hollywoodland
Richard Pryor: Stabbing, Shooting, F***ing, Burning, and Freebasing
Listen Free:
Amazon Music | iHeart | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
Richard Pryor was one of the funniest people who ever lived. He elevated stand-up comedy to an art form. But the real life that informed his stand-up – a life of pool halls, brothels, stabbings, shootings, and lots and lots of cocaine – was a source of constant pain. A pain that he managed with a freebase habit so out of control it nearly killed him before he was even 40 years old.
Sources
Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences, by Richard Pryor with Todd Gold
Becoming Richard Pryor, by Scott Saul
Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World that Made Him, by David Henry & Joe Henry
Richard Pryor's Widow Jennifer Lee Calls His 1980 Fire Incident a Suicide Attempt: 'He Warned Me' (People)
Pryor’s Inferno (Rolling Stone)
Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip (1982, dir. Joe Layton)
Richard Pryor Live in Concert (1979, dir. Jeff Margolis)
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Copy edited by James Sullivan.
Scored and mixed by Matt Tahaney.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak