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Richard Franklin Lenox Thomas Pryor (born December
1, 1940 in Peoria, Illinois) is an American comedian and actor. 

A gifted storyteller known for unflinching
examinations of race and custom in modern life,
Pryor shattered many barriers for African American
stand-up comedy|stand-up comedians.  Though he
frequently used colorful language, vulgarities, as
well as racial epithets (such as "nigger
(word)|nigger"), he reached a broad audience with
his trenchant observations.  Pryor is often ranked
among the best stand-up comedians.

Richard was at his best when he took the tragic
events that happened during his life and made them
a part of his on stage routine in concert movies
and recordings such as "Richard Pryor: Live &
Smokin'" (1971), "That Nigger's Crazy" (1974),
"Bicentennial Nigger" (1976), "Richard Pryor:
Wanted – Live In Concert" (1979) and
"Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip" (1982).

==Early career==

Early in his career, Pryor was a more middlebrow,
nonthreatening comic in the Bill Cosby tradition.
The first five tracks on the 2005 in music|2005
compilation CD Evolution/Revolution: The Early
Years (1966-1974), recorded in 1966 and 1967,
capture Pryor in this embryonic stage. 

In September 1967, Pryor had what he called in his
autobiography Pryor Convictions an "epithany" when
he walked onto the stage at the Aladdin Hotel in
Las Vegas (with Dean Martin in the audience),
looked at the sold-out crowd, said over the
microphone "What the fuck am I doing here?", and
walked off the stage. Afterward, Pryor began
working at least mild profanity and the "N" word
into his act. His first comedy recording, the
eponymous 1968 in music|1968 debut release on the
Reprise Records|Dove/Reprise label, captures this
particular period, not long after that breakdown.

==Mainstream success==

In 1969 Pryor moved to Berkeley, California, where
he immersed himself in the counterculture and
rubbed elbows with the likes of Huey P. Newton and
Ishmael Reed.  He signed with the comedy-centric
independent record label Laff Records in 1970 and
recorded his second album, Craps (After Hours). 
Not long afterward, Pryor sought to get a deal
with a larger label, and after a protracted period
of time, signed with Stax Records. His third,
breakthrough album, That Nigger's Crazy, was
released in 1974 and was almost sued out of
existence by Laff, who claimed ownership of
Pryor's recording rights.  Negotiations led to
Pryor being released from his Laff contract in
exchange for the small label being allowed to
release previously unissued material recorded
between 1968 and 1973 at their leisure.  

During the legal battle, Stax briefly closed its
doors. Pryor then resigned with Reprise
Records|Reprise/Warner Bros., who immediately
rereleased That Nigger's Crazy on the heels of his
first album under his new Reprise/Warner Bros.
deal, ...Is It Something I Said?.  With every
successful album Pryor recorded for Warner Bros.
(or later, his concert films and his 1980
free-basing accident), Laff would turn around and
rush out a hastily-compiled, badly packaged album
of old material to capitalize on Pryor's growing
fame - a process the label would undertake until
1983.

Comfortably successful and into the zenith of his
career, Pryor visited Africa in 1979. Upon
returning to the United States, Pryor swore he
would never use the "N" word in his stand-up
comedy routine again. (His favorite epithet,
"motherfucker", remains a term of endearment on
his official website to this day.)

Pryor appeared in several popular films including
Lady Sings The Blues, The Mack, Uptown Saturday
Night, Silver Streak (1976 film)|Silver Streak,
Which Way Is Up?, Car Wash, The Toy, Superman III,
Brewster's Millions,  Stir Crazy (movie)|Stir
Crazy, Moving, See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Blue
Collar. In four of his films, he co-starred with
Gene Wilder. He also co-wrote Blazing Saddles
directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder.
Pryor was to play the sheriff in "Blazing
Saddles", but the film's producers were unsettled
by his vulgarity and Mel Brooks chose Cleavon
Little instead.

==The freebasing accident==

On June 1, 1980, Pryor accidentally set himself on
fire while free-basing|freebasing cocaine.  Pryor
made this part of his heralded "final" stand up
show "Richard Pryor Live On Sunset Strip" (1982).
After joking that his accident was actually caused
when he dunked a cookie into a glass containing
two different types of milk, he gave a poignant
yet both funny and serious account of his accident
and recovery, then poked fun at people who told
jokes about his accident like lighting a match and
saying "What's this? It's Richard Pryor running
down the street."

He didn't stay away from live stand-up too long,
though - in 1983 he filmed and released a new
concert film and accompanying album, Here And Now,
which he directed himself.  He then wrote and
directed a fictionalized account of his life, Jo
Jo Dancer Your Life Is Calling.

