Transcripts for CNN The History of Comedy 20211205 06:00:15 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
his father was a pimp. and he was very aware of that situation growing up. i grew up seeing my mother go in the room with a man, and my aunties go in the room with men. who believed in you? who cared about you? richard franklin lennox thomas pryor iii. you. and magic dust. my dad s humor came from life. and i don t think dad had a choice. i think you either laugh your way through it or you die through it. thinking about death, though, i d like to die like my father died, right? my father died [ bleep ]ing. he did. my father was 57 when he died. right? the woman was 18. my father came and went at the same time. richard s comedy was funny. it was also therapeutic. it was almost like this guy was using the stage the way a therapist would use their couch. my grandmother is the lady that used to discipline me.
right? you know. beat my ass. you know. get your ass out, put your hand out. don t you run from me! don t you run from me. as long as you alive, don t you run from me. what people took from him was a lot of the attitude and the over-the-topness and the profanity. the people that people don t give richard pryor enough credit for is what he brought to standup comedy was vulnerability. for me, the best night was having a woman who was sitting close to the stage beg me to stop. she was looking at me. and she was going in pain. her face was in pain. she was in pain. she went, please stop, please stop! please stop! you can t beat that. the one thing about hitler
food, alcohol, and drugs. when you have that kind of brain, and i don t want to get into that stuff, except that you re wired dark. you can go dark real fast. dad couldn t take it anymore. and he wanted it to stop. he just was like, i want it to stop. richard pryor, the comedian and writer, was badly burned in an accident at his home in california last night. the burns cover the upper half of his body. they are severe enough to endanger his life.
depression. i know i haven t done this in a while. does this feel better? watch the princess bride 11 times in a row! okay. let s watch the princess bride 11 times in a row. oh, depression, this is the best day you ve ever had. either in small or big ways comedy has kept someone out of depression or suicide or helped them cope with a loss. and you remember that. if you can talk about something openly and you find the right way to do it, it takes away all of its power. that s really beautiful. i find comics to be pretty honest people in terms of looking at stuff from both sides or all sides and presenting you with like, here it is. in the process of looking for comedy, you have to be deeply honest. then doing that, you ll find out, here s the other side. you know. you ll be looking under the rock occasionally for the laughter. a comedian who lives on making fun of everything around him, the ridiculousness of