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Pryor Appointment?

The rumor's going around for at least the past half hour that comedian Richard Pryor died today, but if so, the news services are being very slow in picking it up.

Confirmed. And again.
I'll update that later once there's some more information. That "confirmed" links just to ABC and CNN news' home pages, where they had a "breaking news" banner about it death and nothing else. We knew he'd been dealingt with MS for years, so presumably it was health complications from that.

I see that all of the news services are covering it now, mostly (understandably) drawing from the same copy. ABC's is one of the longer pieces, though I'm sure the detailed tributes will be coming along quickly, as Pryor was a 1970s icon for many other comics.

Toward the end of Richard Pryor: Here and Now he does a bit about Hell. "Had so much fun they kicked me out that motherfucka," he says. "I know I ain't goin' to heaven, I'm just going -- I wish you the best."

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow...hadn't heard. I feel very, very old. I realize he was in bad shape and that his long-term drug use probably did some irreparable damage as well. But I remember a young Richard Pryor. And that doesn't bode well for my whole young, hip chick persona....
5:35 PM
Mike Norton said…
Richard wracked up a helluva mileage by the early 80s. Add the severe burns and then the MS... he was a very old 65.

Pryor's someone I really didn't appreciate directly in his own time, but over time came to appreciate him less directly. Consequently, I don't tie him to a particular era. I wasn't one of those people rushing out to get the latest Pryor album or tape.

The influence he had on a generation of comedians stands out. Also, the less visible work, such as being one of the screenwriters on Blazing Saddles - even though he was denied the "Bart" role specifically crafted for him. Finally, seeing how he made a self-parodying comeback following his freebasing accident only to discover that he had MS, he demonstrated a great deal of character from what I could see.
6:05 PM
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