1
00:00:09,176 --> 00:00:10,885
Richard Pryor.

2
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APPLAUSE

3
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Good evening. Wait for the people
to get from the bathroom.

4
00:00:21,273 --> 00:00:25,048
They're in there pissing.
Wait, the shit's started.

5
00:00:25,049 --> 00:00:28,822
Richard Pryor, undisputed champion
of the world.

6
00:00:28,823 --> 00:00:33,578
The greatest of all times. Case
closed. Period. Exclamation point.

7
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This is the fun part for me
when the white people come back

8
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after intermission and find out
Niggers have stole their seats.

9
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"We were sitting here, weren't we?"
"Yes, we were sitting right there."

10
00:00:47,304 --> 00:00:50,013
"Well, you ain't sitting there now,
motherfucker!"

11
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It's amazing to see him live. It's
like saying you saw Coltrane play.

12
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What you taking my picture for?

13
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You know you ain't got no film
in the camera.

14
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Just flash and ain't nothing
flash. Sit your ugly ass down.

15
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Most of us saw Richard
and thought, he's free flying.

16
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I want to free fly. I love
when white dudes get mad and cuss.

17
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Cos you're all some funny
motherfuckers when you cuss.

18
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Says, "Like, come on, pecker head!"

19
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"Come on, you fucking jerk-off.
Come on!"

20
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Yeah. You fucking
ain't right, buddy.

21
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Niggers speak like, "Buddy this."

22
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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.

25
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Everyone is intimidated by a shark. Become
a Card Shark AMERICASCARDROOM.COM

26
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Richard Pryor,
the comedian and writer,

27
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was badly burned in an accident at
his home in California last night.

28
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Authorities say Richard Pryor
either walked or ran

29
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nearly a mile and a half
from his house to this location,

30
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where an ambulance rescued him.

31
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There was an indication that a butane lighter
exploded on Mr Pryor. What can you tell us about that?

32
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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.

36
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Pryor's attorney talked
with reporters

37
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and disputed the LAPD theory that
Pryor was using freebase cocaine.

38
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He had a glass of rum in his hand.

39
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He was lighting a cigarette
when boom.

40
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No cocaine. No cocaine.

41
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If anyone is monitoring
the intercom, let me inform you

42
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that we have the right to check
the premises for flammables.

43
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We intend to make entry by force
if necessary.

44
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We have a verbal search warrant.

45
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Fire and police investigators
obtained a search warrant

46
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and forcibly entered Pryor's home
to look for clues this morning.

47
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But police said someone had already
cleaned up the scene of the fire

48
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and they could find no evidence.

49
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Everybody had this sense that
something was ultimately going

50
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to happen and it finally did.

51
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This is it.
He's finally killed himself.

52
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For the first time on television,
Richard Pryor.

53
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Er, I'm going to tell you
a few things about myself,

54
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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.

58
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No mother and father, just kids.

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I was roaming
around Greenwich Village

60
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and I wandered
into the Cafe au Go Go.

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And I saw this guy

62
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do a set

63
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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.

69
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Everybody else will be dancing.
One guy in the corner... Hm. Doo.

70
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Richard and I would have
to goes through the material,

71
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rehearsing and preparing.

72
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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

74
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at The Living Room,
which was a chic East Side boite.

75
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And it was very crowded.

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The maitre d' said,
could Nipsey Russell join you?

77
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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?

80
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He said, "He's doing Bill Cosby."

81
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Bill Cosby did what
they called the crossover.

82
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He'd gotten white people to like him.

83
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I think Richard thought
he had to imitate Bill to get

84
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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.

86
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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.

88
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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.

90
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He plays Vegas in 1966.
He's a huge success.

91
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That world that he so aspired
to join, wanted to impress

92
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everybody, wanted to be a big star
with his name in lights.

93
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Suddenly, there's a hollowness
to that price.

94
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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

100
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and saw some white people.

101
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Dean Martin was in the audience
and he was looking at him.

102
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And Richard said, "I looked
at Dean Martin through his own eyes

103
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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.

106
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That was probably when Richard Pryor
decided to become Richard Pryor.

107
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In the middle of the night,
I got a call.

108
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You'd better get out here, because
Richard Pryor has just gone nuts

109
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and he's literally hanging
from the chandeliers in the lobby.

110
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I want him out of the hotel,
and he is finished.

111
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No. Nice talking to you. You know.

112
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It was all over town.
You heard what happened last night.

113
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And I think he was fired
the next day.

114
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It was so public, he had a Vegas
gig. That's what every comic wants.

115
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And you blew it?!

116
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And I guess everybody thought, well,
that's the end of Richard Pryor.

117
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I did not hear from him.

118
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I did not know where he was.

119
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Richard was gone.

120
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Don't try to find no logic.

121
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A lot of this in here,
logic is omitted.

122
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At some time to understand Richard,
you had to first omit logic.

123
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And then you come close.

124
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What you think it ought to be, it
ain't going to be nothing like it.

125
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# Talking, talking to the people

126
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# Try to get them to go your way

127
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# Tell the girl not to worry... #

128
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Richard has to start
all over again. He had a new name.

129
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It was Edward or Edwin
or something stupid.

130
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It's what I'm going to call myself.

131
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I'm going to come and pretend like
I have nothing and see how,

132
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get to know these people here, the
hippies, I'm going to be one of them.

133
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He gave up everything.

134
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He gave up his driver's licence,
his bank account.

135
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He gave up any kind of ID.

136
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He lived in this horrible little
clapboard boarding house.

137
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He invited me
to go to an after party.

138
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And, um, we weren't apart
for like six years.

139
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I am. I am. A revolutionary.

140
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There was a lot of things going on.

141
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People asserting their rights.
Demonstrations.

142
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A lot of ferment in the big areas.

143
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Something different was happening
with African-American culture.

144
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It had come into its own.

145
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Richard showed up.
And gave it new life.

146
00:10:05,827 --> 00:10:08,706
There used to be
some beautiful black man,

147
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would come through
the neighbourhood,

148
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dressed in African shit.

149
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Really nice shit, you know.
They'd be, "Peace, love, black is beautiful.

150
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"Remember the essence of life.
We are people of the universe.

151
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"Life is beautiful." My parents go,
"That Nigger crazy."

152
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No-one had heard him using
the N-word the way he does.

153
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He was just starting to do that.
He was tiptoeing into it.

154
00:10:31,275 --> 00:10:34,673
In comedy, you'd just never heard
anything like this.

155
00:10:34,674 --> 00:10:38,334
Richard would nudge this audience
to some kind of feeling

156
00:10:38,335 --> 00:10:41,994
about who they really were.
So, he's telling the joke.

157
00:10:41,995 --> 00:10:45,706
And, er, white guy in the back
says,

158
00:10:45,707 --> 00:10:48,918
"You ought to be glad
I've got a sense of humour."

159
00:10:48,919 --> 00:10:51,589
Richard said, "Yeah, I am glad
you've got a sense of humour,

160
00:10:51,590 --> 00:10:54,132
"because I know
what you do to us Niggers."

161
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He was acutely aware of the dynamics
of political, racial segregation.

162
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I'd hate to be white...

163
00:11:01,893 --> 00:11:05,230
This audience that
he was playing to was as hip

164
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an audience as you could get.

165
00:11:07,691 --> 00:11:10,694
And they weren't sure
they were going to go along.

166
00:11:10,695 --> 00:11:13,072
That's how radical Richie was.

167
00:11:16,076 --> 00:11:19,079
I think he was very conscious
of what he was doing.

168
00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,332
Richard knew how to drop
atomic bomb words.

169
00:11:21,333 --> 00:11:23,041
He knew that words were powerful.

170
00:11:23,042 --> 00:11:26,338
They accidentally shoot more Niggers
out here than any place in the world.

171
00:11:26,339 --> 00:11:28,047
Every time you pick up a paper,

172
00:11:28,048 --> 00:11:30,300
"Nigger accidentally shot
in the ass."

173
00:11:30,301 --> 00:11:34,013
How do you accidentally shoot
a Nigger six times in the chest?

174
00:11:34,014 --> 00:11:37,725
"Well, my gun fell
and just went crazy."

175
00:11:37,726 --> 00:11:42,439
He was fully blown as Richie Pryor.
It was astonishing.

176
00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:47,654
His point of view, his attack
on the culture from every version.

177
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No holds barred.
Not thinking about a career.

178
00:11:51,492 --> 00:11:55,705
Not thinking about what you have
to do to be right and wrong.

179
00:11:55,706 --> 00:11:57,873
He wasn't a civil rights leader,

180
00:11:57,874 --> 00:12:00,877
like you would say Louie Newton
or Martin Luther King.

181
00:12:00,878 --> 00:12:07,093
But he was somebody who inculcated
the spirit of the movement.

182
00:12:10,764 --> 00:12:14,310
Richard, in Berkeley, was, you know,
a lovable person.

183
00:12:14,311 --> 00:12:16,562
But Berkeley's not the world.

184
00:12:16,563 --> 00:12:21,151
You had to meet the monster.
You had to go through Hollywood.

185
00:12:21,152 --> 00:12:25,031
# Where do I go
when this world forsakes me

186
00:12:25,032 --> 00:12:28,848
# Who do I turn to
when they put me down?

187
00:12:28,849 --> 00:12:32,925
# You are my hope when they all
can't stop me

188
00:12:32,927 --> 00:12:37,003
# You're my beginning, my middle
My end... #

189
00:12:40,591 --> 00:12:43,259
I met Richard Pryor in 1972.

190
00:12:43,260 --> 00:12:46,431
At an upscale garden party
in Beverly Hills.

191
00:12:47,515 --> 00:12:50,894
I asked him what he was doing,
and he said, "Nothing."

192
00:12:50,895 --> 00:12:52,646
I said,
"I know you're doing nothing,

193
00:12:52,647 --> 00:12:53,938
"but what are you working at?"

194
00:12:53,940 --> 00:12:56,900
He said, "I'm not working
at anything. I'm unemployed."

195
00:12:56,901 --> 00:12:59,905
I said, "How long have you been
unemployed?" He said, "A long time."

196
00:12:59,906 --> 00:13:02,658
I said, "Really?
Who's managing you?" "Nobody."

197
00:13:02,659 --> 00:13:05,243
"Whose agenting you?" "Nobody."

198
00:13:05,244 --> 00:13:09,102
He didn't really have any place
to go at that time,

199
00:13:09,103 --> 00:13:12,962
so he took a job,
doing punch-up lines for Red Fox.

200
00:13:12,963 --> 00:13:15,464
I thought, "This is not right."

201
00:13:15,465 --> 00:13:19,426
So, I said to Richie,
"Let's record an album."

202
00:13:19,428 --> 00:13:23,390
Don't ever marry a white woman
in California.

203
00:13:23,391 --> 00:13:25,350
A lot of you sisters are probably,

204
00:13:25,351 --> 00:13:28,021
"Don't marry a white woman anyway,
Nigger."

205
00:13:28,022 --> 00:13:29,396
CHEERING

206
00:13:29,397 --> 00:13:31,567
"Why should you be happy?"

207
00:13:35,404 --> 00:13:38,032
Sisters look at you
like you killed your mama

208
00:13:38,034 --> 00:13:40,285
when you're out with a white woman.

209
00:13:40,286 --> 00:13:42,538
You can't laugh
that shit off either.

210
00:13:42,539 --> 00:13:44,999
"She's not with me."

211
00:13:46,626 --> 00:13:52,299
Richard said, "Look, I know that you
like it and I know that I like it.

212
00:13:52,300 --> 00:13:54,259
"Black people don't like this."

213
00:13:54,260 --> 00:13:56,845
I said, "Richard, I can't
answer that. I don't know."

214
00:13:56,846 --> 00:14:01,059
He said, "Let's hope so.
If not, we're both out of business."

215
00:14:01,060 --> 00:14:03,520
I don't know how you feel
about the title of your album,

216
00:14:03,521 --> 00:14:05,981
but I find it difficult to say.
You do.

217
00:14:05,982 --> 00:14:09,360
Most white people,
it's hard to say "crazy".

218
00:14:09,361 --> 00:14:12,698
No, the title. You tell them the
title of the album. I can't say that.

219
00:14:12,699 --> 00:14:16,868
The title of the album is
"That Nigger's Crazy."

220
00:14:16,869 --> 00:14:20,290
See now, you can just say that.
If I said that, won't you get mad?

221
00:14:20,291 --> 00:14:23,252
I'd punch you out.

222
00:14:28,716 --> 00:14:33,262
When I was in my college years,

223
00:14:33,263 --> 00:14:37,810
we'd get together
and play Richard Pryor LPs

224
00:14:37,811 --> 00:14:40,729
and have listening parties.

225
00:14:40,730 --> 00:14:44,651
My father was fun.
"Hey, bitch, where the food?"

226
00:14:44,652 --> 00:14:48,573
"Goddamn mother, come on.
Oh, you motherfucker!"

227
00:14:48,574 --> 00:14:51,408
Saying "fuck" in those days
was unheard of.

228
00:14:51,409 --> 00:14:55,288
They had blue laws, for crying
out loud. It was just a secret.

229
00:14:55,289 --> 00:15:00,545
It was like learning how to say,
"Motherfucker, bitch. Kiss my ass."

230
00:15:02,381 --> 00:15:08,096
The people that had it first, I don't
know why. They were pimps and hos.

231
00:15:08,097 --> 00:15:11,600
This is the only guy really touching
on some shit like,

232
00:15:11,601 --> 00:15:16,021
"Oh, taboo to other people.
Don't go there."

233
00:15:16,022 --> 00:15:18,316
He was the Messiah - the messenger.

234
00:15:18,317 --> 00:15:20,609
For the real Niggers in the streets

235
00:15:20,610 --> 00:15:24,531
that wanted to express
themselves but couldn't.

236
00:15:24,532 --> 00:15:26,866
The album was a Grammy award winner.

237
00:15:26,867 --> 00:15:31,038
Number one on the R&B charts
in 1974 for five weeks,

238
00:15:31,039 --> 00:15:34,959
which is unheard of for
a comedy album in the R&B charts.

