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Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
Richard Pryor's friends and colleagues -- Gene Wilder, Miles Davis, Nina Simone and others -- share their first impressions of the comedic bad boy.
AP Photo
Comedian-actor Richard Pryor performing in 1977.
Dec 12, 2005 | Joan Rivers, comedian
Skinny admiral
I would go to The Bitter End during the day and get a piece of paper with a number on it telling me when I went onstage -- like at a bakery.
On that bench with me at one time or another were comics ... Richard Pryor, skinny, brilliantly shocking ... with jacket sleeves lengthened so many times, he looked like an admiral. (New York, early 1960s)
From "Enter Talking," by Joan Rivers with Richard Meryman (Delacorte Press, 1986)
Nina Simone, jazz singer
Nervous
Colpix recorded my set there and it became my next album, "Live at Village Gate." Opening the show was a young comedian, Richard Pryor, and on the first night of my booking I stood in the wings with him as he waited to go on. He shook like he had malaria, he was so nervous. I couldn't bear to watch him shiver, so I put my arms around him there in the dark and rocked him like a baby until he calmed down. The next night was the name, and the next, and I rocked him each time. He never stopped being nervous -- at least not while I was there. (New York, early 1960s)
From "I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography," by Nina Simone and Stephen Cleary (Ebury Press, 1991)
Miriam Makeba, singer and wife of Stokely Carmichael
Bold language
The Village Gate ... fine young comedians who do their acts before I go on ... a bold young man named Richard Pryor who uses language like I had never heard before on stage! (New York, 1965)
From "Makeba: My Story," by Miriam Makeba (New American Library, 1987)
Hugh Masekela, trumpeter
Mutual admiration
I first met Richard Pryor during my engagements at the Village Gate when he was appearing across the street at the Whiskey à Go Go. At the time he was still doing hilarious takeoffs on nursery stories like "Rumpelstiltskin" and "Rapunzel." We would run across Thompson Street to catch each other's performances, forming a mutual admiration society of sorts. Offstage, Richard was very shy and quiet around people he didn't know. He moved to Los Angeles around the same time I did, and turned out to be an old friend of our pianist Charlie Smalls. He was a regular at our Whiskey à Go Go gigs and just cutting his teeth on the L.A. scene. (1966)
From "Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela," by Hugh Masekela with D. Michael Cheers (Crown Publishers, 2004)
Miles Davis, jazz musician
Funny motherfucker
I met a young black comedian who was doing an opening act for some of our concerts, Richard Pryor. Man, he was a funny motherfucker. He didn't have a reputation yet, but I knew he was going to be a big star. I could just feel it in my bones. I booked our band into the Village Gate and hired Richard to open for us. I have forgotten where I first heard him, but I just wanted people to know how great this motherfucker was. I paid him out of my own pocket and produced the whole thing. I think we were there for two weekends and the band and Richard just tore the place up. Richard opened and then we had some Indian music played by this sitar player and then my band played. It was really successful and I even made some money on the whole thing. Richard and I became good friends after that, and we would hang out and get high and just have a great time together. (New York, mid-1960s)
From "Miles: The Autobiography," by Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe (Simon & Schuster, 1989)
Mike Douglas, television talk show host
Devastatingly funny
Richard Pryor was the cutting-edge bad boy of stand-up, the comic symbol of a rebellious era. I thought he was brilliant, and our show ["The Mike Douglas Show"] was the only one to book him repeatedly when he was virtually blacklisted by the networks. There was a time when Richard was considered too brash, too hard to handle, and -- let's face it -- too black for network television. All I knew was that, at his best, Richard was one of the funniest, most inventive comics I had ever seen perform. He was always welcome on our show, always devastatingly funny. I love Richard, and I wish I could say there were never any problems either, but I don't think it will shock you if I admit that wasn't quite the case. Adrenaline always ran high when Richard Pryor was around.
... If laughter is good for you, Richard Pryor added years to my life. He could have me doubled over, completely at his mercy, when he was rolling with one of his great character monologues, from the old ghetto street people to white suburbanites. (Late 1960s)
From "I'll Be Right Back: Memories of TV's Greatest Talk Show," by Mike Douglas with Thomas Kelly and Michael Heaton (Simon & Schuster, 2000)
