Richard Pryor Quotes

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American comedian, actor, and social critic. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities and profanity, as well as racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time: Jerry Seinfeld called Pryor "The Picasso of our profession" and Bob Newhart heralded Pryor as "the seminal comedian of the last 50 years". Dave Chappelle said of Pryor, "You know those, like, evolution charts of man? He was the dude walking upright. Richard was the highest evolution of comedy." This legacy can be attributed, in part, to the unusual degree of intimacy Pryor brought to bear on his comedy. As Bill Cosby reportedly once said, "Richard Pryor drew the line between comedy and tragedy as thin as one could possibly paint it."

Pryor's body of work includes the concert movies and recordings: Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin' , That Nigger's Crazy , ...Is It Something I Said? , Bicentennial Nigger , Richard Pryor: Live in Concert , Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip , and Richard Pryor: Here and Now . As an actor, he starred mainly in comedies such as Silver Streak , but occasionally in dramas, such as Paul Schrader's Blue Collar , or action films, such as Superman III . He collaborated on many projects with actor Gene Wilder. Another frequent collaborator was actor/comedian/writer Paul Mooney.

Pryor won an Emmy Award and five Grammy Awards . In 1974, he also won two American Academy of Humor awards and the Writers Guild of America Award. The first-ever Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was presented to him in 1998. He was listed at number one on Comedy Central's list of all-time greatest stand-up comedians. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him first on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.

✵ 1. December 1940 – 10. December 2005
Richard Pryor photo
Richard Pryor: 12   quotes 1   like

Famous Richard Pryor Quotes

“What I'm saying might be profane, but it's also profound.”

Source: Pryor Convictions: and Other Life Sentences

“…I expected Dracula to come jumping out any second. If he did I'd have held up a cross, cause he's allergic to bullshit.”

At the end of track 9 "Religion" on his 1971 comedy album "Craps (After Hours)"

Richard Pryor Quotes

“I went through every phone book in Africa, and I didn't find one god damned Pryor!”

On trying to find his roots. Live At The Sunset Strip (1982)

“Make sure the check you write to a charity doesn't pay for cruel experiments on animals. Your donation should help end suffering — not cause it.”

Criticizing charities like the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (Pryor suffered from multiple sclerosis) for their animal studies; as quoted in "Pryor Fought Animal Abuse" by Lisa Lange, in Albuquerque Journal (15 December 2005)

“Have you ever noticed how quiet you get when you go in the woods? It's almost like you know that God's there.”

"The time of his life", in The Guardian (7 June 2004) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/columns/laughingmatters/story/0,12231,1229891,00.html

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