Richard Pryor Live in Concert

The audience in Long Beach, California probably didn't know what they were witnessing at the Torrence Theater that December night in 1978.  They were there to see Richard Pryor deliver another riotous, profane, and scathing indictment of race and gender relations in the U.S.A.  Pryor had been doing stand up for over a decade and was renowned for his uncompromisingly raw observations.  But that night a film crew was there.  Several months later, cinema's first full length document of the comedian's act was unleashed to filmgoers.  The studios wouldn't touch it; the material was too controversial.  The movie was released independently, without an MPAA rating.  It was a smash.

1979's RICHARD PRYOR LIVE IN CONCERT indeed is history.  Lightning in a bottle as far as these kind of documentaries go.  Hell, as far as any movie genre.  Director Jeff Margolis does nothing original or inventive with the cameras.  Huey Newton is in the audience and recognized but we don't get to see him.  The director seems to only know two types of shots: the tight front shot and the long shot perched somewhere around Stage Left. Does this matter?  Of course not, motherfucker! Ahem.

Pryor's language was probably far more shocking to audiences in the late 70s.  My deviate classmates dubbed me a few copies of his record albums around that time. It felt dangerous to listen to them back then.  Fear of getting caught, yes, but also like you were literally playing with fire. That was then. I was just a kid.   Is it some sad statement that when I watched this concert recently I was barely offended?  Despite some pretty raunchy material about monkey genitalia and female bedroom preferences? Yes, I'm much older now, probably heard it all (one hopes).  Pryor was so associated with profanity it was always worth an eyebrow cock when he wasn't swearing.

Does that mean the power has dimmed? Not at all.  It's still exciting to watch and listen to this unbelievably gifted performer so naturally deliver his routine.  Castigating late coming audience members, sparring with a guy taking his picture (and eventually shaking his hand!) at the edge of the stage. Richard Pryor was gut bustingly hilarious, but there was always an undercurrent of seriousness, sometimes anger.  He mocks the white people who mock him, mimicking their voices both with stereotypical caricature and dead on regional accents.  Humor has a way of both diffusing and elucidating the racism that spews from both sides.

His recollections of his childhood, certainly elaborated, nonetheless give white folks like myself a vivid picture of mid twentieth century Tupelo, Mississippi.  Of grandmothers who tell little boys to go outside and pull the biggest switch from the trunk of a tree, so she can beat him with it.  Of run ins with the law.  This would continue when Pryor "killed his car" - firing rounds into it after an argument with one of his wives.  

Pryor never cast himself as the hero or the blameless.  In fact, one of the most endearing things about him was how willing he was to be the butt of his own jokes.  That's what separates him from many of his contemporaries, as well as those he inspired.  Contrast EDDIE MURPHY RAW with RICHARD PRYOR LIVE IN CONCERT.  Murphy always acquits himself as the smartest one in the room, and often his barbs were vicious and hateful.  

Death was also a big topic for Richard Pryor.  Here, in a mesmerizing piece of film, he recreates his mindset during a recent heart attack as he contorts on the stage floor.  Latter day viewers will know that not long after this performance, he almost burned himself alive while freebasing.  This makes the sequence that much more telling and chillingly funny.