Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic Page #2

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In the middle of the night,

I got a call.

You'd better get out here, because

Richard Pryor has just gone nuts

and he's literally hanging

from the chandeliers in the lobby.

I want him out of the hotel,

and he is finished.

No. Nice talking to you. You know.

It was all over town.

You heard what happened last night.

And I think he was fired

the next day.

It was so public, he had a Vegas

gig. That's what every comic wants.

And you blew it?!

And I guess everybody thought, well,

that's the end of Richard Pryor.

I did not hear from him.

I did not know where he was.

Richard was gone.

Don't try to find no logic.

A lot of this in here,

logic is omitted.

At some time to understand Richard,

you had to first omit logic.

And then you come close.

What you think it ought to be, it

ain't going to be nothing like it.

# Talking, talking to the people

# Try to get them to go your way

# Tell the girl not to worry... #

Richard has to start

all over again. He had a new name.

It was Edward or Edwin

or something stupid.

It's what I'm going to call myself.

I'm going to come and pretend like

I have nothing and see how,

get to know these people here, the

hippies, I'm going to be one of them.

He gave up everything.

He gave up his driver's licence,

his bank account.

He gave up any kind of ID.

He lived in this horrible little

clapboard boarding house.

He invited me

to go to an after party.

And, um, we weren't apart

for like six years.

I am. I am. A revolutionary.

There was a lot of things going on.

People asserting their rights.

Demonstrations.

A lot of ferment in the big areas.

Something different was happening

with African-American culture.

It had come into its own.

Richard showed up.

And gave it new life.

There used to be

some beautiful black man,

would come through

the neighbourhood,

dressed in African sh*t.

Really nice sh*t, you know.

They'd be, "Peace, love, black is beautiful.

"Remember the essence of life.

We are people of the universe.

"Life is beautiful." My parents go,

"That N*gger crazy."

No-one had heard him using

the N-word the way he does.

He was just starting to do that.

He was tiptoeing into it.

In comedy, you'd just never heard

anything like this.

Richard would nudge this audience

to some kind of feeling

about who they really were.

So, he's telling the joke.

And, er, white guy in the back

says,

"You ought to be glad

I've got a sense of humour."

Richard said, "Yeah, I am glad

you've got a sense of humour,

"because I know

what you do to us N*ggers."

He was acutely aware of the dynamics

of political, racial segregation.

I'd hate to be white...

This audience that

he was playing to was as hip

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