239
00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,881
This was a time when Richard
was moving up very quickly.

240
00:15:38,882 --> 00:15:42,260
It was rather like
being fired out of a cannon.

241
00:15:42,261 --> 00:15:45,638
We hardly ever went
to two gigs in sequence.

242
00:15:45,639 --> 00:15:49,811
From LA, to Washington, back to LA,
to New York, back to LA.

243
00:15:51,104 --> 00:15:53,314
You use the term, "Nigger."

244
00:15:53,315 --> 00:15:56,694
Now, does the black community get
on you for using that on a show?

245
00:15:56,695 --> 00:15:58,780
Sure. How do you answer that?
What do you say?

246
00:15:58,781 --> 00:16:01,782
I say, "Nigger, get out of my face!"

247
00:16:01,783 --> 00:16:04,744
People were fascinated with Richard,
especially white people.

248
00:16:04,745 --> 00:16:08,164
They never heard anybody talk like
that. They were fascinated.

249
00:16:08,165 --> 00:16:11,586
How could this young, black person
have this kind of power?

250
00:16:11,587 --> 00:16:13,463
That's power.

251
00:16:18,135 --> 00:16:20,637
When he would drive down and perform,
word would spread.

252
00:16:20,638 --> 00:16:23,725
Everybody got on the phone and said,
"Richard's at The Comedy Store."

253
00:16:23,726 --> 00:16:25,476
The word got out so quickly

254
00:16:25,477 --> 00:16:27,771
that Richard was backstage
at The Comedy Store.

255
00:16:27,772 --> 00:16:31,901
By the time he got on,
there wasn't a comedian in town

256
00:16:31,902 --> 00:16:33,652
who wasn't in the audience.

257
00:16:33,653 --> 00:16:37,491
I took some acid once, too. A white
dude get me some. At a party.

258
00:16:37,492 --> 00:16:39,910
"This is far out."

259
00:16:39,911 --> 00:16:42,204
Get the fuck out of my face!

260
00:16:42,205 --> 00:16:45,751
About 20 minutes later,
I left the party. I can't breathe!

261
00:16:45,752 --> 00:16:48,629
I don't remember how to breathe!

262
00:16:50,757 --> 00:16:53,301
"I told you it was far out."

263
00:16:54,886 --> 00:16:58,723
When he performed, he would sometimes
make a couple of notes

264
00:16:58,724 --> 00:17:02,561
on the back of an envelope
of some of the things he might do.

265
00:17:02,562 --> 00:17:07,234
He never worked out in advance what
his... It wasn't really a routine.

266
00:17:07,235 --> 00:17:10,571
Every night,
you see something different

267
00:17:10,572 --> 00:17:12,281
that you hadn't seen before.

268
00:17:12,282 --> 00:17:15,702
He would do a riff here and a riff
there. Just spontaneously.

269
00:17:15,703 --> 00:17:17,745
What kind of shit
are you handing me?

270
00:17:17,746 --> 00:17:20,666
What the fuck is it? I don't know
what you're handing me to sign.

271
00:17:20,667 --> 00:17:23,210
What the fuck does it say on it?

272
00:17:23,211 --> 00:17:26,673
Champagne! Listen, I ain't signing
for no goddamn champagne.

273
00:17:26,674 --> 00:17:28,591
He was always doing something new.

274
00:17:28,592 --> 00:17:31,887
All of a sudden, "Oh, my God,
look what he's doing now!"

275
00:17:31,888 --> 00:17:35,183
He wasn't just telling jokes,
he was telling stories.

276
00:17:35,184 --> 00:17:39,480
And stories that were so vivid
and so funny

277
00:17:39,481 --> 00:17:42,399
that you had to stay with him.

278
00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:45,444
And you think, "OK, that's amazing."

279
00:17:45,445 --> 00:17:48,531
I mean, he just had
that laser-like wit.

280
00:17:48,532 --> 00:17:52,744
Bringing so much tenderness
to it. Doing the wino on the street.

281
00:17:52,745 --> 00:17:56,959
I'm going to help you, boy, because
I think you've got potential.

282
00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,920
That's right. You can do
with some money. You're shot.

283
00:17:59,921 --> 00:18:02,903
You know what I mean?
Try some of that.

284
00:18:02,904 --> 00:18:05,886
Don't you drop it, Nigger.
Put it safe.

285
00:18:05,887 --> 00:18:07,595
Watching the world...

286
00:18:07,596 --> 00:18:12,185
If these were my kids, I would never
have known but for Richard Pryor.

287
00:18:12,186 --> 00:18:16,355
What a colourful world it is
that he paints.

288
00:18:16,356 --> 00:18:19,944
He'd go out and he'd do two minutes,
three minutes - sometimes,

289
00:18:19,945 --> 00:18:23,177
if the wind was right,
he'd do four or five minutes.

290
00:18:23,178 --> 00:18:26,410
Eventually, there'd
be about 40 minutes of material.

291
00:18:26,411 --> 00:18:28,619
In those 40 minutes of material,

292
00:18:28,620 --> 00:18:33,084
he knew then he could get
from there to a concert.

293
00:18:33,085 --> 00:18:37,254
I discovered masturbating
by accident.

294
00:18:37,256 --> 00:18:41,217
I'm not lying.
I was about ten. I was in a tub.

295
00:18:41,218 --> 00:18:46,725
And that's when you used to hold
your dick with two fingers.

296
00:18:46,726 --> 00:18:49,228
Hey!

297
00:18:51,939 --> 00:18:54,858
I'm on to something here.

298
00:18:54,859 --> 00:18:57,987
I bet Dad don't know about this.

299
00:18:57,988 --> 00:19:01,742
He understood how to excavate
the human soul on stage

300
00:19:01,743 --> 00:19:04,661
in front of 600 people
without blinking.

301
00:19:04,662 --> 00:19:08,709
First time I came to ejaculate,
it scared the fuck out of me.

302
00:19:08,710 --> 00:19:10,877
I thought something was wrong.

303
00:19:10,878 --> 00:19:14,215
I just went, this woman, "Look,
what the fuck you've done there!"

304
00:19:15,926 --> 00:19:19,596
About an hour later, I was back.
"Can you do it again?"

305
00:19:20,806 --> 00:19:23,517
I think if comedy was a woman
I'm in love with,

306
00:19:23,518 --> 00:19:27,063
I know Richard Pryor
would just fuck the shit out of her.

307
00:19:27,065 --> 00:19:30,149
He'd fuck her in every orifice
of her body.

308
00:19:30,150 --> 00:19:34,280
Can I...? Is there anywhere this guy
didn't fucking put his prints on?

309
00:19:36,658 --> 00:19:40,287
Richard had become big
in the live concert,

310
00:19:40,288 --> 00:19:43,331
doing his brand of risque humour.

311
00:19:43,332 --> 00:19:46,878
These large audiences
were fascinated with Richard.

312
00:19:46,879 --> 00:19:49,798
He had not crossed into film.

313
00:19:52,093 --> 00:19:56,346
Somehow, Berry Gordy
tracked him down and wanted him

314
00:19:56,348 --> 00:20:00,601
to audition for the role
of Piano Man in the film

315
00:20:00,602 --> 00:20:05,274
he was about to do of Billie Holiday,
which was going to star Diana Ross.

316
00:20:05,275 --> 00:20:09,947
Lady Sings The Blues, when Richard
auditioned, they let him do improv.

317
00:20:09,948 --> 00:20:13,618
You can't let Richard to improv,
he'll steal the show.

318
00:20:13,619 --> 00:20:15,452
Which he did. The rest is history.

319
00:20:15,453 --> 00:20:17,873
Everybody got
a room full of girls at home.

320
00:20:17,874 --> 00:20:19,874
You're just going to be another one.

321
00:20:19,875 --> 00:20:22,962
Billie, you've got too much going.
You don't need this.

322
00:20:22,963 --> 00:20:25,255
He was huge in Lady Sings The Blues.

323
00:20:25,256 --> 00:20:28,154
It sealed it for him
in terms of his performance

324
00:20:28,155 --> 00:20:31,055
and having the audience crave
to see more of him.

325
00:20:31,056 --> 00:20:34,641
We're coming.

326
00:20:34,642 --> 00:20:37,207
That part got bigger
and bigger and bigger.

327
00:20:37,208 --> 00:20:39,773
By the time they finished
cutting that movie,

328
00:20:39,774 --> 00:20:42,234
Richard was co-star in that movie.

329
00:20:47,657 --> 00:20:53,664
I met him in '72. He wasn't that
famous, but the word was out.

330
00:20:56,543 --> 00:21:00,464
I said to him, why don't you meet me
for breakfast? He said, "Breakfast.

331
00:21:00,465 --> 00:21:05,302
"OK. I'll meet you at four."
I said, "Four?!"

332
00:21:05,303 --> 00:21:09,808
I told him about a black sheriff
in 1874. He loved the idea.

333
00:21:09,809 --> 00:21:11,434
He just loved it.

334
00:21:11,435 --> 00:21:15,648
I said, "I'm going to fight for you
to be the lead in Blazing Saddles."

335
00:21:15,649 --> 00:21:18,150
I said, "Look, I'm going to write it
like a gang comedy.

336
00:21:18,151 --> 00:21:21,196
"Anybody got a good idea, it's in.
We're all going to be equal.

337
00:21:21,197 --> 00:21:24,366
"I will be a little more equal
than anybody else,

338
00:21:24,367 --> 00:21:28,538
"but we're all going to be equal
and we're all going to have fun.

339
00:21:28,539 --> 00:21:32,418
"I want you to be
one of the writers."

340
00:21:32,419 --> 00:21:34,502
He called me up.

341
00:21:34,503 --> 00:21:37,632
And said, "Listen, I would like
to be the star of that film,

342
00:21:37,633 --> 00:21:39,926
"Blazing Saddles.
That would be terrific."

343
00:21:39,927 --> 00:21:41,824
This is going to be something big.

344
00:21:41,825 --> 00:21:43,721
I wrote most of the black jokes,

345
00:21:43,722 --> 00:21:45,808
and Richard wrote
most of the Mongo jokes.

346
00:21:45,809 --> 00:21:49,019
He was like this big, tough baby.

347
00:21:49,020 --> 00:21:54,568
Richard wrote lines like,
"Mongo only pawn in game of life."

348
00:21:54,569 --> 00:21:57,029
He wrote these meshuggener,
wacky lines.

349
00:21:57,030 --> 00:22:00,825
The next day, he showed
up in my apartment with cigars

350
00:22:00,826 --> 00:22:05,498
and a very expensive Dunhill
lighter, and I said, "What's this?"

351
00:22:05,499 --> 00:22:08,668
He said, "We're going to be signing
a lot of contracts."

352
00:22:12,798 --> 00:22:15,800
Somebody high up at Warner Brothers
had heard

353
00:22:15,801 --> 00:22:19,139
that Richard was doing drugs
and Richard was unreliable

354
00:22:19,140 --> 00:22:20,973
and I was fighting.

355
00:22:20,974 --> 00:22:24,143
He said, "We appreciate
his contribution as a writer.

356
00:22:24,144 --> 00:22:27,815
"It's the starring role.
We won't star him in the picture."

357
00:22:27,816 --> 00:22:32,028
It got to the fucking board
of Warner Brothers,

358
00:22:32,029 --> 00:22:35,992
where he lost on some vote,
and that was it. You know.

359
00:22:38,620 --> 00:22:41,163
He wished that he got
the starring role.

360
00:22:41,164 --> 00:22:45,461
That was a disappointment,
a major disappointment.

361
00:22:46,671 --> 00:22:50,361
Just put him over the edge
when they said that.

362
00:22:50,362 --> 00:22:54,054
And he became high,
so high and out of control.

363
00:22:54,055 --> 00:22:57,058
So he decided to shoot up the house.

364
00:22:58,393 --> 00:23:03,418
We had a huge saltwater fish tank -
150 gallons. It was huge.

365
00:23:03,419 --> 00:23:08,445
And, of course, it killed
all the fish and buckled the floor

366
00:23:08,446 --> 00:23:12,993
and shot the Charlie Parker painting
that was hanging above the fireplace.

367
00:23:12,994 --> 00:23:14,912
A huge Charlie Parker painting.

368
00:23:14,913 --> 00:23:17,206
He shot him in the heart.

369
00:23:22,254 --> 00:23:25,090
It's really hard
to live in Hollywood.

370
00:23:25,091 --> 00:23:27,550
It's so controlled by white men.

371
00:23:27,552 --> 00:23:32,891
Very hard to do anything, because
they're so greedy. So insecure.

372
00:23:32,892 --> 00:23:37,104
He decided he was going to fire
everyone and start all over.

373
00:23:37,105 --> 00:23:41,191
New lawyers, new agent, new manager.

374
00:23:41,192 --> 00:23:44,883
He called Ron
and just said it was over.

375
00:23:44,884 --> 00:23:48,576
I mean, it was a pretty harsh,
cold moment.

376
00:23:49,619 --> 00:23:52,559
So, what became
of the change of heart?

377
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:56,178
He said, "I don't know, man.
Just did."

378
00:23:56,179 --> 00:23:59,796
I puzzled over that
for many, many years.

379
00:23:59,797 --> 00:24:02,300
I don't movies when they don't have
no Niggers in them.

380
00:24:09,350 --> 00:24:12,186
I went to see Logan's Run, right.

381
00:24:12,187 --> 00:24:14,606
They had a movie of the future
called Logan's Run,

382
00:24:14,607 --> 00:24:16,274
and there ain't no Niggers in it.

383
00:24:16,275 --> 00:24:19,862
I said, "Well, white folks
ain't planning for us to be here."

384
00:24:22,657 --> 00:24:25,661
That's why we've got to make movies.

385
00:24:30,833 --> 00:24:35,672
David was a very powerful black
manager, based out of Atlanta.

386
00:24:35,673 --> 00:24:38,759
Very militant. Very pro-black.

387
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,053
Very, very smart.

388
00:24:41,054 --> 00:24:44,808
A gift for making huge deals
and huge money.

