Chapter 7: Prior Pryor, Pryor, and Post Prior
I am going to skip over the strike for the time being and move a few years along to when I had the opportunity to watch
Richard Pryor
develop his material for the Concert Film RICHARD PRYOR LIVE ON SUNSET STRIP.
I think comics are less likely to talk about there influences than musicians. Probably because when you think of comics you think of jokes and the worst rep you can have is that you are not original or that you “STEAL MATERIAL”. So the first thing a comic has to do is realize it is OK to say that so and so “influenced” me. I think the first comic I ever heard cop to who influenced him was Jimmy Brogan . It was around 1980 or 81 and he had moved to LA from NYC. And we would occasionally talk in the back hall of THE COMEDY STORE. Jimmy was brilliant at working the crowd, it was his act and he did it fresh and unlike anyone you had ever heard. It wasn’t sex jokes and he never berated people and he killed. And one night he mentioned that when he started he would watch Richard Belzer night after night at CATCH A RISING STAR in NYC. And what I couldn’t understand was that Belzer was such a Blue act and Jimmy never swore. But Jimmy said he learned many of his basic techniques for talking with an audience from Belzer. I think Jimmy’s forthrightness (he has always just been a straightforward decent guy) gave me permission to accept that I had become the comic I was through the influences of those I had seen before me.
My Brother- He sat across from me at dinner every night for 12 years when I was growing up, and he could always make me laugh, whether it was showing me the food he was eating while he was eating it, or general clowning he made me laugh.
The 3 Stooges - they were on after school every day with host OFFICER JOE BOLTON and they were funny, they made me laugh.
Red Skelton - whenever my Nana would visit we would watch Red Skelton, and his monologues & jokes in front of the curtain were really the first exposure I had to someone standing there, by himself, trying to make people laugh
Bill Cosby - Whenever Bill Cosby was on the Ed Sullivan show I was there to watch. I loved his stories, particularly NOAH and the one about GO CARTS were my favorites, I think I have a few pieces that exist because in the back of my head I have always heard Bill Cosby telling me it is ok to “tell a story” with your jokes.
George Carlin - I owned every one of his albums through out the early 80’s. Am and FM, and Class Clown were so outrageous in there content compared to the sensibilities of the day. It was like a drum banging, telling me to listen up, this is important.
Steve Martin - when I got out of the army in 1977 Steve Martin was just popping, and his album LET’S GET SMALL, made me realize, this is what I want to do.
Richard Pryor- So it all comes down to Richard. I had seen his LIVE IN CONCERT and I was just blown away by the perfection of his performance and the material. Every moment was masterful and complete, it is consider by most comics as the finest Stand-Up Performance ever. He had filmed it in 1977, and had prepared it from scratch at THE COMEDY STORE.
A few years and some personal problems later (remember when he burned up?) Richard showed up at THE COMEDY STORE again. He was going to work up another batch of material to record on film. (It was to become RICHARD PRYOR LIVE ON SUNSET STRIP) And I was there for that!! It was like getting to go to school every night and watch a master performing and creating. It took a number of months. At the beginning Richard was not very funny as he attempted to find comedic truths, it was almost painful to watch. But slowly he would get some funny moments and his confidence would build within a month he had some killer material and a few months later he had the makings of the concert film.
I didn’t go see the filming of the concert, which was done over 2 nights in LA. But I heard the first night was disaster. Richards old demons came back to haunt him and he went up the first night and started with his closing bit and everything went downhill after that. That left him with one night left to pull it out. His second night was very good but when it was all done there was only about 55 minutes of usable material. And He needed 90 minutes for the film.
A few weeks later I got a phone call from Paul Mooney and he explained that Richard needed to film some more stuff and he was inviting a few hundred friends to watch him do it in the same theater he had done the concert in before, Paul invited me to come.
Paul Mooney is one of the coolest guys I ever saw. When I first saw him he was usually the last guy going up at THE COMEDY STORE, as he would say “You guys have all come in late to ‘watch Miles blow’. He was a wonderful comic who had worked with Richard for years writing and helping him develop his material. He also supported new talent. I remember him taking Brad Garrett around to all of the clubs when Brad came to town, to make sure he was seen. I also remember him being very supportive of and encouraging to Sandra Bernhard , as she was developing her act and persona that would make her the comedy diva she was to be.
I arrived at the theater and they had set up a very high-end buffet, with carving stations and an open bar. Roast beef and Jack Daniels and lethal combination. Richard was nowhere to be seen. This was all just a great spread laid out to get us in the right mood to have a good time. We all finally sent over to be seated. They had only put out enough chairs for all those who attended. They sat us in the front of the theater and laid some tracks behind the final row so they could do some tracking shots capturing the backs of our heads with Richard onstage.
Richard comes out and there was so much love in the room and he explained that he had “Fucked up” and he needed to do some more material, and the room was electric and we were all very excited. He started out telling us about his lawyer who gave him a bill for $50,000 the day after they first started working together and Richard said “Motherfucker I just met you!” he was talking and riffing and then every once in a while they had to change film in the cameras. And while the crew was loading new film Paul Mooney would walk on stage holding a cigarette and a legal pad. Paul didn’t smoke; he was bringing the cigarette to Richard. And he would give Richard the cigarette and the 2 of them would lean in towards each other and talk. I have remembered this image for ever since. I was touched by the true care that Paul showed this fragile genius. Like a corner man in a boxing match where the only punches thrown were verbal, Paul took care of Richard and helped him be the best he could be. This went on many times, culminating when Richard did a character that he had not done for years, Mudbone. It was a truly remarkable afternoon.
I would say that many of the techniques that I use to develop and polish my material have come from this period of time I had the privilege of watching Richard Pryor.
I think comics are less likely to talk about there influences than musicians. Probably because when you think of comics you think of jokes and the worst rep you can have is that you are not original or that you “STEAL MATERIAL”. So the first thing a comic has to do is realize it is OK to say that so and so “influenced” me. I think the first comic I ever heard cop to who influenced him was Jimmy Brogan . It was around 1980 or 81 and he had moved to LA from NYC. And we would occasionally talk in the back hall of THE COMEDY STORE. Jimmy was brilliant at working the crowd, it was his act and he did it fresh and unlike anyone you had ever heard. It wasn’t sex jokes and he never berated people and he killed. And one night he mentioned that when he started he would watch Richard Belzer night after night at CATCH A RISING STAR in NYC. And what I couldn’t understand was that Belzer was such a Blue act and Jimmy never swore. But Jimmy said he learned many of his basic techniques for talking with an audience from Belzer. I think Jimmy’s forthrightness (he has always just been a straightforward decent guy) gave me permission to accept that I had become the comic I was through the influences of those I had seen before me.
My Brother- He sat across from me at dinner every night for 12 years when I was growing up, and he could always make me laugh, whether it was showing me the food he was eating while he was eating it, or general clowning he made me laugh.
The 3 Stooges - they were on after school every day with host OFFICER JOE BOLTON and they were funny, they made me laugh.
Red Skelton - whenever my Nana would visit we would watch Red Skelton, and his monologues & jokes in front of the curtain were really the first exposure I had to someone standing there, by himself, trying to make people laugh
Bill Cosby - Whenever Bill Cosby was on the Ed Sullivan show I was there to watch. I loved his stories, particularly NOAH and the one about GO CARTS were my favorites, I think I have a few pieces that exist because in the back of my head I have always heard Bill Cosby telling me it is ok to “tell a story” with your jokes.
George Carlin - I owned every one of his albums through out the early 80’s. Am and FM, and Class Clown were so outrageous in there content compared to the sensibilities of the day. It was like a drum banging, telling me to listen up, this is important.
Steve Martin - when I got out of the army in 1977 Steve Martin was just popping, and his album LET’S GET SMALL, made me realize, this is what I want to do.
