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A few notable excerpts...
I did have a couple of rules. First, I limited an artist to a maximum of three entries in the Top 50. Otherwise there would be 11 Pryor albums, seven Lenny Bruce albums, nine Cosby albums, and no one else would be represented.
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29. Wanted! Richard Pryor Live in Concert – Richard Pryor
“I didn’t hear a lot of Richard Pryor until after I had been doing stand up for a while. I was shocked at how much people had stolen from him.” – Jim Gaffigan
A man, a microphone and a brilliant mind exposing everything to a room full of people – most critics seem to agree that comedy was never quite as good as it was when Richard Pryor hit the stage. Wanted was recorded during a time in Pryor’s life when turmoil was the norm. Under professional and personal pressures that would have collapsed lesser artists, Pryor rose to the occasion and released a double album of comedy so personal and profound that it stands as a testament to the comic as an artist. His “Heart Attacks” bit made you understand the emotions and pain behind the experience, yet you never stopped laughing. Brilliant.
18. That Nigger’s Crazy – Richard Pryor
“The first comedy album that meant anything to me at all was Richard Pryor's That Nigger's Crazy. My neighbor across the street sneaked and played his dad's copy for me, and it changed me completely. Since I was young, the Richard Pryor album initially appealed to me on a prurient level, due to the graphic language and daring subject matter. But as I listened to it over the years, I discovered how superbly crafted it was and how unbelievably well-structured the writing was.” – Lance Crouther
Comedy got a little more real and a whole lot less safe with the release of Pryor’s That Nigger’s Crazy. Gone was the notion that artists had to reflect a “higher standard;” Pryor took the real, often gritty and always hysterical life of the real person and gave that person a voice on the stage. At a time when everyone watched what they said and didn’t want to step on toes, Pryor came out and screamed his comedic agenda to the whole world. His comedy was an assault to anyone who even remotely believed they were in charge. Even the title was in-your-face. Other comics begged audiences for laughs; Pryor subjugated the masses. We laughed not because we wanted to, but because he demanded it. Though not the first album to showcase Pryor’s gritty style, it did reach a larger audience than his previous efforts, and it earned him the first of his five Grammy awards.
1. Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip – Richard Pryor
“The thing that hits you when you listen to any of those albums is that Richard Pryor never sells out his characters. Whether it's an animal, a woman or even a Klansman, he comes at them from his humanness, and that, combined with comedic brilliance, is why he is still the greatest of all time.” – Colin Quinn
Just 18 months after suffering third-degree burns on the entire upper half of his body, Pryor recorded two nights at the Hollywood Palladium. What resulted is a masterpiece blend of comedy and honest human pathos, Live at the Sunset Strip. People thought Pryor was done; who could possibly come back after something like that and be funny? Turns out Pryor not only regained his position as the best comedian in the world, he raised the bar and performed material that was so profound and so personal that the audience could feel every word, relate to every experience and laugh at every reference. It left a generation of comics awe-struck. How personal was the material? Richard’s wife, Jennifer Lee Pryor, says that Pryor himself felt that it nearly killed him and saved him at the same time. One bit in particular, “Freebase,” stands as possibly the greatest comedic piece of material ever. It’s long and holds on tight to a single premise, and Pryor took an experience that was uncommon and horrific, infused it with emotion, and created a bit that is easy for the audience to access and perfectly presented. “Hospital” takes listeners even deeper into Pryor’s agony and allows us to understand his experience completely. There is good reason why so many comics pointed to this record as the top comedy recording; it is one of those rare times when a great performer becomes ever greater as we experience him.
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Five Albums for Comics Only
Sometimes an album speaks better to an artist than it does to an audience. These five recordings contain valuable lessons for comedians; you might want to check them out.
4. Richard Pryor...And It’s Deep Too! – Richard Pryor
This box set contains all the Warner Brothers releases from Pryor. Some of his more experimental albums are missing, such as Craps, Black Ben the Blacksmith and The Wizard of Comedy, but this box set still manages to document the evolution from his 1968 self-titled debut to his last major release, Here and Now. Witnessing the evolution of perhaps the best scripted comic of all time is an experience not to be missed by any comedian. Of particular interest is the final disk, That African-American is Still Crazy (Good Shit from the Vaults), which contains a wealth of unreleased tracks, including the funny yet heartbreaking “M.S.”
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Five Obscure Treasures
Some recordings were mentioned passionately but not frequently enough to make the Top 50. What follows are five largely overlooked recordings that anyone who loves comedy should listen own.
3. Black Ben the Blacksmith – Richard Pryor
This is Pryor’s concept album about an interracial romance in the Old South “told” by a group of prisoners. Pryor weaves in enough voices, characters and stories to fill Parchment Farm prison. Every bit is a classic, and the social message was decades before its time.
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