389
00:24:44,809 --> 00:24:48,103
And Hollywood loved David.

390
00:24:48,104 --> 00:24:54,027
David Franklin was a pudgy,
brilliant, black man, who stuttered.

391
00:24:54,028 --> 00:24:56,112
And Richard loved that.

392
00:24:56,113 --> 00:25:01,285
He said, "Because he st-st-utters,
he can ge-get sympathy."

393
00:25:01,286 --> 00:25:06,709
So, David went on to manage Richard,
be his agent and act as his lawyer.

394
00:25:06,710 --> 00:25:09,044
Other than Richard's pure talent,

395
00:25:09,045 --> 00:25:15,886
David was absolutely responsible for
Richard becoming really big in film.

396
00:25:15,887 --> 00:25:18,263
We did nine or ten pictures together.

397
00:25:18,264 --> 00:25:22,018
The first of them, The Bingo Long
Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings,

398
00:25:22,019 --> 00:25:24,729
about the Negro National Leagues.

399
00:25:24,731 --> 00:25:26,439
Like batting averages.

400
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:28,858
See, you take the number of times
a man been in bat

401
00:25:28,859 --> 00:25:31,778
and you divide that by the number
of times a man got a hit.

402
00:25:31,779 --> 00:25:35,804
Like me, I've been in bat 100 times.
I've got 25 hits. That's simple.

403
00:25:35,805 --> 00:25:39,830
25 goes into 100 four times. It
gives me a batting average of four.

404
00:25:39,831 --> 00:25:43,209
That's wrong.
That ain't no way to do that.

405
00:25:43,210 --> 00:25:45,544
The second film was Car Wash.

406
00:25:45,545 --> 00:25:48,131
I wasn't going to make
that movie without Richard.

407
00:25:48,132 --> 00:25:53,304
Believe in the Lord and, most of
all, believe in that federal dream.

408
00:25:54,431 --> 00:25:58,561
I remember the day that David came
back from a meeting with Richard,

409
00:25:58,562 --> 00:26:01,688
driving a brand-new Rolls-Royce.

410
00:26:01,689 --> 00:26:04,943
He must have been doing something
that was making Richard pretty happy

411
00:26:04,944 --> 00:26:07,988
for Richard to give him
a brand-new Rolls-Royce as a gift.

412
00:26:07,989 --> 00:26:11,930
Right at that moment,
the notion that he could hold

413
00:26:11,931 --> 00:26:15,872
the lead in a picture was a totally
unproven notion.

414
00:26:15,873 --> 00:26:18,396
Take this radio.
When you step out of here,

415
00:26:18,397 --> 00:26:20,826
you got
to step out of here like king shit.

416
00:26:20,827 --> 00:26:23,256
Right, you bad.
Put that radio to your ear.

417
00:26:23,257 --> 00:26:24,925
That's going to help cover
your face.

418
00:26:24,926 --> 00:26:26,592
Just move with the rhythm
of the music.

419
00:26:26,593 --> 00:26:28,594
Move your body
with the rhythm of the music.

420
00:26:28,595 --> 00:26:31,015
That's all you've got to do now.
Let me see you try.

421
00:26:31,016 --> 00:26:33,977
Step to the music.
Step to the music. Yeah.

422
00:26:33,978 --> 00:26:36,771
Step to the music. Stop.

423
00:26:36,772 --> 00:26:39,275
How come you whities got such
a tight ass, man? Do it.

424
00:26:39,276 --> 00:26:41,569
Can't you feel it?

425
00:26:47,409 --> 00:26:50,997
He basically launched a new genre
of comedy.

426
00:26:50,998 --> 00:26:52,956
Interracial buddy comedy.

427
00:26:52,957 --> 00:26:57,087
This was a new kind of formula
for comedy in Hollywood.

428
00:26:57,088 --> 00:26:59,422
He broke the glass ceiling.

429
00:26:59,423 --> 00:27:02,927
He made earning a certain amount
of money for black people

430
00:27:02,928 --> 00:27:05,763
that was not
possible at that time, possible.

431
00:27:05,764 --> 00:27:08,809
One of the films I did with him,
called Which Way Is Up?,

432
00:27:08,810 --> 00:27:12,771
I designed the film
around his stand-up routine.

433
00:27:12,772 --> 00:27:17,027
Come on, Bob, get your ass
out here. Richard played himself.

434
00:27:17,028 --> 00:27:19,655
He played his father.

435
00:27:19,656 --> 00:27:21,740
Fuck you!

436
00:27:21,741 --> 00:27:24,409
I heard that. Fuck you too, boy!

437
00:27:24,410 --> 00:27:27,079
And he played a bootleg preacher.

438
00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:31,209
What kind of lowlife dog, scoundrel,
snake in the grass...

439
00:27:31,210 --> 00:27:36,174
This was the first black film
that ever did multiple characters.

440
00:27:36,175 --> 00:27:39,720
Richard would come and say,
"Come to watch this."

441
00:27:39,721 --> 00:27:43,098
I come upstairs and he said, "Look!"

442
00:27:43,099 --> 00:27:45,809
I look out the window,
and, by the swimming pool,

443
00:27:45,810 --> 00:27:53,110
would be sitting famous
white people - famous producers.

444
00:27:53,111 --> 00:27:56,029
Dying to be allowed
to come up the stairs,

445
00:27:56,030 --> 00:27:59,743
up to the place where we were.
Do you ever go home? Yes, I do.

446
00:27:59,744 --> 00:28:02,328
I'm not allowed in Peoria any more.
I didn't know that.

447
00:28:02,329 --> 00:28:05,375
When you make some money, Negros
don't want you in town no more.

448
00:28:05,376 --> 00:28:10,547
He desired to be
the biggest star in entertainment.

449
00:28:10,548 --> 00:28:14,342
As big as Cosby, as big as Poitier.

450
00:28:14,343 --> 00:28:18,098
He also wanted to be
the blackest star. You know.

451
00:28:18,099 --> 00:28:21,060
As black as Malcolm X.

452
00:28:21,061 --> 00:28:24,020
Bird head. Cracker.

453
00:28:24,021 --> 00:28:27,943
Spear checker. White trash.

454
00:28:27,944 --> 00:28:30,570
Jungle bunny. Honky.

455
00:28:30,571 --> 00:28:34,366
His appearances
on Saturday Night Live were very

456
00:28:34,367 --> 00:28:38,246
instrumental in walking the
very thin line between what was

457
00:28:38,247 --> 00:28:41,709
acceptable on television
and his mind.

458
00:28:41,710 --> 00:28:44,045
Nigger. Dead honky.

459
00:28:45,213 --> 00:28:48,550
My grandmother would walk
by the living room and she'd say,

460
00:28:48,551 --> 00:28:50,343
"Are you watching that Negro again?"

461
00:28:50,344 --> 00:28:53,180
It was the only black
person my grandmother would allow

462
00:28:53,181 --> 00:28:54,848
in the house was Richard Pryor.

463
00:28:54,849 --> 00:28:58,520
The audiences absolutely loved it.
The network loved it.

464
00:28:58,521 --> 00:29:01,105
That's why the network
went after him

465
00:29:01,106 --> 00:29:05,445
and said, "We want you to do
a television show."

466
00:29:09,324 --> 00:29:11,367
We had the best time.

467
00:29:11,368 --> 00:29:16,040
When you have the support of someone
who carries that much weight,

468
00:29:16,041 --> 00:29:20,253
it trickles down to everybody to be
courageous and crazy.

469
00:29:20,254 --> 00:29:22,296
Mr President, Mr President. Yes.

470
00:29:22,297 --> 00:29:24,799
Mr President,
since you've become President,

471
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,345
you've been courting
an awful lot of white women.

472
00:29:27,346 --> 00:29:29,014
Will this continue?

473
00:29:33,644 --> 00:29:36,646
As long as I can keep it up.

474
00:29:36,648 --> 00:29:39,025
I actually hired
a court stenographer,

475
00:29:39,026 --> 00:29:40,609
because the ideas were...

476
00:29:40,610 --> 00:29:42,612
One day he walked
into the conference room,

477
00:29:42,613 --> 00:29:46,367
he jumped on the table and said,
"Let Bojaws handle it."

478
00:29:46,368 --> 00:29:48,286
We didn't know who Bojaws was.

479
00:29:48,287 --> 00:29:50,372
What do you say?

480
00:29:50,373 --> 00:29:52,958
Are you crippled?

481
00:29:52,959 --> 00:29:55,543
Let Bojaws handle it.

482
00:29:55,545 --> 00:30:00,258
Bojaws was this weird medicine man
that lived in the Louisiana bayou.

483
00:30:00,259 --> 00:30:04,096
Healing people. Mr Bojaws,
I've got a bad arm.

484
00:30:04,097 --> 00:30:06,036
I can't move it.

485
00:30:06,037 --> 00:30:08,090
He's got a bad arm

486
00:30:08,091 --> 00:30:10,145
and he can't move it.

487
00:30:10,146 --> 00:30:12,356
Argh!

488
00:30:14,316 --> 00:30:16,735
Let Bojaws handle it.

489
00:30:16,736 --> 00:30:21,574
It was ground-breaking
within the rules of how mundane

490
00:30:21,575 --> 00:30:24,745
television was at the time. There's
a lot of things written about me.

491
00:30:24,746 --> 00:30:26,913
People wondering
if I'm going to have a show,

492
00:30:26,914 --> 00:30:30,543
if I'm not going to have a show.
Well, I'm having a show.

493
00:30:30,544 --> 00:30:35,027
People say, "How can you have
a show? You've got to compromise.

494
00:30:35,028 --> 00:30:39,512
"You've got to give up everything."
Is that a joke or what?

495
00:30:39,513 --> 00:30:42,891
Well, look at me!
I'm standing here naked.

496
00:30:44,685 --> 00:30:48,106
I've given up absolutely nothing.

497
00:30:53,153 --> 00:30:55,322
So, enjoy the show.

498
00:30:56,991 --> 00:30:58,909
It was pretty crazy.
It was wonderful.

499
00:30:58,910 --> 00:31:03,080
He was always pushing the envelope.
That's when I went, wow!

500
00:31:03,081 --> 00:31:06,502
That was the best thing, the start
of the season. It was like, wow!

501
00:31:06,503 --> 00:31:08,336
He was always between two worlds.

502
00:31:08,338 --> 00:31:12,863
He was between that acceptable,
sort of mainstream white world,

503
00:31:12,864 --> 00:31:17,390
and, of course, a much stronger,
harder, knowing street place.

504
00:31:17,391 --> 00:31:21,144
But the networks were
so leery of him, so scared of him.

505
00:31:21,145 --> 00:31:24,773
The show was supposed
to air that night.

506
00:31:24,774 --> 00:31:27,567
NBC censored the opening.

507
00:31:27,568 --> 00:31:29,945
Called Richard at home and said,

508
00:31:29,946 --> 00:31:32,616
"You know we're going to edit out
the naked opening.

509
00:31:32,617 --> 00:31:34,952
"It caused a shit storm."

510
00:31:34,953 --> 00:31:36,328
He quit.

511
00:31:39,749 --> 00:31:41,333
The first thing to start off going,

512
00:31:41,334 --> 00:31:43,669
"This is my attempt
to make a statement.

513
00:31:43,670 --> 00:31:46,881
If they don't air that, that really
sets the rules. OK.

514
00:31:46,882 --> 00:31:50,094
You're not going to let me do what
I'm going to do.

515
00:31:53,598 --> 00:31:56,351
Richard came back and, after
pleasantries, Richard said,

516
00:31:56,352 --> 00:32:00,231
"Television chews you up and spits
you out, and I don't want that

517
00:32:00,232 --> 00:32:04,820
"to happen to me, so I've decided
not to do the series."

518
00:32:05,863 --> 00:32:09,617
He went to NBC, and they said
Richard had to do the show.

519
00:32:09,618 --> 00:32:12,077
They weren't going to let him
off the hook.

520
00:32:12,078 --> 00:32:14,915
From the looks of things,
I'll be seeing you next time.

521
00:32:14,916 --> 00:32:19,003
NBC made sure of that.
I'm not going anywhere.

522
00:32:22,424 --> 00:32:24,718
They kept saying,
you've got to be more mainstream.

523
00:32:24,719 --> 00:32:26,971
He was going, "No, fuck you.
No, we can't."

524
00:32:26,972 --> 00:32:29,139
If it wasn't real, fuck you.

525
00:32:29,140 --> 00:32:32,080
You know what I mean?
He wasn't compromising.

526
00:32:32,081 --> 00:32:35,022
Rocco is the token
white person on the show.

527
00:32:35,023 --> 00:32:37,106
He wanted a lot of changes made.

528
00:32:37,107 --> 00:32:40,445
More black people
involved in production staff.

529
00:32:40,446 --> 00:32:43,406
He only wanted
three whities to come back.

530
00:32:43,407 --> 00:32:45,408
We're in a rehearsal hall one day,

531
00:32:45,409 --> 00:32:52,709
and a guy walks in with an African
cap, a dashiki and a stick.

532
00:32:52,793 --> 00:32:55,294
I said, "Richard, who is that guy?"

533
00:32:55,295 --> 00:32:57,673
He said,
"His name is Prophet Jennings.

534
00:32:57,674 --> 00:32:59,507
"He's a Nigger expert."

535
00:32:59,508 --> 00:33:02,136
Who was the one to judge
whether Richard was black enough?

536
00:33:02,137 --> 00:33:06,600
Richard looked at him, and he'd
either go like this or like that.

537
00:33:06,601 --> 00:33:10,813
I love American people.
I want to say, I had two for lunch.

538
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:15,484
In the end,
they demanded that he do stand-up,

539
00:33:15,485 --> 00:33:18,509
which didn't sit well with him,
making demands on him.

540
00:33:18,510 --> 00:33:21,534
So they recorded 45 minutes
of him doing stand-up.

541
00:33:21,535 --> 00:33:23,620
They had ten seconds they could use.

542
00:33:23,621 --> 00:33:25,705
A lot of people here
might be offended.

