It’s rare that someone is so brilliant that you start to cry, in response. It’s the only logical thing to do. Richard Pryor’s live concert in 1982 is one of those moments.<\/p>\n
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”<\/a> in the presence of this man. See how far you get.<\/p>\n Do you want to be RIGHT? Or do you want to join the rest of us, and be honest?<\/p>\n It’s when you realize that you are in the presence of someone who is willing to go there<\/i>. To look within<\/i>. 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.<\/p>\n THAT is what Richard Pryor is doing in this concert. Along with laugh-out-loud funny lines like, “Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?”<\/p>\n Like the clip below – where he describes his last moment in Africa. It’s funny, sure, but it also grips<\/i> you at your throat. 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.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s rare that someone is so brilliant that you start to cry, in response. It’s the only logical thing to do. Richard Pryor’s live concert in 1982 is one of those moments. For me, what is amazing about this particular … Continue reading