Trama

Richard Pryor performs his stand-up comedy act on the Sunset Strip.

One of comedian Richard Pryor's live performances (at the Sunset Strip, obviously) caught on film. Pryor talks about most of his standard subjects, including rascism and the differences between blacks and whites, along with talking about some of his recent film roles.—Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>

Walking onto the stage of the Palladium Theater in Hollywood, California, Richard Pryor opens his comedic routine by declaring that Americans have been having less sex since President Ronald Reagan took office. He recounts various personal sexual escapades, from his childhood discovery of masturbation in the bathtub to an encounter with a Playboy magazine "Bunny."

In the wake of his recent film career success, Pryor says that he has more money than he ever imagined, but laments having recently spent so much of it to pay lawyers to keep him out of prison for drug possession. Returning to the subject of relationships, he compares his former brief flings with his current marriage, remarking on the struggles of long-term commitment when you know that you must wake up next to the same person every morning. A benefit, however, is that his wife has helped him learn to express his emotions. He believes women often remain cool and collected when dealing with their feelings, particularly during break-ups. He discusses the difficulty of dating new people after a separation, which is often made worse when the man bumps into his former girl friend and discovers she has become even more attractive.

Next, Pryor describes his experience researching and filming a movie with Gene Wilder at the Arizona State Penitentiary, which he notes was comprised of mostly African American inmates. Providing examples of the multiple murder convicts who intimidated him, he fantasizes about being held at gunpoint and claims people often talk about acting braver than they would actually be in that situation. After listing the wide variety of racial groups he observed in prison, Pryor mocks the image of the white cowboy and comments that getting by in everyday life is difficult enough without the added problems of racism. He recounts his recent trip to Africa and the excitement of being surrounded by only black people, many of whom, he says, resembled his friends in America.

Of the African jungle, Pryor describes the ferocity of wild animals such as cheetahs and lions, which chased down bison and gazelles with vigor unlike anything he is accustomed to seeing in a zoo. He also recalls picking up a hitchhiker with terrible body odor, but claims the man was so offended by Pryor's cologne that he asked to be let out of the car.

Returning to his earlier remarks on race relations, Pryor explains that he only feels comfortable with black people using the "N" word. He describes his former job as a teenage emcee at a Mafia-owned nightclub in Youngstown, Ohio, and remembers attempting to use his race, along with a fake gun, to frighten his Italian boss into paying money that was owed to the club's dancer. The owner, however, was not frightened by the boy's intimidation, and Pryor imagines the Mafioso laughing about the incident years later. While affecting an Italian accent, he dictates a scenario in which a gangster brutally kills someone who wronged him. Pryor remembers the often stony expression of his former boss, comparing it to the glares given by the characters in the 1972 film, The Godfather.

Responding to an audience member yelling, "Do 'Mudbone!,'" Pryor sits on a stool and improvises a story in the elderly voice of his recurring stand-up character, "Mudbone," reflecting on the fleetingness of life and the value of living well, having fun, and partaking in frequent sex. Pryor returns to his routine by discussing his relationship with his former drug dealer, who treated him as a subordinate.

Referring to the 1980 incident in which he lit himself on fire while "freebasing" cocaine, Pryor facetiously tells the audience that the flames were caused by an explosion that occurred while dunking cookies into a glass of milk before bedtime. He recounts his first time preparing to smoke cocaine, claiming he burned his bed and ended up with scars all over his body. As his drug addiction worsened over the course of a year, he felt increasingly controlled by his crack pipe, imagining it whispered him words of encouragement until even dealers refused to sell him more drugs.

The comedian speaks about his friend, Jim, who repeatedly tried to convince him to quit, but Pryor only came to his senses after he literally caught fire and ran down the street outside his Los Angeles, California, home. He claims that his burns and the nerve damage left him unable to feel anything for three days while his skin healed, which he only realized once an orderly attempted to bathe him. He recalls the strangeness of lying in the hospital bed watching a news report stating that he had died, or being approached by a fan asking for his autograph. Although grateful for having survived, he thanks God for leaving his penis unharmed from the burns. Pryor ends the routine by asking a member of the audience for a match to light his cigarette, and thanks them for their support throughout his recovery.