryor defined the game of
stand-up comedy and comedy itself.


1263
01:18:32,824 --> 01:18:34,742
And if you haven't stole
from Richard,


1264
01:18:34,742 --> 01:18:36,661
then you're probably not that funny.


1265
01:18:38,371 --> 01:18:40,915
And I wanted to tell him that
I wanted to be just like him,


1266
01:18:40,915 --> 01:18:43,710
except for the drug habit and
failed marriages and the temper


1267
01:18:43,710 --> 01:18:45,003
and the guns.


1268
01:18:48,590 --> 01:18:51,259
As much as people felt bad for him,


1269
01:18:51,259 --> 01:18:55,054
that man probably had some nights
and some days...


1270
01:18:55,054 --> 01:18:59,100
I mean, it'd take a lifetime
to top that motherfucker's week.


1271
01:19:01,644 --> 01:19:04,480
The last time I saw him, he was...


1272
01:19:04,480 --> 01:19:10,320
wheelchair-bound and unable to
speak. Jennifer took me to see him.


1273
01:19:10,320 --> 01:19:11,487
He couldn't talk.


1274
01:19:11,487 --> 01:19:14,324
All I could do was, you know,
give him a kiss and tell him,


1275
01:19:14,324 --> 01:19:16,201
"I still love you, Richard."


1276
01:19:19,454 --> 01:19:21,998
Richard Pryor died this
afternoon of a heart attack


1277
01:19:21,998 --> 01:19:24,501
at his home in California.
He was 65.


1278
01:19:25,960 --> 01:19:28,838
APPLAUSE


1279
01:19:28,838 --> 01:19:33,635
So...what I'm saying, what the
point I'm trying to make is,


1280
01:19:33,635 --> 01:19:35,595
that there is no point to be made.


1281
01:19:36,971 --> 01:19:38,640
That's all there is.


1282
01:19:38,640 --> 01:19:42,018
There ain't no point to it, cos
you didn't ask to come to this


1283
01:19:42,018 --> 01:19:45,522
motherfucker and you sure
can't choose how to leave.


1284
01:19:45,522 --> 01:19:48,191
Cos you don't know
when you're going to go.


1285
01:19:48,191 --> 01:19:50,527
Don't take this shit sad.


1286
01:19:50,527 --> 01:19:53,196
You better have some fun
and plenty of it.


1287
01:19:53,196 --> 01:19:56,866
Cos when the shit over and you ask
for a recharge, it's too late.


1288
01:19:59,452 --> 01:20:02,705
So all I can say is keep
some sunshine on your face.


1289
01:20:02,705 --> 01:20:06,960
APPLAUSE


1290
01:20:15,134 --> 01:20:19,055
Even till the end, Richard never
did know how good he was.


1291
01:20:19,055 --> 01:20:22,517
Most people did not understand that.


1292
01:20:22,517 --> 01:20:25,812
I never heard him said, "I never
knocked them off their ass tonight."


1293
01:20:25,812 --> 01:20:27,981
He always said,
"I'll get them tomorrow."


1294
01:20:29,607 --> 01:20:34,529
As the song says, we get back up
again because of boundless mercy.


1295
01:20:34,529 --> 01:20:37,156
And that you are a champion,
Richard, you are a champion.


1296
01:20:37,156 --> 01:20:38,992
And the ground's no
place for a champion.


1297
01:20:38,992 --> 01:20:43,162
So we rise, get up,
go back and do your work.


1298
01:20:43,162 --> 01:20:45,206
They've always been
there for Richard.


1299
01:20:45,206 --> 01:20:48,168
He's always there for them.


1300
01:20:48,168 --> 01:20:49,544
Richard belongs to us.


1301
01:20:51,504 --> 01:20:53,840
What do you want to be
remembered for?


1302
01:20:56,176 --> 01:20:58,261
I'd like for people...


1303
01:20:58,261 --> 01:21:01,931
to see my picture and laugh.


1304
01:21:01,931 --> 01:21:04,517
Just see your picture? Yeah.


1305
01:21:04,517 --> 01:21:07,729
And laugh and have stories
and tell...


1306
01:21:07,729 --> 01:21:09,898
tell some lies on me.


1307
01:21:09,898 --> 01:21:12,734
"He made me laugh.
I was there, you know?


1308
01:21:12,734 --> 01:21:16,529
"I was there Wednesday when he drove
up in the..." You know, whatever.


1309
01:21:16,529 --> 01:21:19,282
Like that. Like...bring joy.


1310
01:21:19,282 --> 01:21:22,577
That's how I'd like
to be remembered.