543
00:33:25,706 --> 00:33:28,793
So you should leave, because
I'm going to say fuck and suck.

544
00:33:30,670 --> 00:33:33,380
And shit and doo-doo.

545
00:33:33,381 --> 00:33:36,927
It's amazing that he got things
on that he got on, but it's only

546
00:33:36,928 --> 00:33:40,097
because 90% of what
he wanted to get on he didn't get on

547
00:33:40,098 --> 00:33:42,432
that 10% of it
actually got through them,

548
00:33:42,433 --> 00:33:45,854
because they couldn't fight with him
that much.

549
00:33:45,855 --> 00:33:47,980
Those bells again!

550
00:33:47,982 --> 00:33:50,359
That was it. He went out swinging.

551
00:33:53,488 --> 00:33:56,992
Well, good night. See you next week.

552
00:34:06,545 --> 00:34:09,298
And we're delighted to have
with us two of the very best friends

553
00:34:09,299 --> 00:34:13,887
I have who dropped by,
Miss Pam Grier and Mr Richard Pryor.

554
00:34:19,435 --> 00:34:23,751
Richard was dating Pam Grier. You
know, she was crazy about that guy.

555
00:34:23,752 --> 00:34:28,100
We bumped into each other on the set
of Greased Lightning, in which

556
00:34:28,101 --> 00:34:32,450
we were both starring in, which
will be released some time in April.

557
00:34:32,451 --> 00:34:35,328
You say you bumped
into each other. Yes, we bumped.

558
00:34:35,329 --> 00:34:38,582
That must have been
quite a collision.

559
00:34:39,750 --> 00:34:43,546
I know that Richard's grandmother
wanted Richard to marry Pam.

560
00:34:43,547 --> 00:34:46,090
She thought she was certainly
an accomplished actress.

561
00:34:46,091 --> 00:34:50,429
She was black and she was a healthy
girl. She wasn't a party girl.

562
00:34:50,430 --> 00:34:52,597
I'll be jogging in the morning,
police.

563
00:34:52,598 --> 00:34:55,936
Me and Rashan, two black men,
will be jogging.

564
00:34:55,937 --> 00:34:58,126
We're not robbing anything.

565
00:34:58,127 --> 00:35:00,315
Richard was completely sober.

566
00:35:00,316 --> 00:35:03,152
He played tennis
every morning at seven o'clock.

567
00:35:03,153 --> 00:35:06,405
It was a Richard I had not seen.

568
00:35:06,406 --> 00:35:08,492
Richard came into my office
and said,

569
00:35:08,493 --> 00:35:10,451
"I'm getting married tomorrow."

570
00:35:10,452 --> 00:35:15,166
I'll be late.
I said, "Wow! Congratulations!"

571
00:35:15,167 --> 00:35:17,043
That's fucking great.

572
00:35:17,045 --> 00:35:20,129
# Baby, save me

573
00:35:20,130 --> 00:35:24,135
# From this heart of mine... #

574
00:35:25,387 --> 00:35:27,638
I had a cake this big.

575
00:35:27,639 --> 00:35:31,851
Congratulations, Richard and Pam.

576
00:35:31,852 --> 00:35:35,689
# I can't sleep at night
It's taking over... #

577
00:35:35,690 --> 00:35:39,236
My phone rings and Pam says,
"You tell the son of a bitch

578
00:35:39,237 --> 00:35:41,947
"I'm coming down
and I'm going to kill him."

579
00:35:44,742 --> 00:35:48,037
Richard Pryor had married a girl

580
00:35:48,038 --> 00:35:51,333
he got pregnant. And he walks in.

581
00:35:51,334 --> 00:35:53,084
I start moving the cake out.

582
00:35:53,085 --> 00:35:55,547
He looks at the cake and realises
it's Pamela there

583
00:35:55,548 --> 00:35:57,673
and here's Richard
with this other woman.

584
00:35:57,674 --> 00:36:01,053
There was a prompt card,
and it had plastic flowers on.

585
00:36:01,054 --> 00:36:04,015
I shoved it
in the middle of the cake,

586
00:36:04,016 --> 00:36:07,643
to blur out Pam and Richard.

587
00:36:07,644 --> 00:36:10,751
A lot of people were surprised
that Richard married Deborah,

588
00:36:10,752 --> 00:36:13,860
because it did come out of,
sort of come out of nowhere.

589
00:36:13,861 --> 00:36:17,322
There were many women
in Richard's life.

590
00:36:17,323 --> 00:36:19,740
I recognised and he told me this,

591
00:36:19,741 --> 00:36:22,076
that they wouldn't be around
that long.

592
00:36:22,077 --> 00:36:24,412
This is about the time
I'd been married,

593
00:36:24,413 --> 00:36:28,293
and it was really exciting
because I really am trying,

594
00:36:28,294 --> 00:36:32,088
I really am trying.

595
00:36:32,089 --> 00:36:36,009
I'm telling you I'm fucking trying,
OK?

596
00:36:36,010 --> 00:36:41,495
But it's hard to wake up and see the
same person all the fucking time.

597
00:36:41,496 --> 00:36:47,137
Richard had, I done forgotten now.
Eight, nine, 12 wives. I don't know.

598
00:36:47,138 --> 00:36:52,780
But I know that all of them was what
they was to him when they was.

599
00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:59,245
Was once was.
Richard had a pimp's mentality.

600
00:36:59,246 --> 00:37:02,290
He pretends like he's controllable.
He's like a spider.

601
00:37:02,291 --> 00:37:05,336
That's to lure you in till you get
caught in the web.

602
00:37:05,337 --> 00:37:08,506
Richard had a compulsion
to be married,

603
00:37:08,507 --> 00:37:10,091
because he didn't want to be alone.

604
00:37:10,092 --> 00:37:14,179
But once he would marry,
the magic would be off.

605
00:37:14,180 --> 00:37:21,480
It would be gone because he won. If
he wanted you, you had that power.

606
00:37:21,481 --> 00:37:24,337
And usually that would
just about last until he got you.

607
00:37:24,338 --> 00:37:27,195
And then it would be time to go
after another woman.

608
00:37:27,196 --> 00:37:29,051
And that was the game with Richard.

609
00:37:29,052 --> 00:37:30,906
Then the whole
fun of the game was,

610
00:37:30,908 --> 00:37:32,867
"How do I get this bitch
out of my house?"

611
00:37:32,868 --> 00:37:37,226
I was the best man at a wedding
with Jennifer in Hana, Maui.

612
00:37:37,227 --> 00:37:41,012
And the next morning after
the wedding, I was in my room,

613
00:37:41,013 --> 00:37:44,799
and about seven in the morning,
there is a knock on the door.

614
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,676
I go and open the door,
and there's Richard Pryor.

615
00:37:47,677 --> 00:37:52,516
I said, "Richard, what are you doing
here at seven in the morning?"

616
00:37:52,517 --> 00:37:55,143
And he says, "I want a divorce."

617
00:37:55,144 --> 00:37:58,440
No, I'd like to die like my father
died.

618
00:37:58,441 --> 00:38:01,567
Right, my father died fucking.

619
00:38:01,568 --> 00:38:07,200
He did. My father was 57 when
he died, right. The woman was 18.

620
00:38:07,201 --> 00:38:10,620
My father came and went
at the same time.

621
00:38:15,251 --> 00:38:18,671
Would you like to introduce our next
guest? Yes, who? Your grandmother.

622
00:38:18,672 --> 00:38:21,091
Oh, man, don't do that.

623
00:38:28,641 --> 00:38:31,373
I'm told that you run
a pool hall. Yes, I do.

624
00:38:31,374 --> 00:38:34,105
Did Richard spend much
time in the pool hall?

625
00:38:34,106 --> 00:38:36,754
Yes, he used to come down there
and shoot pool after school.

626
00:38:36,755 --> 00:38:39,404
They used to cuss in the pool
room before she took over.

627
00:38:39,405 --> 00:38:41,490
Now the language is, "Why you..."

628
00:38:42,950 --> 00:38:44,534
I keep them in their place.

629
00:38:44,535 --> 00:38:47,370
See, I'm an old lady
and I stay in old ladies place

630
00:38:47,371 --> 00:38:50,876
and I respect them young men,
and they must respect me, isn't that right?

631
00:38:50,877 --> 00:38:52,419
That's exactly right.

632
00:38:52,420 --> 00:38:54,004
APPLAUSE

633
00:38:55,965 --> 00:38:58,091
I remember meeting Marie Carter.

634
00:38:58,092 --> 00:39:01,303
She's a grandmother
that you see in books.

635
00:39:01,304 --> 00:39:06,330
She had the long white hair
and she was dressed very smart.

636
00:39:06,331 --> 00:39:11,358
I bow to her. And this old bitch
hit me in my chest so hard.

637
00:39:11,359 --> 00:39:12,526
Boom!

638
00:39:14,319 --> 00:39:18,449
And I felt the breath leave out
and before I let her hit me again,

639
00:39:18,450 --> 00:39:20,618
I rushed and started choking.

640
00:39:20,620 --> 00:39:22,787
And he started laughing at me.

641
00:39:22,788 --> 00:39:25,665
She'd laugh like it was
the funniest shit she had seen.

642
00:39:25,666 --> 00:39:29,921
And Richard stood to the left and he
said, "That's my grandmother, man."

643
00:39:33,300 --> 00:39:37,221
I was born Richard Franklin Lennox
Thomas Pryor III.

644
00:39:38,848 --> 00:39:41,517
I got names from pimps
and gangsters.

645
00:39:41,518 --> 00:39:47,400
Grew up seeing my mother
go into rooms with men

646
00:39:47,401 --> 00:39:49,609
and my aunties go into rooms
with men.

647
00:39:49,611 --> 00:39:52,322
I remember tricks used to come
through our neighbourhood.

648
00:39:52,323 --> 00:39:54,156
That's where I first met
white people.

649
00:39:54,157 --> 00:39:57,286
They come down through our
neighbourhood to help the economy.

650
00:39:57,287 --> 00:39:58,995
Man, but I met nice white men.

651
00:39:58,996 --> 00:40:02,626
"Hello, little boy, is your mother
home? I'd like a blowjob."

652
00:40:03,669 --> 00:40:07,715
When he told us about it, we
laughed. "Get the fuck out of here.

653
00:40:07,716 --> 00:40:12,032
"Your mother sucked dick?"
We didn't really grasp it.

654
00:40:12,033 --> 00:40:16,349
And when you realise it really
happened. It wasn't jokes.

655
00:40:16,350 --> 00:40:21,189
It makes us, if you didn't have that
experience go, "What is that like?"

656
00:40:21,190 --> 00:40:25,027
And how do you maintain love?
His uncle and his daddy were pimps.

657
00:40:26,612 --> 00:40:31,117
I'm talking about not no play pimps,
real pimps.

658
00:40:31,118 --> 00:40:33,870
Them guys would pimp a Barbie doll.

659
00:40:33,871 --> 00:40:36,622
"Bitch, go out and get the money."

660
00:40:36,624 --> 00:40:40,773
The grandmother was the madam
in chief of the whole operation.

661
00:40:40,774 --> 00:40:44,925
Basically, keep the girls in line.
Keep the johns in line.

662
00:40:44,926 --> 00:40:47,093
That's when I realised who she was.

663
00:40:47,094 --> 00:40:50,974
In terms of this is the whole house,
she runs everything.

664
00:40:50,975 --> 00:40:53,268
You know, she lived in the south
side in Peoria

665
00:40:53,269 --> 00:40:55,917
and she could sleep with
the door unlocked.

666
00:40:55,918 --> 00:40:58,565
People knew you're not coming
up in this house.

667
00:40:58,566 --> 00:41:02,362
You know if you do come up in the house,
you know what's going to happen.

668
00:41:03,989 --> 00:41:07,533
The grandmother was
the matriarch of the family,

669
00:41:07,534 --> 00:41:11,079
upon whom everybody else's
survival depended.

670
00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:17,004
She was Richard's nurturer,
the punisher, the disciplinarian.

671
00:41:17,005 --> 00:41:18,713
Everything rolled into one.

672
00:41:18,714 --> 00:41:20,715
My grandmother would wake my ass up,
you know.

673
00:41:20,716 --> 00:41:25,514
"Get your ass, put your hand up.
Don't you run from me.

674
00:41:25,515 --> 00:41:30,018
"Don't you run... from... me."

675
00:41:30,019 --> 00:41:35,400
You were 15 years old when your first
child was born? Yeah. Yeah.

676
00:41:37,152 --> 00:41:40,740
How could you... It was fun.
And then after she was born?

677
00:41:40,741 --> 00:41:43,034
I didn't know my father was
making love to her too.

678
00:41:43,035 --> 00:41:45,870
And I was standing in the dining
room crying.

679
00:41:45,871 --> 00:41:48,249
My mother said,
"What's wrong with the boy, Bucky?"

680
00:41:48,250 --> 00:41:50,418
My father said,
"Ain't nothing wrong with him.

681
00:41:50,419 --> 00:41:52,629
"He got some girl pregnant."

682
00:41:54,297 --> 00:41:58,594
I think, when you grow
up around a bordello, you see

683
00:41:58,595 --> 00:42:02,974
people at their very core, in a way.

684
00:42:02,975 --> 00:42:07,354
There's no facade,
there's no masks on.

685
00:42:09,482 --> 00:42:13,611
I don't know what it was
that made me that way,

686
00:42:13,612 --> 00:42:15,405
that could laugh at anything.

687
00:42:17,199 --> 00:42:22,372
Nothing was too sad, some humour
could not be found in it.

688
00:42:24,833 --> 00:42:29,212
His sensitivity made him
so brilliant as a comedian.

689
00:42:29,213 --> 00:42:34,886
But some things were so painful
that he wanted to be somewhere else.

690
00:42:34,887 --> 00:42:39,767
I think if you are a sensitive
type that it...

691
00:42:40,810 --> 00:42:43,228
that you self-medicate.

692
00:42:43,229 --> 00:42:45,148
It's easier to self-medicate.

693
00:42:48,444 --> 00:42:53,074
I snorted cocaine for about 15
years. I must have snorted up Peru.

