David Henry (1)

This was a great read. First of all, Richard Pryor was a fascinating character who can hardly be blamed for the messes he got himself into as he was damaged by his circumstances from an early age. Raised by his grandmother in her brothels, where his mother worked as a prostitute, sexually-abused, he bailed on his first wife and the son she bore him for the army where he spent the majority of his stay in the brig for knifing a fellow soldier. Hot on the midwestern :"Chitlin' Circuit" where he met Redd Foxx and other ground-breaking black performers, he rose quickly in New York from the Greenwich Village coffee houses to television to Las Vegas and bigger and better venues. It's no wonder he became an alcoholic and an addict and famously destructive to himself and others all while revolutionizing stand-up comedy. All of this PRIOR to having set himself on fire in 1980, a flash from which he merely smoldered through a string of 1980s and 90s blockbuster movies, through his decline from multiple sclerosis and death.

Great book. And Joe and David Henry do Richard Pryor a great service telling the story of those years before 1980, years when his star shone the brightest. You can get a taste of it via this timeline.… (mais)

I can't remember why I wanted to read this book, I really didn't know much about Richard Pryor apart from seeing a few of his movies and knowing he was a stand-up comedian. For whatever reason I picked it up I am happy I did because this was such an informative book. A must read for fans of Mr. Pryor and people who want to know more about this time period. The authors cover so much more history instead of just sticking to Richard Pryor and his life. You can tell that Joe and David Henry are big fans of Richard but they don't gloss over his life. Nothing is left out, all of his accomplishments and demons are on display for us to see.… (mais)

It took me six months to start this book, but once I did, I couldn't put it down.

I know the name Richard Pryor, but I've only seen a few clips of his work. The Henry brothers manage to bring Pryor's routines to life in a way that makes clear Pryor's place as one of the two or three most important entertainers of the 20th century.

The brothers are at their best when they hold themselves a step back from their subject (serving, I would argue, as proper biographers), but they can't seem to help reminding the reader that they came to this project as fans first. Al the same, the clarity they bring to the era and to Pryor's place in pushing boundaries makes me wish that every biographer was willing examine our great performers so fluently and critically (in the sense of honest evaluation, not just judgement).

Their book makes me want to watch more Richard Pryor.

I do have a complaint about one comparison- Pryor to Shakespeare's Falstaff, who the Henry Brothers suggest appeared in Henry IV pt 1 and 2 and Henry V. Except that Falstaff (famously) does not appear in Henry V; he dies offstage at the beginning of the play- a clear signal to the Elizabethan audience that they should not confuse Henry V with some sort of Henry IV part 3. I don't know enough of Pryor or the era's history to do more than absorb what the authors tell me, but when I came across that error in the book's closing pages, it did make we wonder what other sorts of fact checking errors they might have made in a book that draws liberally from a huge range of art, music and film.… (mais)