Richard Pryor- So it all comes down to Richard. I had seen his LIVE IN CONCERT and I was just blown away by the perfection of his performance and the material. Every moment was masterful and complete, it is consider by most comics as the finest Stand-Up Performance ever. He had filmed it in 1977, and had prepared it from scratch at THE COMEDY STORE.
A few years and some personal problems later (remember when he burned up?) Richard showed up at THE COMEDY STORE again. He was going to work up another batch of material to record on film. (It was to become RICHARD PRYOR LIVE ON SUNSET STRIP) And I was there for that!! It was like getting to go to school every night and watch a master performing and creating. It took a number of months. At the beginning Richard was not very funny as he attempted to find comedic truths, it was almost painful to watch. But slowly he would get some funny moments and his confidence would build within a month he had some killer material and a few months later he had the makings of the concert film.
I didn’t go see the filming of the concert, which was done over 2 nights in LA. But I heard the first night was disaster. Richards old demons came back to haunt him and he went up the first night and started with his closing bit and everything went downhill after that. That left him with one night left to pull it out. His second night was very good but when it was all done there was only about 55 minutes of usable material. And He needed 90 minutes for the film.
A few weeks later I got a phone call from Paul Mooney and he explained that Richard needed to film some more stuff and he was inviting a few hundred friends to watch him do it in the same theater he had done the concert in before, Paul invited me to come.
Paul Mooney is one of the coolest guys I ever saw. When I first saw him he was usually the last guy going up at THE COMEDY STORE, as he would say “You guys have all come in late to ‘watch Miles blow’. He was a wonderful comic who had worked with Richard for years writing and helping him develop his material. He also supported new talent. I remember him taking Brad Garrett around to all of the clubs when Brad came to town, to make sure he was seen. I also remember him being very supportive of and encouraging to Sandra Bernhard , as she was developing her act and persona that would make her the comedy diva she was to be.
I arrived at the theater and they had set up a very high-end buffet, with carving stations and an open bar. Roast beef and Jack Daniels and lethal combination. Richard was nowhere to be seen. This was all just a great spread laid out to get us in the right mood to have a good time. We all finally sent over to be seated. They had only put out enough chairs for all those who attended. They sat us in the front of the theater and laid some tracks behind the final row so they could do some tracking shots capturing the backs of our heads with Richard onstage.
Richard comes out and there was so much love in the room and he explained that he had “Fucked up” and he needed to do some more material, and the room was electric and we were all very excited. He started out telling us about his lawyer who gave him a bill for $50,000 the day after they first started working together and Richard said “Motherfucker I just met you!” he was talking and riffing and then every once in a while they had to change film in the cameras. And while the crew was loading new film Paul Mooney would walk on stage holding a cigarette and a legal pad. Paul didn’t smoke; he was bringing the cigarette to Richard. And he would give Richard the cigarette and the 2 of them would lean in towards each other and talk. I have remembered this image for ever since. I was touched by the true care that Paul showed this fragile genius. Like a corner man in a boxing match where the only punches thrown were verbal, Paul took care of Richard and helped him be the best he could be. This went on many times, culminating when Richard did a character that he had not done for years, Mudbone. It was a truly remarkable afternoon.
I would say that many of the techniques that I use to develop and polish my material have come from this period of time I had the privilege of watching Richard Pryor.
Future Chapters:
THE STRIKE
ON THE ROAD AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME
FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MARRIAGE…
PERSONAL RECOVERY or HOW I DRANK AND DRUGGED MYSELF INTO THE GREATEST LIFE A GUY COULD ASK FOR
EDDY STRANGE part 1
EDDY STRANGE part 2
ENGLAND
FINALLY NYC NJ
THE STRIKE
ON THE ROAD AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME
FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MARRIAGE…
PERSONAL RECOVERY or HOW I DRANK AND DRUGGED MYSELF INTO THE GREATEST LIFE A GUY COULD ASK FOR
EDDY STRANGE part 1
EDDY STRANGE part 2
ENGLAND
FINALLY NYC NJ
More to come ...