In 1986, Pryor announced that he suffers from
multiple sclerosis. In 1992 he gave some final
live performances, excerpts of which appear on the
...And It's Deep Too! box set.

==Living with MS==

Today, Richard Pryor is confined to a wheelchair
because of MS. In late 2004 his sister claimed
that Pryor has lost his voice. However, on January
9, 2005, Pryor himself rebutted this statement in
a post on his http://www.richardpryor.com official
website, where he stated, "Sick of hearing this
shit about me not talking... not true... good
days, bad days... but I still am a talkin'
motherfucker!"

In 1999, Pryor won the inaugural Mark Twain Prize
for American Humor from the John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts.  According to Former
Kennedy Center President Lawrence J. Wilker,
"Richard Pryor was selected as the first recipient
of the new Mark Twain Prize because as a stand-up
comic, writer, and actor, he struck a chord, and a
nerve, with America, forcing it to look at large
social questions of race and the more tragicomic
aspects of the human condition. Though
uncompromising in his wit, Pryor, like Twain,
projects a generosity of spirit that unites us. 
They were both trenchant social critics who spoke
the truth, however outrageous."

In 2000, Rhino Records remastered all of Pryor's
Reprise and Warner Bros. albums for inclusion in
the box set ...And It's Deep Too! The Complete
Warner Bros. Recordings (1968-1992). 

In 2002, Pryor and his wife/manager Jennifer Lee
Pryor, won the legal rights to all of the Laff
material - almost 40 hours of reel-to-reel analog
tape.  After going through the tapes and getting
Richard's blessing, Jennifer Lee Pryor gave Rhino
Records access to the Laff tapes in 2004. These
tapes, including the entire Craps album, form the
basis of the double-CD release
Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966-1974).

In 2004, Pryor was voted #1 of the
"http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/100greatest
/ Greatest Standup Comedians of All Time" by
Comedy Central.

In a 2005 United Kingdom|British poll to find The
Comedian's Comedian, Pryor was voted the 10th
greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and
comedy insiders.

==Discography==
* Richard Pryor (album)|Richard Pryor (Reprise
Records|Dove/Reprise, 1968 in music|1968)
* Craps (After Hours) (Laff Records, 1971 in
music|1971, reissued 1993 in music|1993 by Island
Records|Loose Cannon/Island)
* That Nigger's Crazy, (Stax Records|Partee/Stax,
1974 in music|1974, reissued 1975 in music|1975 by
Reprise Records|Reprise)
* ...Is It Someting I Said?, (Reprise
Records|Reprise, 1975 in music|1975, reissued 1991
in music|1991 on CD by Warner Brothers
Records|Warner Archives)
* Bicentennial Nigger, (Reprise Records|Reprise,
1976 in music|1976)
* L.A. Jail, (Laff Records|Tiger Lily, 1977 in
music|1977)
* Are You Serious???, (Laff Records|Laff, 1977 in
music|1977)
* Who Me? I'm Not Him, (Laff Records|Laff, 1977 in
music|1977)
* Black Ben The Blacksmith, (Laff Records|Laff,
1978 in music|1978)
** The title track was first issued as "Prison
Play" on Richard Pryor (album)|Richard Pryor, in
spite of Warner Bros.' ownership of that
particular master recording.
* The Wizard Of Comedy, (Laff Records|Laff, 1978
in music|1978)
* Wanted/Richard Pryor - Live In Concert (2-LP
set), (Warner Brothers Records|Warner Bros., 1977
in music|1978)
* Outrageous (album)|Outrageous, (Laff
Records|Laff, 1979 in music|1979)
* Insane (album)|Insane, (Laff Records|Laff, 1980
in music|1980)
* Holy Smoke! (album)|Holy Smoke!, (Laff
Records|Laff, 1980 in music|1980)
* Rev. Du Rite, (Laff Records|Laff, 1981 in
music|1981)
* Live On The Sunset Strip (Warner Brothers
Records|Warner Bros., 1982 in music|1982)
* Richard Pryor Live! (Unusual types of gramophone
record#Picture discs|picture disc), (Laff
Records|Phoenix/Audiofidelity, 1982 in music|1982)
* Supernigger, (Laff Records|Laff. 1983 in
music|1983)
* Here And Now, (Warner Brothers Records|Warner
Bros., 1983 in music|1983)

