Word: pryor
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...Pryor speaks also about the decline in sexual activity that accompanied President Reagan's arrival at the White House, about discovering masturbation at the age of ten--which he rather graphically simulates--and about picking up Playboy bunnies. It is standard Pryor material: offbeat, offensive and riotously funny. It does not scale the heights of his first movie. Richard Pryor in Concert, but it doesn't miss by much. Live on the Sunset Strip is the sort of movie one would want Jerry Falwell. Anita Bryant and perhaps Nancy Reagan to be chained to the front row of the theater...
...trouble is, every once in a while Pryor gets the urge to be humanitarian, to show that beneath his vulgar exterior lies a man aware of the seriousness of the subjects he is discussing. Much in the same manner that Don Rickles takes time out from his usual barrage of insults to remind us that we should all love each other regardless of race colour or creed. Pryor interrupts his routine a couple of times to say things like "Racism's an ugly thing. I hope someday they give it up." "This is all well and good...
...PRYOR BECOMES MOST unclear during the most serious part of the movie. He devotes the last half hour of his act to his free basing accident and the details of his cocaine addiction. He tells the story, however, as he would any other routine, showing how the pipe he used to smoke the drug ruled his life and then how he rejected the help of concerned friends. Pryor mixes serious judgments ("If you have been free basing longer than two weeks, you are a junkie") with lighter observations ("Of all the people free basing, have you ever heard of anybody...
...comments about what it was like to catch fire are as funny as they are grotesque. Again, though, it is hard to know if Pryor's jokes are really going to turn people off to cocaine. Catching fire taught him an important lesson: "When you are on fire, running down the street, people will get out of your way." One burn, however, ran after him, asking. "Hey, buddy, can I get a light?" While Pryor was on the table in the emergency room, he claims he heard one of the orderlies say. "Why don't we get some cole slaw...
...there is no law that says Richard Pryor must speak out against cocaine, although it would seem somewhat destructive to have him advocating its use. If he is against it, his message is too subtle. If, however, we simply take Pryor at face value and don't worry about what he is trying to say, he is still one of the funniest comedians now working...