Remembering Richard Pryor

I believe there’s a tendency to shrink people’s legacies. I’ve heard it said that black comedians owe a great deal to Richard Pryor, which is true, but only because all comedians owe so much to Richard. Richard taught everybody how to be real. How to find humor in yourself on stage, not just in the rhythms of setup and punch but in stories of experiences. He said it all, never afraid of honesty and truth. I don’t think it’s wrong to say the black comics have a great debt to Richard, I just don’t think they’re the only ones who owe Richard. We are all living in the shadow of this great comic and his influence will continue for a long time.

It’s pretty much impossible to sum up Richard Pryor’s influence and contribution to the world of Comedy in one blog post, so I’m just going to keep posting links to tributes and sites, along with my impressions as they come. Previous tributes/links can be found here.

The LA Times obituary

USA Today has a big package, including an obituary, a timeline of the big events in Richard’s life and highlights from his movie career.

Richard’s daughter Rain, a comic herself, says goodbye to her father on her web page.

Richard Pryor’s official site is now encouraging people to post to Richard’s myspace page, along with, in lieu of flowers, to his charity for animals, Pryor’s Planet.