Richard Pryor

I was so sad to hear of Richard Pryor's death a couple of weeks ago. When I was growing up (in the 80s) I watched a number of early Pryor films on TV. He\was the man. Channel 4 showed one of his stand up sets. I was not impressed -- not like the films at all. In the Guardian, one comedian noted that that he had seen this Pryor set on channel 4, and it had made him want to be a stand up comedian. If I could travel back in time, I would go back and ask my useful younger self to watch the entire concert on TV and not go to bed like some wimp ased BoB Hope fan. At least with the magic of DVDs I can repair this terrible sin. Pryor's set was astounding. I can see that he influenced Bill Hicks a lot. There is an intensity about his set that I like that is mixed with a warm sense of char. Yes you can charm an audience, even when you are telling a story about setting yourself one fire while doing cocaine. If I had only watched that program on TV in the 80s. Who konws I might have my own game show on TV.