The Richard Pryor Show

1977

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1
  • 0
7.6| NA| en| More Info
Released: 13 September 1977 Ended
Producted By: Burt Sugarman Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

The Richard Pryor Show is an American comedy variety series starring Richard Pryor. It premiered on NBC on Tuesday, September 13, 1977 at 8 p.m. opposite ABC's popular television shows Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. The show was produced by Rocco Urbisci for Burt Sugarman Productions. It was conceived out of a special that Pryor did for NBC in May 1977. Because the special was a major hit, both critically and commercially, Pryor was given a chance to host and star in his own television show. TV Guide included the series in their 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".

Genre

Comedy

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Director

Production Companies

Burt Sugarman Productions

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The Richard Pryor Show Audience Reviews

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment
Executscan Expected more
Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
ilikepuppies The kind of deliciously subversive art we see here can only be spawned from oppression. That's true especially of comedy. This is the work of some highly intelligent and creative folks, of course especially Pryor himself, who provides that most important ingredient.A few months ago I watched "Live and Smokin'" which was a stand-up performance by Pryor from a few years earlier than this. It was taped in a time before his huge success and featured him in a relatively small club. He was obviously high. As he trotted out one joke after another, a picture emerged of a gentle and intelligent soul who has seen and lived through every social hardship imaginable. The tone was vulgar (as always), but extremely thoughtful. It's an overtly pain-filled performance that will change you if you see it. The audience reaction was awkward, at best.So, having learned about him, I came to this. It's an entirely different ball game having to satisfy so many others' visions (director, producers, network et. al) but it's still Pryor's painful life experiences that seep through all the cracks.He had come a long way between the two products, from merely letting his pain spill over to cleverly constructing a series of cultural statements out of it. It in fact comes off as a desperate attempt to save an American black culture that he saw as dying, or more accurately, being swallowed up. Featured are actual performances in swing dance, jazz and African (communal!) dance, and soul. The comedy bits are actually outnumbered by said performances and some "serious" short films. All this in the face of more popular black culture of the time. Blacksploitation aside.Pryor also evidently had a soft spot for the similarly oppressed gay culture, presumably from his upbringing in a whorehouse, where he surely became acquainted with all forms of burdened life. He here gave a platform for performers straight from the gay clubs. Why don't similarly beaten-down minorities relate to each other like this more often? Odd.The best comedy is that which causes two reactions. First the laughter. Then when the laughter dies down, the reflexion and examination of why it was so funny. Most often you will realize that you were made to laugh at something that is not funny at all. In fact the opposite. The legacy of intelligent comedians who do this include Bruce, Carlin and more recently Rock. But Pryor outshines them all. He knows more about pain.This show would never be allowed on a major network today.Added: The last skit on the last disc (3) is absolutely priceless. It features Pryor being confronted by leaders of the black community. They demand that he use his show as a platform for their cause, pump him up into a mad frenzy and they all storm toward the stage, ushering him to his performance. Pryor then staggers on stage and performs a perfectly mousy version of "There's No Business Like Show Business." This one moment alone was worth the whole 6 hours.
