Product Description

The eagerly anticipated, turbulent memoirs of the most revolutionary and influential comic performer of the last twenty-five years have arrived.

Pryor's is a tale of tragedy to triumph and back again. Frank, courageous,
profane, incisive, urgent – but above all, possessed by luminous humour – Pryor takes us from his childhood in the whorehouses, bars and pool halls of the black neighborhood, to his astonishing ascendance as the most powerful and honest comedian of the 1970s. Learn first hand about the legendary performances, the movies, the money, the women, the cocaine addiction, the seven marriages, the quadruple bypass surgery and multiple sclerosis.

Despite all this, Richard Pryor has earned his legendary status because of
his talents as a masterful storyteller, a multi-talented entertainer, a
comic of acerbic wit, and a survivor with no self-pity. As Richard Pryor
likes to say, "I ain’t dead yet m*therf@ck%r!"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19629 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Eddie Murphy
"Richard Pryor is truly one of the great artists of our time. His comic
genius and influence remain unparalleled."

The Guardian
"Pryor delivered comedy like a musician delivers jazz"

FHM
"The Godfather of stand-up comedy at his best"

Customer Reviews

Best Book Ever on the life of a comic Genius
Richard Pryor is one of my fav actors and stand up comics ever so i had to get this book and wow i knew richard Pryor had a hard life growing up and his battle with drugs and stuff but readin this book i was so shocked to how hard it really was for him, Rape , Drugs , Women and beatings. You could make a movie on the life of Richard Pryor.
This is a book well worth getting and is such a good read, no matter how hard the guys life was he always found a way to make funny out of things and to to make others laugh, this is a amazing book about a amazin guy.
Once i started to read this book i found it hard to put down.
This book is a must for all Richard pyor fan.

An insight to a comic genius pulling no punches
The story of Richard Pryors life in his own words. Features excepts from his live shows, although these do loose something as they are skits that were not designed to be read, however it does draw focus on how much of Pryors comedy was taken from his life. This is man who has lived life to the full.

If you are familiar with Pryors popular film work, buy the book it will maybe encourage you to venture further into his live shows. I have heard people say Pryors comedy was all about being a black man, it's not it's about being a man.

A Summary Of The Life Of A True Great
That's how I felt, that this book barely skimmed the surface.

For a legend like Richard Pryor, you expect an autobiography to be slightly longer than 270 (dpending on which version you read) pages. His life was as massive as he is in character yet I felt that a lot more detail could have been gone into.
A quick example, the epilogue by Jennifer hints at problems encountered through Richard's children but nothing more is mentioned, an autobiography should have it all!

A good book, but could have been great, like the man!