694
00:42:55,952 --> 00:42:59,331
He'd do a line and drink some
Courvoisier. That's lunch.

695
00:43:00,708 --> 00:43:02,125
Go back to work.

696
00:43:02,126 --> 00:43:06,131
Watching Dad doing drugs, you know,
doing some lines or smoking...

697
00:43:06,132 --> 00:43:09,717
those were things
that you didn't really question.

698
00:43:09,718 --> 00:43:13,806
Listen, I was doing so much,
I embarrassed cocaine dealers.

699
00:43:15,266 --> 00:43:17,978
They would say,
"Richard, man, God damn.

700
00:43:19,271 --> 00:43:21,315
"Well, how much do you want?"
"Kilo.

701
00:43:23,359 --> 00:43:24,736
"Just for the weekend."

702
00:43:26,696 --> 00:43:30,262
A lot of people came to the house
to play cards, hang out.

703
00:43:30,263 --> 00:43:33,830
For the drugs, of course,
because he bought coke by the key.

704
00:43:33,831 --> 00:43:38,001
Low-lifes, drug dealers,
card people, hookers.

705
00:43:38,002 --> 00:43:39,877
I don't like cocaine, I love it.

706
00:43:39,878 --> 00:43:41,756
And that's why
I have to stay away from it.

707
00:43:41,757 --> 00:43:43,673
I enjoyed it for a long time.

708
00:43:43,674 --> 00:43:45,717
Maybe you want to change
your whole life

709
00:43:45,718 --> 00:43:48,513
and you swear tomorrow
I'll never do this again.

710
00:43:48,514 --> 00:43:50,014
Success doesn't change you.

711
00:43:50,015 --> 00:43:52,726
It only magnifies
who you've been all your life.

712
00:43:52,727 --> 00:43:56,356
And success magnified
the kid from Peoria with Richard.

713
00:43:56,357 --> 00:44:00,610
But now he had endless money,
endless fame.

714
00:44:00,611 --> 00:44:04,615
When he would betray himself,
which he did with some frequency,

715
00:44:04,617 --> 00:44:08,954
he thought that that betrayal
belonged to everyone else.

716
00:44:08,955 --> 00:44:11,080
If he was in a particularly
good mood

717
00:44:11,081 --> 00:44:13,541
and he was being nice to everybody,
he could charm

718
00:44:13,543 --> 00:44:17,796
anyone on the set and then he would
go home that night and stew

719
00:44:17,797 --> 00:44:22,052
and say, "What kind of Tom am I?
I'm everybody's black pal."

720
00:44:22,053 --> 00:44:24,137
And the next day, he would be mean.

721
00:44:24,138 --> 00:44:28,518
Richard was about
13 different personalities.

722
00:44:28,519 --> 00:44:31,854
Nine of them you could deal with.

723
00:44:31,855 --> 00:44:35,360
But them other four could be
a motherfucker now.

724
00:44:35,361 --> 00:44:38,154
Richard was very intense...

725
00:44:39,740 --> 00:44:45,641
..about his personal pride. And
he didn't care where it took him.

726
00:44:45,642 --> 00:44:51,545
There was a huge benefit for gay
pride at the Hollywood Bowl.

727
00:44:52,922 --> 00:44:57,469
A lot of performers
were at the Hollywood Bowl

728
00:44:57,470 --> 00:44:59,075
to lend their support,

729
00:44:59,076 --> 00:45:00,680
Richard being one of them.

730
00:45:00,681 --> 00:45:04,685
Richie came on, and the audience
was waiting for him.

731
00:45:04,686 --> 00:45:06,937
Great applause, and he said,
"You know,

732
00:45:06,938 --> 00:45:11,713
"I've sucked some cock myself." That
was the first thing that he said.

733
00:45:11,714 --> 00:45:16,491
I thought, "Uh-oh. Here we go." But
the audience, of course, cheered.

734
00:45:16,492 --> 00:45:20,120
And then he went on to just
really go a little nuts.

735
00:45:37,932 --> 00:45:40,705
They wanted to shock,
because it was the truth.

736
00:45:40,706 --> 00:45:43,479
And the truth defends itself.
And it was quiet.

737
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:46,693
It was quiet. You could hear a rat
pissing on cotton in Georgia.

738
00:45:46,694 --> 00:45:48,236
I mean, it was real quiet.

739
00:46:01,668 --> 00:46:05,673
Y'all can just kiss my rich,
black ass.

740
00:46:05,674 --> 00:46:10,678
And walked off. So...

741
00:46:10,679 --> 00:46:12,806
Centre stage. Hello, everybody.

742
00:46:12,807 --> 00:46:14,057
I'm terribly embarrassed

743
00:46:14,058 --> 00:46:16,769
and I don't know what to
say about what just happened.

744
00:46:16,770 --> 00:46:18,480
But I do think...

745
00:46:21,233 --> 00:46:24,820
May I please finish talking?
They stood up.

746
00:46:24,821 --> 00:46:29,158
Booing, hissing, throwing some
chairs.

747
00:46:29,159 --> 00:46:32,746
It was the scariest event
that I've ever been at.

748
00:46:33,831 --> 00:46:35,999
Everyone in showbusiness was there.

749
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,419
I thought, "We're never going
to hear from him again."

750
00:46:42,007 --> 00:46:43,633
I got a call from David Franklin,

751
00:46:43,634 --> 00:46:46,887
and he said, "Ce-Ce-Cecil,"
cos he stuttered.

752
00:46:46,888 --> 00:46:50,141
He said,
"R-Richard fucked up l-last night."

753
00:46:51,351 --> 00:46:54,605
So I drove over to Richard's house,
and nobody was in the house.

754
00:46:54,606 --> 00:46:56,962
I went out, and he was
sitting by a swimming pool.

755
00:46:56,963 --> 00:46:59,725
He was smoking a cigarette,
and he had a scotch

756
00:46:59,726 --> 00:47:02,488
and an orange juice
and vodka was his drink.

757
00:47:02,489 --> 00:47:06,369
And I said, "Man, what happened?"
He said, "Man, fuck it, man.

758
00:47:06,370 --> 00:47:09,831
He said, "I just told them to kiss
my ass." "But why?"

759
00:47:09,832 --> 00:47:12,125
He said,
"If that's the way they want me,

760
00:47:12,126 --> 00:47:14,420
"I don't have a career
any damn way."

761
00:47:17,715 --> 00:47:21,093
It wasn't Hollywood that beat him
in any way.

762
00:47:21,094 --> 00:47:24,598
He defeated himself
with what his bad habits were.

763
00:47:27,810 --> 00:47:29,102
Pryor went to court

764
00:47:29,103 --> 00:47:31,522
because of an incident
at his home on New Year's Day.

765
00:47:31,523 --> 00:47:35,027
He's been charged with two counts
of assault with a deadly weapon

766
00:47:35,028 --> 00:47:37,570
and one count of felony
malicious mischief.

767
00:47:37,572 --> 00:47:43,203
I don't want to never see no more
police in my life.

768
00:47:43,204 --> 00:47:45,289
At my house.

769
00:47:46,332 --> 00:47:48,084
Taking my ass to jail.

770
00:47:50,253 --> 00:47:51,796
For killing my car.

771
00:47:53,674 --> 00:47:56,260
I shot the motor. The motor fell
out of the motherfucker.

772
00:47:56,261 --> 00:47:57,678
The motor say, "Fuck it."

773
00:47:59,847 --> 00:48:01,265
Then the police came.

774
00:48:01,266 --> 00:48:02,684
I went into the house.

775
00:48:03,769 --> 00:48:06,021
Cos they got Magnums too.

776
00:48:07,898 --> 00:48:12,195
And they don't kill
cars... they kill nigg-ah.

777
00:48:13,238 --> 00:48:15,365
You know, Richard Pryor
was always in the news.

778
00:48:15,367 --> 00:48:18,077
Richard Pryor shoots his car.

779
00:48:18,078 --> 00:48:20,787
Richard Pryor has a heart attack.

780
00:48:20,788 --> 00:48:23,874
He ran into these tragedies
one after another.

781
00:48:23,875 --> 00:48:27,087
But you also knew that three months
would go by or six months

782
00:48:27,088 --> 00:48:29,005
would go by or a year
would go by, and then

783
00:48:29,006 --> 00:48:31,592
he was going to bring
this experience back to you.

784
00:48:31,593 --> 00:48:35,409
Anyone here ever had a heart attack?
Them motherfuckers hurt.

785
00:48:35,410 --> 00:48:39,090
I'm not bullshitting, man.
I was walking in the front yard.

786
00:48:39,091 --> 00:48:42,772
I was just walking along,
and something said, "Don't breathe."

787
00:48:44,441 --> 00:48:46,694
I said, "Huh?"
"You heard me, motherfucker.

788
00:48:46,695 --> 00:48:49,446
"I said, 'Don't breathe.'"

789
00:48:49,447 --> 00:48:53,492
"OK, I won't breathe."
"Then shut the fuck up, then." "OK.

790
00:48:53,493 --> 00:48:58,456
"Don't kill me." "Get on one knee
and prove it." "I'm on one knee."

791
00:48:58,457 --> 00:49:02,378
"Thinking about dying now, ain't you?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking about dying."

792
00:49:02,380 --> 00:49:06,008
"You didn't think about it
when you was eating all that pork."

793
00:49:25,656 --> 00:49:28,826
We was on the road
and seen Marie Carter

794
00:49:28,827 --> 00:49:31,453
every day while she was dying.

795
00:49:31,454 --> 00:49:34,916
We'd do the shows,
go check on his grandmother.

796
00:49:34,917 --> 00:49:37,168
She said, "You watch out for my boy."

797
00:49:37,169 --> 00:49:40,798
She was dying, and basically they
said, "You have to get here now."

798
00:49:40,799 --> 00:49:42,674
So we rushed there.

799
00:49:42,675 --> 00:49:44,885
We went into her hospital room.

800
00:49:44,886 --> 00:49:48,849
I remember she touched
his camel-hair coat.

801
00:49:48,850 --> 00:49:51,519
And said, "That's blue azure.

802
00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:53,021
"Is it warm enough?"

803
00:49:54,648 --> 00:49:56,733
And he said,
"Yes, Mom, it's warm enough."

804
00:49:58,277 --> 00:50:02,907
We went back to the hotel,
and she died a few hours later.

805
00:50:22,013 --> 00:50:25,308
Like my grandmother, Marie,
used to say, "They can kill you,

806
00:50:25,309 --> 00:50:27,352
"but they can't eat you."

807
00:50:29,355 --> 00:50:30,940
I love you, Grandmother.

808
00:50:30,941 --> 00:50:33,775
Wherever you are.

809
00:50:33,776 --> 00:50:38,489
She was his conduit to reality,
to the world.

810
00:50:38,490 --> 00:50:43,203
To everything that tethered him
to earth.

811
00:50:43,204 --> 00:50:46,666
And I really think that that's
when he started to come apart.

812
00:50:51,797 --> 00:50:54,384
Dr Al Canning came
and told Richard and he said,

813
00:50:54,385 --> 00:50:56,762
"When you finish going
through this...

814
00:50:58,347 --> 00:51:01,559
"..go to Africa. You need to find
out something about yourself."

815
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,479
MUSIC: "Stand Up"
by Lee Fields and Sugarmen & Co

816
00:51:09,944 --> 00:51:11,486
# Stand up

817
00:51:11,487 --> 00:51:15,283
# Let's get it right

818
00:51:15,284 --> 00:51:17,410
# Stand up

819
00:51:17,411 --> 00:51:19,787
# Let's keep it tight. #

820
00:51:19,788 --> 00:51:23,583
I went home to the motherland.
I was going to find my roots.

821
00:51:23,584 --> 00:51:28,131
700 million black people - not
one of them motherfuckers knew me.

822
00:51:29,967 --> 00:51:32,929
I looked in every
phone book in Africa.

823
00:51:32,930 --> 00:51:36,306
I didn't find one goddamn Pryor.

824
00:51:36,308 --> 00:51:39,435
What he saw was black people
who were walking around.

825
00:51:39,436 --> 00:51:43,524
Everybody was professional, everybody
had their own lives and purpose.

826
00:51:43,525 --> 00:51:47,278
And he felt really at home
on that land.

827
00:51:47,279 --> 00:51:50,324
I was sitting in the hotel,
and a voice said to me, he said,

828
00:51:50,325 --> 00:51:53,494
"Look around,"
said, "do you see any niggers?"

829
00:51:55,371 --> 00:51:58,792
I said, "No." "You know
why? Cos there aren't any."

830
00:51:59,918 --> 00:52:03,129
And it made me think,
"Oh, my God. I've been wrong.

831
00:52:03,130 --> 00:52:06,718
I said, "I ain't going to never
call another black man nigger."

832
00:52:06,719 --> 00:52:08,428
APPLAUSE

833
00:52:10,639 --> 00:52:13,893
He really had this epiphany
that he was never going to use

834
00:52:13,894 --> 00:52:15,144
the word again.

835
00:52:16,521 --> 00:52:19,775
When he came back, he said,
"I'm not going to use that no more."

836
00:52:21,193 --> 00:52:22,361
And he stuck with it.

837
00:52:23,571 --> 00:52:26,783
When he went to Africa,
the word had no meaning.

838
00:52:28,744 --> 00:52:32,706
But on the streets of Detroit,
it might be something else.

839
00:52:32,708 --> 00:52:35,418
He'd tell the same joke,
just take nigger out.

840
00:52:35,419 --> 00:52:37,128
"Oh, he's not funny no more."

841
00:52:38,421 --> 00:52:42,216
So, the punchline
was nigger for y'all?

842
00:52:42,218 --> 00:52:45,221
And that bothered him that
some people just wouldn't elevate.

843
00:52:46,639 --> 00:52:49,267
He was at such a point
of a growth spurt.

844
00:52:50,352 --> 00:52:51,603
And he didn't want the job.

845
00:52:52,938 --> 00:52:57,485
You know, I'm a fucking artist. I do
what I do. Leave me the fuck alone.