Katz5 About 30 years ago, the powers that be at NBC decided to create a show centered around a comedian who was on the brink of becoming the hottest stand-up comedian (and later, movie comedian) in the country. Richard Pryor was hot in 1977, as anyone who has seen his classic hosting episode on Saturday Night Live can attest. NBC was the network of Saturday Night Live, so bringing Pryor home on television sets throughout the country seemed like a natural recipe for outrageous success. It didn't happen that way. The show lasted for four episodes. Watching the episodes on the DVD in 2006, I can see why it didn't last long. Most of the skits are simply not funny. The humor seems forced, and the sketches go on forever. Luckily, Pryor appears in most of them, but in some cases poor decisions were made and allowed the other less-talented cast members hog the spotlight (just watch the "I Gotta Be Me" segment in the first episode for proof). Of the other cast members, only Robin Williams and Sandra Bernhard realized any fame (in the case of Williams, incredible fame of course). The show was created for Pryor, but it seems that it wasn't created BY Pryor. And that stands to reason. You could not have watered down Pryor for network TV. One of the DVDs has an audience Q&A extra that was never aired. It's easy to see why it didn't air. Pryor unleashes the vulgarity that would be his trademark—never mind the 6 and 8 year old kids in the audience! The best skits are the provocative ones, which were more message-themed than funny. One of them involves Pryor as a heavy metal guitarist, dressed like George Clinton, who wows his audience with Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townsend guitar-work, and is backed by his Kiss-meets-Black-Sabbath band; it is a genius skit that makes a statement on the '70s rock music scene. Pryor ends up killing his audience a'la Sid Vicious, and the segment ends. No laugh track. No mugging by Pryor. The skit is actually creepy. As is another skit that has Pryor in a gun shop, "listening" to the guns "haunted" by their previous owners. It is an effective gun control statement, but not particularly funny. The DVD set is worth watching mainly because of the picture it paints of America in the late '70s. The clothes, the racial content, the humor, the important political issues. Some of the skits are truly hilarious—but the majority of them are dated, overlong, and not especially funny. This would have been better as a one-disk DVD, composed of the best skits as rated by longtime Pryor fans and network executives. Looking back at Pryor's career since his death, this show is an interesting entry is his catalog, and it is sad that most of the movies made in the years before his diagnosis were feeble—Critical Condition, Moving, See No Evil Hear No Evil and the rest. For the best overview of what Richard Pryor was about, get the concert films ("Live in Concert," "Live on Sunset Strip," "Here and Now," as well as the hard-to-find but occasionally brilliant "Live and Smoking"), along with the feature films Silver Streak (for his comic breakout and best pairing with Gene Wilder), Blue Collar (for a great dramatic performance), and Jo Jo Dancer-Your Life is Calling (directed by Pryor and "partially" based on his life).
Ddey65 Perhaps I'm guilty of judging the show by modern standards, but I don't really think the Richard Pryor Show was as outrageous as it presented itself to be, or as NBC's Bureau of Standards & Practices did in 1977.One look at the four episodes of this show and you can tell, this is where the Wayans family got their ideas, back when they were stealing the thunder of comedians like Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall. It's also surprising to find that this show was the humble beginning for people like Marsha Warfield, Sandra Bernhardt, and Robin Williams, who I thought did nothing but the comedy club circuit before his famous role as "Mork from Ork." Yet with all the co-stars, and special features within the box set, it's not as funny or outrageous as you'd expect. This doesn't mean, however that it's not worthy of adding to your DVD library, because it is.
graniteplanet Before Chris Rock. Before Eddie Murphy. There was only one man who took comedy to its limits, RICHARD PRYOR. Pryor was at the top of his game when NBC offered him his own variety series back in 1977. Low ratings and Pryor's battle with the network's censors caused the show to shut down after a run of just 4 episodes. What is left is a brilliant piece of work by Pryor and his crew, which included Robin Williams, Tim Reid(WKRP), Marsha Warfield(Night Court), John Witherspoon(Friday)among others.Richard Pryor really pushed the limits with this show. In his skits, just when you thought the skit was over or he couldn't go any further with his material, Pryor always took it one step further. Whether he was playing the President or dumping on NBC(over the censors), Pryor wasn't just funny, but SHOCKINGLY FUNNY. Now, please keep in mind that this was 1977 and there was more of a barrier of what you can say and do on television(as for today, anything goes).Shows like CHAPPELLE'S SHOW I think owe a lot to The Richard Pryor Show. It broke all barriers.Without Richard Pryor, there would be no Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle, Martin Lawrence, Steve Harvey, Wayans Bros. (the list goes on and on). Richard paved the way for them all, as you all will see. The Richard Pryor Show is being released on DVD/VHS in March 2004. I'd suggest you pick it up and get ready to fall out of your chair...LAUGHING.