February 27, 2008
Richard Pryor: "Live on the Sunset Strip"
It's rare that someone is so brilliant that you start to cry, in response. Spontaneously. You just dissolve into tears, even though what the person is doing is comedic.
Richard Pryor's live concert in 1982 is one of those rare moments.
It's when you realize that what you are looking at is the damn truth, man. It's almost like the hairs on the back of your neck rise up. This is comedy, yes. So funny that even years after seeing it for the first time "Who you gonna believe? Me or your lyin' eyes?" still makes me lose it. I'm never READY for it, even though I KNOW it's coming ... and it is just as funny the 20th time as it is the first.
But, for me, what is amazing about this particular show, and my response to it .. is that I find myself getting frightened. Not because of what he is revealing to me about himself, although that is honest and beautifully so ... but because of how he forces me to be truthful about myself. There's no bullshitting here. There's no deflection here. TRY it. Just try it. Just try "relishing your rightness" in the presence of this man. See how far you get.
Do you want to be RIGHT? Or do you want to join the rest of us fuck-ups, and be honest?
It's a goosebump-making performance.
It's when you realize that you are in the presence of someone who is willing to go there. To look within. To take that which is weak and ugly within him ... and bring it out into the light ... so that we all can look at it, and recognize ourselves in it, and not be afraid or ashamed anymore ...
THAT is what Richard Pryor is doing in this concert.
He's untouchable.
Like the clip below - where he describes his last moment in Africa. It's funny, sure, but it also grips you at your throat. This is as good as it gets, my God. This is a man unmasked. He has unmasked himself, and in so doing, says to us, "It's okay. Just be honest. Stop protecting, stop defending ... you know you're human ... you're like this, too."
It is the greatest gift a performer can give to his audience.
Posted by sheila | TrackBackThis performance has got to be the BEST comedic shows EVER!! I think you hit it right on the head with one word...honesty. That is what made Richard Pryor the most unique comedian of his time. It made you uncomfortable in your seat but you laughed like hell at the same time. Pryor always made it appear real because it WAS real.
I mean, he really did shoot his friggin' car! That was hilarious but, in the back of your mind you are reminded of how drugs can really screw people up. Fortunately, that was the impression I think he wanted us to have. Yeah, it's funny that I shot my car but look at how F'd up drugs made me. I shot my car for crying out loud!
Dave Chapelle had some of the best comments on Richard Pryor in his Actor's Studio interview. He commented on how Pryor would allow himself to be so open that it scared even him. Chapelle shied away from the comparison between he and Pryor.
You know you have achieved some level of greatness when everyone is compared to you but there is no one like you. That to me is what Richard Pryor is and this 1982 performance solidified it.
Posted by: chuck in maine at February 28, 2008 9:41 AMI love that Chapelle interview, too. And yes, it's really incredible to watch someone just un-zip himself (emotionally, I mean, haha) as Pryor.
Nobody like him. Fierce.
But also so so so funny!! I love the bit where he re-enacts the cheetahs contemplating the gazelles - I have no idea why that bit strikes me as so unbelievably funny, but I just love it.
And yeah, the whole setting-himself-on-fire thing ... Man oh man. You can just FEEL what it must have been like in that concert hall ... electric!
Posted by: red at February 28, 2008 5:21 PMThanks for reminding me of this performance. I certainly understand your tears. He and we are all exposed.
I loved the Chapelle interview too. Didn't Lipton enjoy himself with Chapelle? He got really involved.