846
00:52:57,486 --> 00:53:00,280
And shortly thereafter
freebase was introduced.

847
00:53:03,701 --> 00:53:06,329
At the time,
everybody was doing cocaine.

848
00:53:06,330 --> 00:53:08,956
We were snorting cocaine.

849
00:53:08,957 --> 00:53:13,838
A lot changed when everybody
switched from snorting cocaine

850
00:53:13,839 --> 00:53:15,506
to freebasing cocaine.

851
00:53:16,633 --> 00:53:21,305
Somehow, everybody knew that
this was a really bad thing,

852
00:53:21,306 --> 00:53:23,056
that turned dark.

853
00:53:23,057 --> 00:53:25,267
And he found freebase.

854
00:53:25,268 --> 00:53:27,728
And after two weeks of watching him

855
00:53:27,729 --> 00:53:30,231
get really addicted to this stuff,

856
00:53:30,232 --> 00:53:32,734
I moved out, because it was clear

857
00:53:32,735 --> 00:53:38,199
the drug had moved in and it had
become his lover, his everything.

858
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:42,036
And I didn't exist any more.

859
00:53:42,037 --> 00:53:46,792
Richard wasn't an addict.
He was a flat-out full-blown junkie.

860
00:53:46,793 --> 00:53:51,548
I mean, he might be clean for
four days but be drinking booze.

861
00:53:51,549 --> 00:53:55,845
Be clean for a week
but just snorting a little coke.

862
00:53:55,846 --> 00:53:58,389
So he was not honest with himself.

863
00:54:01,560 --> 00:54:04,687
June 9th, 1980.

864
00:54:04,688 --> 00:54:09,694
Richard had walked off the set
of Stir Crazy a few days earlier.

865
00:54:09,695 --> 00:54:11,405
The freebase had been escalating.

866
00:54:12,781 --> 00:54:14,908
He was not able to stop.

867
00:54:14,909 --> 00:54:19,372
Richard was so coked out that he
began withdrawing large sums

868
00:54:19,373 --> 00:54:22,083
of money out of the bank.

869
00:54:22,084 --> 00:54:27,507
And I'm talking like 500,000,
100,000, another 250,000.

870
00:54:27,508 --> 00:54:29,843
He was hiding it at his house.

871
00:54:29,844 --> 00:54:31,594
Rashan had called.

872
00:54:31,595 --> 00:54:34,890
He was calling and recruiting several
people that he felt were close

873
00:54:34,891 --> 00:54:37,476
enough to Richard to come to the
house.

874
00:54:37,477 --> 00:54:40,438
To rescue Richard to try to get
Richard to stop.

875
00:54:41,690 --> 00:54:44,150
Richard was in a very scary place.

876
00:54:44,151 --> 00:54:47,113
Richard didn't just have
a couple of ounces of cocaine.

877
00:54:47,114 --> 00:54:51,493
I'm talking about a mound
of cocaine on his bed.

878
00:54:51,494 --> 00:54:53,411
On the bed.

879
00:54:53,412 --> 00:54:57,875
And he had the pipe and the torch,
and he wasn't going to put it down.

880
00:54:57,876 --> 00:55:01,713
You could see that
he was absolutely manic.

881
00:55:01,714 --> 00:55:05,550
When I saw him,
I didn't know him any more.

882
00:55:05,551 --> 00:55:09,409
He looked like something had
been taken from him.

883
00:55:09,410 --> 00:55:13,268
You know, some spirit had been
ripped out of him.

884
00:55:16,105 --> 00:55:21,986
He was high. We were watching
the Vietnam special.

885
00:55:21,987 --> 00:55:27,869
Where they were showing the monks
protest to the war.

886
00:55:27,870 --> 00:55:30,184
And this particular monk
took gasoline

887
00:55:30,185 --> 00:55:32,498
and poured it on himself
and he lit it.

888
00:55:32,499 --> 00:55:36,128
I said to Richard,
"Look at this man's commitment."

889
00:55:36,129 --> 00:55:39,423
And Richard looked at me and said,

890
00:55:39,424 --> 00:55:41,760
"Fuck his commitment,
he didn't even flinch."

891
00:55:43,345 --> 00:55:47,432
He laughed.
And I went up to go to the kitchen.

892
00:55:47,433 --> 00:55:52,189
On my way back to the room, a ball
of fire is running towards me.

893
00:55:53,482 --> 00:55:55,566
And I just jumped out of the way.

894
00:55:55,567 --> 00:55:58,070
I seen it run past me, and I got up
against the wall,

895
00:55:58,071 --> 00:55:59,821
and it run down this long hallway

896
00:55:59,822 --> 00:56:02,784
and then outside
and then I see it outside, running.

897
00:56:02,785 --> 00:56:04,244
Ball of fire.

898
00:56:09,125 --> 00:56:14,423
In Richard's room before I leave,
there was a fifth of 151 rum.

899
00:56:14,424 --> 00:56:16,842
3/4ths of the bottle was gone.

900
00:56:18,511 --> 00:56:20,762
I got a call saying that Richard

901
00:56:20,763 --> 00:56:23,642
was in an ambulance on the way
to the Grossman Burn Centre.

902
00:56:24,977 --> 00:56:30,733
I called Dr Grossman, who I knew.
And I said, "This guy is my friend.

903
00:56:30,734 --> 00:56:32,402
"Make sure he lives."

904
00:56:42,664 --> 00:56:47,294
This is my impression of a heart
talking to a brain.

905
00:56:47,295 --> 00:56:49,005
HE IMPERSONATES A HEARTBEAT

906
00:56:52,050 --> 00:56:54,636
Brain.

907
00:56:56,221 --> 00:56:57,681
Brain.

908
00:57:01,144 --> 00:57:02,687
What do you want?

909
00:57:05,816 --> 00:57:07,776
You've been naughty.

910
00:57:10,029 --> 00:57:11,364
Go to hell.

911
00:57:13,950 --> 00:57:15,661
Don't make me angry, brain.

912
00:57:18,789 --> 00:57:19,999
Drop dead.

913
00:57:24,296 --> 00:57:26,131
LAUGHTER

914
00:57:41,858 --> 00:57:44,027
The police had just
brought in a burn victim

915
00:57:44,028 --> 00:57:46,822
who had been running down the street.

916
00:57:46,823 --> 00:57:48,948
And he was awake.

917
00:57:48,949 --> 00:57:54,831
He had burns of his face, neck,
chest, abdomen, back and arms.

918
00:57:54,832 --> 00:57:58,000
That was like 35-40%
of his body burnt.

919
00:57:58,002 --> 00:58:01,631
Dr Grossman told me that based
on the severe extent of those burns,

920
00:58:01,632 --> 00:58:04,342
there was almost no chance
he would live.

921
00:58:05,969 --> 00:58:10,725
I flew back to Los Angeles
and went the Sherman Oaks Burn Centre

922
00:58:10,726 --> 00:58:15,188
where everyone else was having
a vigil about Richard.

923
00:58:15,189 --> 00:58:16,897
The word kept coming out.

924
00:58:16,898 --> 00:58:19,317
Everybody kept saying
that Richard had died.

925
00:58:19,318 --> 00:58:22,572
When he got burned, all of them
showed up at the hospital.

926
00:58:22,573 --> 00:58:25,491
And I had to turn
to a security guard.

927
00:58:25,492 --> 00:58:28,307
I said, "Them bitches
was about to kill people

928
00:58:28,308 --> 00:58:31,123
"if you couldn't let him
go to the burns centre."

929
00:58:34,169 --> 00:58:35,836
I told the doctor's,

930
00:58:35,837 --> 00:58:40,029
"He's on Courvoisier,
he's on vodka, he's on cocaine."

931
00:58:40,030 --> 00:58:44,222
Cos I knew, you give him morphine,
you could overdose him.

932
00:58:47,309 --> 00:58:50,896
On my desk at the studio, I had
a phone that Mr Wasserman,

933
00:58:50,897 --> 00:58:52,355
the chairman of the company,

934
00:58:52,356 --> 00:58:55,026
used to call me on, and nobody
else used that phone.

935
00:58:55,027 --> 00:58:58,237
It ran at ten o'clock one morning.

936
00:58:58,238 --> 00:59:02,285
And I said, "Hello,"
and I heard a voice say...

937
00:59:02,286 --> 00:59:05,162
HE EXHALES

938
00:59:05,163 --> 00:59:06,957
And I said, "Who's this?"

939
00:59:06,958 --> 00:59:09,375
HE EXHALES

940
00:59:09,376 --> 00:59:12,046
And I realised it's Richard.

941
00:59:12,047 --> 00:59:14,423
And he said...

942
00:59:14,424 --> 00:59:17,760
"Am I going to die?"

943
00:59:17,761 --> 00:59:20,014
And I said, "No, Richard,
you're not going to die."

944
00:59:20,015 --> 00:59:21,723
And then he hung up.

945
00:59:21,724 --> 00:59:23,225
And I called the doctor, I said,

946
00:59:23,226 --> 00:59:27,314
"There's a fucking phone in
Richard's room next to his bed."

947
00:59:27,315 --> 00:59:28,814
And he said, "What?!"

948
00:59:28,815 --> 00:59:32,403
Comedian Richard Pryor,
critically burned Monday night,

949
00:59:32,404 --> 00:59:34,655
was sitting up in
his hospital bed today

950
00:59:34,656 --> 00:59:37,533
and eating Cream of Wheat
and talking to his doctors.

951
00:59:37,534 --> 00:59:41,247
They said his chance of recovery
was still only about one in three,

952
00:59:41,248 --> 00:59:44,375
but they were more optimistic
than they were yesterday.

953
00:59:44,376 --> 00:59:47,504
All day long, I've been hearing
that he's improving.

954
00:59:47,505 --> 00:59:49,463
Is there still a chance
he would die?

955
00:59:49,465 --> 00:59:52,301
I want you to understand
that you have a man who still has

956
00:59:52,302 --> 00:59:55,179
a 50% burn on third-degree nature...

957
00:59:55,181 --> 00:59:57,514
who's very, very sick.

958
00:59:57,516 --> 01:00:01,644
And until all of that burn tissue
is taken off of his body...

959
01:00:01,645 --> 01:00:05,525
and covered with grafts - which will
require a number of operations -

960
01:00:05,526 --> 01:00:07,651
he's going to be that sick.

961
01:00:07,652 --> 01:00:12,199
A burn, you know, you got to let it
form a scab first before,

962
01:00:12,200 --> 01:00:15,369
then you got to brush that off.

963
01:00:15,370 --> 01:00:18,289
He was crying like
a baby, rightly so.

964
01:00:18,290 --> 01:00:22,836
And when that guy hit that brush
and did all this here,

965
01:00:22,837 --> 01:00:28,385
I could see not the pain at that
time but the pain in his life.

966
01:00:28,386 --> 01:00:29,927
That come back.

967
01:00:29,928 --> 01:00:31,554
Cos he starts talking.

968
01:00:31,555 --> 01:00:33,598
"Mom, I didn't mean to do it.

969
01:00:33,599 --> 01:00:35,643
"Mama, I didn't want to do it."

970
01:00:39,147 --> 01:00:41,816
Everybody had said
it was an accident.

971
01:00:41,817 --> 01:00:44,486
He said, "No, no,
I did it on purpose.

972
01:00:44,487 --> 01:00:48,678
"I poured the rum on myself
and lit myself on fire."

973
01:00:48,679 --> 01:00:52,872
Now keep in mind he was high,
so whether it was...

974
01:00:54,832 --> 01:00:56,458
..an unconscious suicide attempt

975
01:00:56,459 --> 01:00:58,836
or a conscious suicide
attempt, who knows?

976
01:00:58,837 --> 01:01:01,715
But he definitely deliberately
set himself on fire.

977
01:01:01,716 --> 01:01:04,260
I just think he was
in a pain at that moment.

978
01:01:06,721 --> 01:01:08,806
And liked to smoke.

979
01:01:08,807 --> 01:01:12,478
Committed,
but to what, he don't know.

980
01:01:12,479 --> 01:01:14,355
Junkies are just dumb.

981
01:01:14,356 --> 01:01:16,231
They do dumb shit.

982
01:01:16,232 --> 01:01:18,651
They set themselves on fire.

983
01:01:18,652 --> 01:01:23,949
But then I'm sure he went, "What's
that smell? Hey, I think that's me.

984
01:01:23,950 --> 01:01:26,911
"Aargh!" And that's what
he basically says he did.

985
01:01:26,912 --> 01:01:30,415
It's almost like jumping
off a building.

986
01:01:30,416 --> 01:01:31,708
And then you lived.

987
01:01:31,709 --> 01:01:33,335
You fucked up.

988
01:01:33,336 --> 01:01:34,961
But you lived.

989
01:01:34,962 --> 01:01:36,547
I tried to commit suicide.

990
01:01:42,012 --> 01:01:43,763
Intentionally?

991
01:01:43,764 --> 01:01:45,558
That's all I want to say.

992
01:01:49,938 --> 01:01:51,356
Next question.

993
01:01:53,192 --> 01:01:55,047
It didn't work.

994
01:01:55,048 --> 01:01:56,903
Yes, it did.

995
01:01:56,904 --> 01:01:59,532
You killed the old Richard Pryor?

996
01:01:59,534 --> 01:02:01,034
Yeah, that person's dead.

997
01:02:04,914 --> 01:02:06,457
Was a horrible man.

998
01:02:13,632 --> 01:02:15,842
An executive from one
of the studios called me

999
01:02:15,843 --> 01:02:20,160
and asked me to go see him,
because he needed help.

1000
01:02:20,161 --> 01:02:24,478
So I flew over to Maui,
and he came out to greet me.

1001
01:02:24,479 --> 01:02:28,066
I could see the burns all over him.

1002
01:02:28,067 --> 01:02:30,401
And I was kind of taken aback.

1003
01:02:30,402 --> 01:02:34,448
And I remember he looked down, he
said, "Don't worry, my junk is OK.

1004
01:02:34,449 --> 01:02:36,324
"I still got my junk."

