This man made me laugh more than anyone in my life, and as I am sure most who have seen my serious side on here know, that is no small feat.  I cannot tell you how thankful I am for his all too human observations on life.  Much of what little sense of humor I have is due to this man's style.  His first concert special, "Richard Pryor, Live in Concert", is still the funniest thing I have ever seen.  It made me laugh, cry, and just be thankful to be alive.

Thank you, Richard, for expressing yourself.  You will not be forgotten.  

"I wasn't really running..."

-- Modified on 12/10/2005 1:48:37 PM

Almost daily, to the annoyance of those around me, I quote a punchline to one of his jokes.  I've used it for so long that I forgot it's origin until a couple weeks back.  He brought me many laughs.

for the record, it's..."yeah, and it's deep too".  His true fans will know the rest.

Richard Pryor dead. Richard Pryor really paved the way for a lot of comedians. He was hilarious and will be missed.

He seemed to live several lifetimes in one. Adored and blessed with a timely humor and keen insights into the human condition: race, sex, love, and people. Most if all the other pale in comparison. Truly, R.I.P.

Pryor was living proof that great comedians are often shitty people.

His comedy was great, but his women beating proclivities sucked.

Quote from his daughter:

"You never knew which person you'd get. I would watch him beat up women and the next minute there would be a Christmas tree up because he wanted to make sure no one would remember what had just happened. You don't forget those images in your life but you come to understand the disease of madness. Through his genius, he was mad, he was literally crazy. You realise that craziness is an addiction." - Rain Pryor

Morgan

Richard was ahead of his time, and paved the way for hundreds of comics. He will be missed.

By far the greatest stand up comedian of all time.

Jimbo

People like the former Senator would have you in jail for paricipation on this board...

-- Modified on 12/11/2005 10:22:58 AM

You made a great point until you take a quote from his daughter who like the elder seems to have her own destructive streak. Too bad she became so "clear" about these matters when her father ailing for some few years now as she can only "benefit" like others will try for the man's fame. To beat women is just plain old wrong, but his death can't be the sounding board for all that was wrong with him; his psyche. Maybe we can leave it be and allow some time to pass before we dance on his grave.

if you listened to Pryor's monologues or interviews, he was usually the first one to talk about how fucked up he was.  He never played the innocent, and the people in his life knew what they were getting into with him, and of the backgroud and upbringing that affected him so strongly and negatively.  That doesn't forgive him for his issues, and I certainly don't support the concept of beating up women (or anyone, for that matter), but it also doesn't make him someone I would slam on the day he died.  

I will continue to wish Pryor to rest in peace, because he never found peace in life.

Take what you said one step further, and often many "great" people are shitty people.  Even people who aren't great can do shitty things.  I hope you feel better for posting this.

The Senator in question was not exactly a liberal. The former would have had you strung up by your nuts.

I have nothing but respect for Richard Pryor, but Sen. McCarthy's 1968 campaign was a very exciting time for me and his courage to stand up to a sitting president was inspiring.  I've since come a long ways politically from then, but I feel I do owe a debt of gratitude to the man.

It's up to the living to repair or improve what he did now.  

The living can still repair their lives.  But his life was beleagured in ways that success and riches couldn't fix.