...to Richard Pryor, who died today in Los Angeles. (I was at home asleep when it happened, honest.)
For my money, Richard Pryor was the best stand-up there ever was. Other comics were as charismatic (Lenny Bruce?); as honest (Mort Sahl?); as perceptive (Bill Hicks?); or as good at characterization (Lily Tomlin? Jonathan Winters?); but Pryor combined it all. People often talk about Richard Klein as being the standup's standup, but for my money NOBODY ever touched Richard Pryor. He'd make you laugh hard, then think, then sympathize with behavior and attitudes very different from your own. Then he'd make you laugh some more. In that his humor made you feel more human and more connected, instead of better than others and distanced from them, he was undoubtedly a genius. If there's a heaven, he belongs there.
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