1005
01:02:36,325 --> 01:02:40,287
I thought, "OK!" And I shook
his hand, and we started talking.

1006
01:02:40,288 --> 01:02:44,251
And I learned that he was dead
broke, owned money to the IRS.

1007
01:02:44,252 --> 01:02:46,336
And he thought his career was over.

1008
01:02:46,337 --> 01:02:50,050
What we discovered was there
was a lot of inconsistencies,

1009
01:02:50,051 --> 01:02:52,093
financial inconsistencies.

1010
01:02:52,094 --> 01:02:54,846
Richard suspected that
David Franklin

1011
01:02:54,847 --> 01:02:57,599
and his lawyers were cheating him.

1012
01:02:57,600 --> 01:03:01,897
People came in and they uncovered
a lot of these business dealings

1013
01:03:01,898 --> 01:03:03,940
that were crooked.

1014
01:03:03,941 --> 01:03:06,651
Richard sued David Franklin.

1015
01:03:06,652 --> 01:03:10,198
And got a million dollars back,
but the most important thing

1016
01:03:10,199 --> 01:03:13,993
to Richard was getting David
to apologise to him.

1017
01:03:13,994 --> 01:03:17,623
That was more important to Richard
than the million dollars.

1018
01:03:19,083 --> 01:03:21,377
I had to figure out where
he was financially,

1019
01:03:21,378 --> 01:03:23,671
and he owed a lot of money
to a lot of people,

1020
01:03:23,672 --> 01:03:27,426
and I came up with an idea
for him to do a concert movie.

1021
01:03:29,304 --> 01:03:31,805
He was really needing to heal.

1022
01:03:31,806 --> 01:03:35,163
And the lawyer said to him, "You got
to get back on that horse now,

1023
01:03:35,165 --> 01:03:38,523
"it's your time. If you don't it now,
you're never going to do it.

1024
01:03:38,524 --> 01:03:40,399
"They're going to forget you."

1025
01:03:40,400 --> 01:03:43,570
The worst thing Richard
could have done was come back.

1026
01:03:43,571 --> 01:03:45,864
He wanted to go back to work.

1027
01:03:45,866 --> 01:03:48,158
You got to understand something,

1028
01:03:48,159 --> 01:03:50,994
you don't make Richard Pryor
do anything.

1029
01:03:50,995 --> 01:03:55,918
Richard Pryor has to WANT
to do whatever he's doing.

1030
01:03:55,919 --> 01:03:57,712
I'm going to see Richard Pryor!

1031
01:04:00,256 --> 01:04:01,757
Yeah!

1032
01:04:01,758 --> 01:04:03,926
He better be funny!

1033
01:04:03,927 --> 01:04:05,554
Tell Richard he better be funny.

1034
01:04:08,975 --> 01:04:10,726
The who's who of Hollywood,

1035
01:04:10,727 --> 01:04:13,522
they filled the theatre
up at the Palladium.

1036
01:04:16,066 --> 01:04:17,735
Then Richard got on stage.

1037
01:04:19,111 --> 01:04:21,364
And it was the worst show
I've ever seen him do.

1038
01:04:23,241 --> 01:04:25,493
Where was I?

1039
01:04:25,494 --> 01:04:27,371
I was here - what's the date?

1040
01:04:29,707 --> 01:04:31,416
This camera's looking at me.

1041
01:04:31,417 --> 01:04:34,338
MAN: You're doing fine! Thank you,
brother, I needed to hear that.

1042
01:04:34,339 --> 01:04:36,172
APPLAUSE

1043
01:04:36,173 --> 01:04:38,801
He started doing his act backwards.

1044
01:04:38,802 --> 01:04:40,303
And he got confused.

1045
01:04:44,057 --> 01:04:48,354
It was rough, and you just
knew it wasn't going to be OK.

1046
01:04:53,485 --> 01:04:55,279
LAUGHTER

1047
01:04:59,575 --> 01:05:01,284
That mother...

1048
01:05:01,286 --> 01:05:03,455
The Lord doesn't want
me to smoke it.

1049
01:05:05,582 --> 01:05:07,877
MAN: Burn it up.
Burn it up.

1050
01:05:11,631 --> 01:05:14,008
Tough group.

1051
01:05:14,009 --> 01:05:16,970
Richard didn't feel
it was a perfect fit.

1052
01:05:16,971 --> 01:05:19,180
The audience didn't think it was.

1053
01:05:19,181 --> 01:05:23,019
Let me say this to you, this is
honest, this shit didn't work.

1054
01:05:23,020 --> 01:05:24,353
For me, I mean...

1055
01:05:24,354 --> 01:05:27,315
I know y'all laugh
at something... I feel...

1056
01:05:27,316 --> 01:05:30,945
I wanted it to be something else
that it's not, it's just not there.

1057
01:05:30,946 --> 01:05:34,616
It's just there right at this
moment in time and space, for me.

1058
01:05:34,617 --> 01:05:38,287
And I hope that nobody feels
cheated or nothing, cos at least

1059
01:05:38,288 --> 01:05:41,791
you're getting to see
a motherfucker crucify himself.

1060
01:05:41,792 --> 01:05:45,295
He was supposed to do 90 minutes,
he did about an hour.

1061
01:05:45,296 --> 01:05:46,880
And walked out.

1062
01:05:46,881 --> 01:05:48,549
AUDIENCE MURMURS

1063
01:05:48,550 --> 01:05:50,216
SCATTERED APPLAUSE

1064
01:05:50,217 --> 01:05:52,428
I thought there was going
to be a riot.

1065
01:05:52,429 --> 01:05:54,931
AUDIENCE MURMURS

1066
01:05:57,976 --> 01:06:00,520
He disappeared.

1067
01:06:00,521 --> 01:06:04,234
Of course I was concerned,
but I also know Richard.

1068
01:06:04,235 --> 01:06:07,112
And I knew how resilient he was.

1069
01:06:07,113 --> 01:06:09,990
And I knew that he'd come back.

1070
01:06:13,161 --> 01:06:16,665
The next day, same show, place.

1071
01:06:16,666 --> 01:06:20,084
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1072
01:06:20,086 --> 01:06:22,797
He was so upset and he
told all the people that,

1073
01:06:22,798 --> 01:06:25,175
"I'm going to
do it all over for you again,

1074
01:06:25,176 --> 01:06:26,969
"cos I messed the first one up."

1075
01:06:28,470 --> 01:06:31,222
He was going back on stage again.

1076
01:06:31,223 --> 01:06:33,977
He would be accepted or rejected.

1077
01:06:33,978 --> 01:06:36,604
Embraced or pushed aside.

1078
01:06:36,605 --> 01:06:40,985
There was something within him
that said, "Go forward."

1079
01:06:40,986 --> 01:06:43,195
The show was flawless.

1080
01:06:43,196 --> 01:06:46,199
All my friends know this to be true,
cos everybody knows me,

1081
01:06:46,200 --> 01:06:49,912
I usually, before I go to bed,
I have milk and cookies.

1082
01:06:54,125 --> 01:06:57,420
And one night, I had
some low-fat milk...

1083
01:06:57,421 --> 01:07:01,342
and some pasteurised,
and I mixed them together...

1084
01:07:01,343 --> 01:07:04,095
and I dipped my cookie,
and the shit blew up.

1085
01:07:07,599 --> 01:07:09,435
The audience went nuts.

1086
01:07:11,145 --> 01:07:15,295
I mean, I think the laughter
was at least 15 minutes.

1087
01:07:15,296 --> 01:07:19,446
I'll tell you one thing,
when that fire hits your ass...

1088
01:07:19,447 --> 01:07:22,116
that will sober your ass up quick.

1089
01:07:24,536 --> 01:07:27,998
I mean, I was standing there
on fire, and someone said,

1090
01:07:27,999 --> 01:07:30,000
"Why that's a pretty blue.

1091
01:07:32,211 --> 01:07:33,712
"You know what?

1092
01:07:33,713 --> 01:07:37,800
"That looks like... FIRE!"

1093
01:07:37,801 --> 01:07:39,802
And you know something I found out?

1094
01:07:39,803 --> 01:07:42,848
When you're on fire and running
down the street,

1095
01:07:42,850 --> 01:07:45,143
people will get out of your way.

1096
01:07:48,105 --> 01:07:50,399
Except for one old drunk
who's going,

1097
01:07:50,400 --> 01:07:52,276
"Hey, buddy, can I get a light?"

1098
01:07:53,736 --> 01:07:56,405
His latest performance,
Live On The Sunset Strip,

1099
01:07:56,406 --> 01:07:59,076
made his runaway
with the top box office spot.

1100
01:07:59,077 --> 01:08:01,161
Made 8 million in three days.

1101
01:08:01,162 --> 01:08:03,247
Would you welcome Richard Pryor?

1102
01:08:03,248 --> 01:08:04,874
APPLAUSE

1103
01:08:13,384 --> 01:08:15,970
Pryor's firm, headed by long-time
friend Jim Brown,

1104
01:08:15,971 --> 01:08:17,388
entered into a 40 million,

1105
01:08:17,389 --> 01:08:20,141
five-year deal
with Columbia Pictures.

1106
01:08:20,142 --> 01:08:26,816
Richard wanted very badly to elevate
the status of African-Americans.

1107
01:08:26,817 --> 01:08:29,611
Indigo was going to be the first
time that a black person

1108
01:08:29,612 --> 01:08:35,951
had a 40 million deal
with a major studio.

1109
01:08:35,952 --> 01:08:39,206
And so we were going to do films,
we were going to do this,

1110
01:08:39,207 --> 01:08:41,250
do that, we were going
to change the industry.

1111
01:08:41,251 --> 01:08:43,043
This was going to be it.

1112
01:08:44,170 --> 01:08:48,592
The phone rang, and he said, "It's
Richard. What are you doing?"

1113
01:08:48,593 --> 01:08:51,469
I said, "I'm about
to go to the bathroom."

1114
01:08:51,470 --> 01:08:54,201
He said, "After you take a shit,
come over to Columbia."

1115
01:08:54,202 --> 01:08:56,935
Richard Pryor is getting ready
to prepare for his role

1116
01:08:56,936 --> 01:09:00,084
in Jo Jo Dancer. It's a movie
written by himself,

1117
01:09:00,085 --> 01:09:03,912
based loosely on incidents
from his own life.

1118
01:09:03,913 --> 01:09:07,739
He was an actor and
a producer and a director,

1119
01:09:07,740 --> 01:09:09,825
so Richard became a role model.

1120
01:09:11,869 --> 01:09:16,331
He hired Jim Brown to run
the company for him.

1121
01:09:16,332 --> 01:09:20,795
I think he made a decision
to have somebody tough,

1122
01:09:20,796 --> 01:09:27,136
but not somebody who really knew
the film business side of it.

1123
01:09:27,137 --> 01:09:30,306
I brought him the
Prince movie, Purple Rain.

1124
01:09:30,307 --> 01:09:35,354
And he said, "Great." And then Jim
Brown didn't want to do the movie,

1125
01:09:35,355 --> 01:09:40,006
because there wasn't
an all-black crew.

1126
01:09:40,007 --> 01:09:44,656
They kind of let a lot
of mistakes happen.

1127
01:09:44,657 --> 01:09:47,994
Think that was part of the
reason why that company

1128
01:09:47,995 --> 01:09:49,328
didn't take off.

1129
01:09:49,329 --> 01:09:53,541
It was a huge disappointment
for black filmmakers.

1130
01:09:53,542 --> 01:09:56,629
He really wanted to be who he was.
He wanted to be an artist.

1131
01:09:58,590 --> 01:10:00,300
And it was too much pressure.

1132
01:10:07,767 --> 01:10:12,314
Richard began this tragic role
where whites came in

1133
01:10:12,315 --> 01:10:14,525
and just gave him white scripts.

1134
01:10:14,526 --> 01:10:16,194
And that's what did him in.

1135
01:10:19,364 --> 01:10:22,241
I think he appeared in a movie
where he was this kid's toy.

1136
01:10:22,242 --> 01:10:25,121
His career, as far as we were
concerned, went downhill.

1137
01:10:26,831 --> 01:10:30,460
I'm doing a film called
Moving for Warner Brothers.

1138
01:10:30,461 --> 01:10:33,172
What's it about?
About two hours too long.

1139
01:10:35,424 --> 01:10:40,012
Eddie wrote, produced,
was directing Harlem Nights.

1140
01:10:40,013 --> 01:10:43,537
But Richard thought he should have
first credit, not Eddie,

1141
01:10:43,538 --> 01:10:47,063
and Eddie was a much bigger
star at that time than Richard.

1142
01:10:48,815 --> 01:10:50,441
It was finished then.

1143
01:10:50,442 --> 01:10:56,115
The whole thing had been untethered
so long and it never got back.

1144
01:11:01,329 --> 01:11:04,707
Went to The Comedy Store.
Richard wasn't there.

1145
01:11:04,708 --> 01:11:07,503
So I looked at everybody and said,
"Where's Richard?"

1146
01:11:07,504 --> 01:11:09,004
I ran upstairs.

1147
01:11:09,005 --> 01:11:10,632
And this comedian...

1148
01:11:12,509 --> 01:11:16,889
..had Richard against a wall
with the cocaine...

1149
01:11:16,890 --> 01:11:19,601
spoon,
holding it to Richard's nose.

1150
01:11:19,602 --> 01:11:23,521
I went fucking berserk.

1151
01:11:23,522 --> 01:11:27,568
And I put him up against the wall,
and his feet were off the floor.

1152
01:11:27,569 --> 01:11:31,573
And I'm choking him
and yelling at Richard,

1153
01:11:31,574 --> 01:11:33,616
"Da fuck is wrong with you?!"

1154
01:11:33,617 --> 01:11:36,287
I went to see him,
and he was back on drugs.

1155
01:11:36,288 --> 01:11:38,456
And I could see he was high.

1156
01:11:38,457 --> 01:11:40,333
And I said, "Richard...

1157
01:11:40,334 --> 01:11:42,209
"this doesn't work for me.

