Butler's Cinema Scene

On the cover of his 1975 comedy album is a photo of Richard Pryor tied to a stake and surrounded by hooded figures  (the Inquisition? Klansmen?) holding burning torches.

The album’s title: “Is It Something I Said?”

Well, yes, Richard. It’s something you said. It’s everything you said.

Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce and George Carlin form the Holy Trinity of American comedy. They broke rules, they went where they weren’t supposed to, and they changed the laugh-generating landscape for everyone who came after them.

Bob Newhart, no slouch when it comes to laughs, calls Pryor “the seminal comedian of the last 50 years.”

Pryor died in 2005 at the age of 65, and by that time poor health had kept him out of the spotlight for many years. Which means that a sizeable percentage of the young folk who today make up the audience for live comedy in this country are probably unfamiliar with his standup work. Oh, they may have seen him in movie roles, but at best those offered watered-down Pryor. To get the dude full strength you’ve got to look at the live routines.

And that’s just what you’ll find in “No Pryor Restraint: Life in Concert: Richard Pryor,”  a massive new boxed set out on the Shout label.

There have been other Pryor boxed sets – 2000’s “And It’s Deep Too! The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (1968-1992)” and 2004’s “Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966-1974).”

This latest compilation draws from the above collections as well as his earliest recordings and tracks from his final stand-up concert in 1992. We’re talking seven CDs that trace Pryor’s evolution from polite,, fairly staid Vegas-type comic (who was so nervous about performing he puked his guts out before going onstage) to incendiary social critic.

But here’s the thing about Pryor…even as he was ruthlessly vivisecting America’s “race problem” he was astonishingly sweet and loveable. Maybe it’s because he was always willing to make himself the butt of some of his best jokes.

And while I generally cringe when black comics invoke the “n” word, there’s something about Pryor’s delivery that takes the sting out.  I think it may be because Richard Pryor viewed even the most highly-charged racial material with irony rather than anger. And as rude as his material often got, there was something astoundingly childlike in his demeanor and delivery.

In addition to the sound recordings this set contains three DVDs of Pryor performances, captured in the films “Live in Concert,” “Live on the Sunset Strip” and “Here and Now.” The DVDs are priceless because they show what a brilliant physical comedian the man was.

In summation: If you love standup, you have to get your hands on this collection.

| Robert W. Butler