===Compilations and repackagings===
* Pryor Goes Foxx Hunting, (Laff Records|Laff.
1973 in music|1973)
** Split LP with Redd Foxx, containing previously
released tracks from Craps (After Hours)
* Down And Dirty, (Laff Records|Laff. 1975 in
music|1975)
** Split LP with Redd Foxx, containing previously
released tracks from Craps (After Hours)
* Richard Pryor Meets... Richard & Willie And...
The SLA!!, (Laff Records|Laff. 1976 in music|1976)
** Split LP with black ventriloquist act Richard
And Willie, containing previously released tracks
from Craps (After Hours)
* Richard Pryor's Greatest Hits, (Warner Brothers
Records|Warner Bros., 1977 in music|1977)
** Contains tracks from Craps (After Hours), That
Nigger's Crazy, and ...Is It Something I Said?,
plus a previously unreleased track from 1975,
"Ali".
* Blackjack (album)|Blackjack, (Laff Records|Laff.
1983 in music|1983)
** Repackaged and retitled reissue of Craps (After
Hours).
* Show Biz (album)|Show Biz, (Laff Records|Laff.
1983 in music|1983)
** Repackaged and retitled reissue of Black Ben
The Blacksmith.
* Richard Pryor Live!, (Laff Records|Laff. 1983 in
music|1983)
** Repackaged reissue of the Phoenix/Audiofidelity
picture disc from 1982. The album lists two tracks
("Vegas" and "Negro") that only appear on the
picture disc, despite the fact that they are
listed on the disc label of the Laff release. 
* ...And It's Deep Too! The Complete Warner Bros.
Recordings (1968-1992) (9-CD box set) (Warner
Brothers Records|Warner Bros./Rhino Records|Rhino,
2000 in music|2000)
** Box set collection of Richard Pryor
(album)|Richard Pryor, That Nigger's Crazy, ...Is
It Something I Said? (with "Ali" from Richard
Pryor's Greatest Hits appended as a bonus track),
Bicentennial Nigger, Wanted/Richard Pryor - Live
In Concert (on 2 CDs), Live On The Sunset Strip,
Here And Now (with a previously unreleased 1983
interview appended as a bonus track), and That
African-American Is Still Crazy: Good Shit From
The Vaults (an entire disc of previously unissued
material from 1973 to 1992 exclusive to the box).
* The Anthology (1968-1992) (2-CD set) (Warner
Brothers Records|Warner Bros./Rhino Records|Rhino,
2002 in music/2002)
** Highlights culled from the albums collected in
the ...And It's Deep Too! The Complete Warner
Bros. Recordings (1968-1992)|...And It's Deep Too!
box set.
* Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years
(1966-1974) (2-CD set)  (Warner Brothers
Records|Warner Bros./Rhino Records|Rhino, 2005 in
music/2005)
** Pryor-authorized compilation of material
released on Laff, including the entire Craps
(After Hours) album.

==Filmography==

*The Busy Body (1967)
*Uncle Tom's Fairy Tales (1968) (unfinished)
*Wild in the Streets (1968)
*The Phynx (1970)
*You've Got to Talk It Like You Walk It or You'll
Loose That Beat (1971)
*Dynamite Chicken (1972) 
*Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
*The Mack (1973)
*Wattstax (1973) (documentary)
*Hit! (1973)
*Some Call It Loving (1973)
*Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
*The Lion Roars Again (1975) (short subject)
*Adios Amigo (1976)
*Car Wash (1976)
*The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
(1976)
*Silver Streak (1976 film)|Silver Streak (1976)
*Which Way Is Up? (1977)
*Greased Lightning (1977)
*Blue Collar (1978)
*The Wiz (1978)
*California Suite (1978)
*Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979)
(documentary)
*The Muppet Movie (1979) (cameo)
*Wholly Moses (1980)
*In God We Tru$t (1980)
*Stir Crazy (movie)|Stir Crazy (1980)
*Bustin' Loose (1981)
*Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982)
(documentary)
*Some Kind of Hero (1982)
*The Toy (1982)
*Superman III (1983)
*Richard Pryor: Here and Now (1983) (documentary)
*Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin (1985)
(documentary)
*Brewster's Millions (1985)
*Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986) (also
director)
*Critical Condition (1987)
*Moving (1988)
*See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) 
*Harlem Nights (1989)
*The Three Muscatels (1991) 
*Another You (1991)
*A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
*Mad Dog Time (1996)
*Lost Highway (1997)
*Bitter Jester (2003) (documentary)

==External link==


* http://www.richardpryor.com Official website 
* imdb name|id=0001640|name=Richard Pryor
*
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-16286
22_1,00.html Interview with Pryor's wife, Jennifer
Lee Pryor - The Times, June 5 2005.
*
http://www.richardpryor.com/forums/msgs.cfm?msg=24
261&forum=6 Post by Richard Pryor on his official
website rebutting voice-loss rumors