1158
01:11:42,210 --> 01:11:45,673
"I'm not going to stand by like
everybody did with John Belushi,

1159
01:11:45,674 --> 01:11:47,048
"let you do drugs."

1160
01:11:47,049 --> 01:11:52,179
So I said, "You and I are done
unless you go into rehab."

1161
01:11:52,180 --> 01:11:55,517
And then he sent me a letter firing
me and accusing me of this and this

1162
01:11:55,518 --> 01:11:58,104
and saying I hadn't done this
and I hadn't done that,

1163
01:11:58,105 --> 01:12:00,106
all which was a bunch of nonsense.

1164
01:12:02,400 --> 01:12:05,027
And he was going back...

1165
01:12:05,028 --> 01:12:09,575
to a dark place where he couldn't...
I didn't think would come back from.

1166
01:12:09,576 --> 01:12:12,703
He kind of tried drying out
for a while and he said,

1167
01:12:12,704 --> 01:12:16,041
he said he was too afraid to go
on stage, he was too vulnerable.

1168
01:12:16,042 --> 01:12:18,418
He was really raw.

1169
01:12:18,419 --> 01:12:22,318
It looked like... unlike the fire,
this time he gave up.

1170
01:12:22,319 --> 01:12:26,220
You just watched him begin
to deteriorate in front of you.

1171
01:12:30,433 --> 01:12:32,644
I felt really bad...

1172
01:12:32,645 --> 01:12:34,605
that, uh...

1173
01:12:36,023 --> 01:12:37,440
..that he was going down

1174
01:12:37,441 --> 01:12:42,822
to where I basically tried to help
take him out of. I mean...

1175
01:12:42,823 --> 01:12:45,116
I wanted him to have a good life.

1176
01:12:45,117 --> 01:12:49,205
I felt... I felt bad for him.
Not for me.

1177
01:12:51,082 --> 01:12:53,585
I think it was very self-destructive
on Richard's part.

1178
01:12:53,586 --> 01:12:56,004
I think that was a real
meaningful relationship.

1179
01:12:56,005 --> 01:12:59,988
A relationship of substance,
I should say.

1180
01:12:59,989 --> 01:13:03,232
That had real connection
and real affection.

1181
01:13:03,233 --> 01:13:06,475
And somebody really was
watching out for him.

1182
01:13:06,476 --> 01:13:08,102
There weren't a lot of those people.

1183
01:13:08,103 --> 01:13:10,145
And sometimes...

1184
01:13:10,146 --> 01:13:11,564
your best isn't good enough.

1185
01:13:13,066 --> 01:13:15,359
And you can't...

1186
01:13:15,360 --> 01:13:18,322
save them from themselves.

1187
01:13:26,456 --> 01:13:29,793
I remember I hadn't seen him
for a while.

1188
01:13:29,794 --> 01:13:33,131
And I went to some
premiere of something.

1189
01:13:33,132 --> 01:13:34,757
And he walked up on me

1190
01:13:34,758 --> 01:13:38,387
and he had lost so much weight
that I really didn't recognise him.

1191
01:13:38,388 --> 01:13:41,224
And then it hit me. I said,
"My God, that's Richard."

1192
01:13:41,225 --> 01:13:45,228
I lost 20 pounds to do a film
and I kept losing,

1193
01:13:45,229 --> 01:13:46,771
I couldn't get it back, you know?

1194
01:13:46,772 --> 01:13:50,734
I got real scared, Johnny, you know
cos I was losing weight,

1195
01:13:50,735 --> 01:13:54,698
and my pants were falling down,
and I said, "Something's wrong."

1196
01:13:54,699 --> 01:13:57,868
I said, "All these diseases
around, Richard,

1197
01:13:57,869 --> 01:14:00,580
"finally it's caught up with you.

1198
01:14:00,581 --> 01:14:02,916
"And you have one of them.

1199
01:14:02,917 --> 01:14:05,251
"And you're going to die."

1200
01:14:05,252 --> 01:14:09,006
So I was very calm about it,
you know, but I'm going to die.

1201
01:14:09,007 --> 01:14:10,967
A few months ago,
I was on The Tonight Show

1202
01:14:10,968 --> 01:14:12,592
and I was talking to Johnny Carson.

1203
01:14:12,593 --> 01:14:15,596
And then the next day, this
lady from the newspaper called

1204
01:14:15,597 --> 01:14:18,684
one of my ex-wives and said, "What
do you think's wrong with Richard?"

1205
01:14:18,685 --> 01:14:20,478
She said, "I think he has AIDS."

1206
01:14:22,438 --> 01:14:26,151
Guaranteeing that I would not get
no pussy until the year 2025.

1207
01:14:29,280 --> 01:14:32,616
One day, he called.
I said, "What's the matter?"

1208
01:14:32,617 --> 01:14:35,620
He said, "I got something wrong
with my eyes, I can't see straight."

1209
01:14:35,621 --> 01:14:37,330
I said, "OK, come over
to the hospital,

1210
01:14:37,331 --> 01:14:40,000
"and I'll get my ophthalmologist."
They look at him.

1211
01:14:40,001 --> 01:14:43,086
The intensivist doctor, neurologist.

1212
01:14:43,087 --> 01:14:45,382
And both of them said,
"He may have MS."

1213
01:14:52,598 --> 01:14:55,810
When we was doing Harlem Nights,
I remember saying to Richie,

1214
01:14:55,811 --> 01:14:57,770
he was getting ready
to go do a scene,

1215
01:14:57,771 --> 01:15:01,149
he had a Bic lighter in his
hand. And I said to him,

1216
01:15:01,150 --> 01:15:05,612
"This is a period piece,
they didn't have Bics back then."

1217
01:15:05,613 --> 01:15:09,868
Said he keeps a lighter in his hand
to disguise his fist balling up

1218
01:15:09,869 --> 01:15:11,745
and what was going on with him.

1219
01:15:11,746 --> 01:15:14,082
And that's when he let me
know he had the MS.

1220
01:15:18,754 --> 01:15:23,259
Yeah, back in those days, we never
thought it would turn out like that.

1221
01:15:32,979 --> 01:15:35,397
People that have it
know what I mean.

1222
01:15:35,398 --> 01:15:37,817
The shit fucks
with your nervous system.

1223
01:15:37,818 --> 01:15:41,280
When the doctor tells you you've got
it, and then you go, "Oh, I got it?

1224
01:15:41,281 --> 01:15:42,886
"What is it?"

1225
01:15:42,887 --> 01:15:44,491
"Uhhh..."

1226
01:15:44,492 --> 01:15:46,703
I'd never heard a doctor
say "Uhhh," before.

1227
01:15:48,914 --> 01:15:51,458
It's a blessing, though.

1228
01:15:51,460 --> 01:15:53,293
When you can't walk

1229
01:15:53,294 --> 01:15:56,840
and then you have to depend
on others to help you...

1230
01:15:58,258 --> 01:16:00,219
..you have to learn to trust them.

1231
01:16:01,762 --> 01:16:04,891
Which is very hard for me.

1232
01:16:04,892 --> 01:16:06,226
Very hard.

1233
01:16:14,235 --> 01:16:19,950
Jennifer came out to handle
his affairs when he was unable,

1234
01:16:19,951 --> 01:16:21,659
with the MS,

1235
01:16:21,660 --> 01:16:25,330
to do that much for himself.

1236
01:16:25,331 --> 01:16:29,127
I came back in '94.
The party was over.

1237
01:16:29,128 --> 01:16:31,003
No more cocaine.

1238
01:16:31,004 --> 01:16:34,007
That craziness was all gone.

1239
01:16:34,008 --> 01:16:38,221
Let's put it behind us and make
some lemonade out of the lemons.

1240
01:16:40,766 --> 01:16:44,874
The drug part of it was over.
He was clean from that point on.

1241
01:16:44,875 --> 01:16:48,984
He had really learned whatever
it was to be learned from the MS.

1242
01:16:50,652 --> 01:16:56,326
It was difficult to visit
Richard when he was sick,

1243
01:16:56,327 --> 01:17:03,416
after knowing him
as such a wiry, vital,

1244
01:17:03,417 --> 01:17:08,881
athletic type, you know,
moving around and never being,

1245
01:17:08,882 --> 01:17:14,347
you know, to all of a sudden
seeing him a wheelchair.

1246
01:17:14,348 --> 01:17:15,765
My dick is dead.

1247
01:17:17,267 --> 01:17:19,311
No, it died in my hand.

1248
01:17:21,063 --> 01:17:24,399
I had it in my hand,
would beat it...

1249
01:17:24,400 --> 01:17:26,819
and the dick looked at me
like I was crazy.

1250
01:17:31,450 --> 01:17:34,369
"What the fuck's wrong with you?"

1251
01:17:34,370 --> 01:17:37,332
"It's not me, it's you,
motherfucker."

1252
01:17:37,333 --> 01:17:39,249
Even when he got sick,

1253
01:17:39,251 --> 01:17:46,551
I mean, him wanting to be on stage
in his declining years, was,

1254
01:17:47,052 --> 01:17:48,510
to me, so heroic.

1255
01:17:48,511 --> 01:17:52,516
Warren Beatty's limousine
would show up.

1256
01:17:52,517 --> 01:17:54,267
This make me cry thinking about it.

1257
01:17:54,268 --> 01:17:56,896
And he'd be sitting there
looking out at Richard

1258
01:17:56,897 --> 01:17:59,940
and he'd be crying, because...

1259
01:17:59,941 --> 01:18:02,820
because he knew what a great
genius Richard was.

1260
01:18:05,156 --> 01:18:07,533
APPLAUSE

1261
01:18:10,287 --> 01:18:14,416
Richard Pryor defined the game of
stand-up comedy and comedy itself.

1262
01:18:19,214 --> 01:18:21,132
And if you haven't stole
from Richard,

1263
01:18:21,133 --> 01:18:23,051
then you're probably not that funny.

1264
01:18:24,762 --> 01:18:27,431
And I wanted to tell him that
I wanted to be just like him,

1265
01:18:27,432 --> 01:18:30,101
except for the drug habit and
failed marriages and the temper

1266
01:18:30,102 --> 01:18:31,395
and the guns.

1267
01:18:34,982 --> 01:18:37,651
As much as people felt bad for him,

1268
01:18:37,652 --> 01:18:41,447
that man probably had some nights
and some days...

1269
01:18:41,448 --> 01:18:45,494
I mean, it'd take a lifetime
to top that motherfucker's week.

1270
01:18:48,039 --> 01:18:50,874
The last time I saw him, he was...

1271
01:18:50,876 --> 01:18:56,716
wheelchair-bound and unable to
speak. Jennifer took me to see him.

1272
01:18:56,717 --> 01:18:57,883
He couldn't talk.

1273
01:18:57,884 --> 01:19:00,720
All I could do was, you know,
give him a kiss and tell him,

1274
01:19:00,721 --> 01:19:02,597
"I still love you, Richard."

1275
01:19:05,851 --> 01:19:08,396
Richard Pryor died this
afternoon of a heart attack

1276
01:19:08,397 --> 01:19:10,899
at his home in California.
He was 65.

1277
01:19:12,359 --> 01:19:15,236
APPLAUSE

1278
01:19:15,237 --> 01:19:20,034
So... what I'm saying, what the
point I'm trying to make is,

1279
01:19:20,035 --> 01:19:21,995
that there is no point to be made.

1280
01:19:23,372 --> 01:19:25,039
That's all there is.

1281
01:19:25,040 --> 01:19:28,419
There ain't no point to it, cos
you didn't ask to come to this

1282
01:19:28,420 --> 01:19:31,923
motherfucker and you sure
can't choose how to leave.

1283
01:19:31,924 --> 01:19:34,593
Cos you don't know
when you're going to go.

1284
01:19:34,594 --> 01:19:36,928
Don't take this shit sad.

1285
01:19:36,929 --> 01:19:39,598
You better have some fun
and plenty of it.

1286
01:19:39,599 --> 01:19:43,270
Cos when the shit over and you ask
for a recharge, it's too late.

1287
01:19:45,856 --> 01:19:49,110
So all I can say is keep
some sunshine on your face.

1288
01:19:49,111 --> 01:19:53,365
APPLAUSE

1289
01:20:01,541 --> 01:20:05,462
Even till the end, Richard never
did know how good he was.

1290
01:20:05,463 --> 01:20:08,924
Most people did not understand that.

1291
01:20:08,925 --> 01:20:12,220
I never heard him said, "I never
knocked them off their ass tonight."

1292
01:20:12,221 --> 01:20:14,389
He always said,
"I'll get them tomorrow."

1293
01:20:16,016 --> 01:20:20,939
As the song says, we get back up
again because of boundless mercy.

1294
01:20:20,940 --> 01:20:23,567
And that you are a champion,
Richard, you are a champion.

1295
01:20:23,568 --> 01:20:26,570
And the ground's no
place for a champion.

1296
01:20:26,571 --> 01:20:29,574
So we rise, get up,
go back and do your work.

1297
01:20:29,575 --> 01:20:31,618
They've always been
there for Richard.

1298
01:20:31,619 --> 01:20:34,579
He's always there for them.

1299
01:20:34,581 --> 01:20:35,956
Richard belongs to us.

1300
01:20:37,917 --> 01:20:40,253
What do you want to be
remembered for?

1301
01:20:42,589 --> 01:20:44,674
I'd like for people...

1302
01:20:44,675 --> 01:20:47,802
to see my picture and laugh.

1303
01:20:47,803 --> 01:20:50,931
Just see your picture? Yeah.

1304
01:20:50,932 --> 01:20:54,144
And laugh and have stories
and tell...

1305
01:20:54,145 --> 01:20:56,312
tell some lies on me.

1306
01:20:56,313 --> 01:20:59,149
"He made me laugh.
I was there, you know?

1307
01:20:59,150 --> 01:21:02,946
"I was there Wednesday when he drove
up in the..." You know, whatever.

1308
01:21:02,947 --> 01:21:05,698
Like that. Like... bring joy.

1309
01:21:05,699 --> 01:21:08,994
That's how I'd like
to be remembered.

1310
01:21:09,305 --> 01:21:15,272
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