Richard Pryor... Here and Now

He's 7 months sober and doing a stand-up show in New Orleans. It's the last of his concert films. He's as foul-mouthed and irreverent as ever. He's energetic. The audience is yelling back and he's having fun with them. He's quick and sharp. He tackles everything including his own personal demons. This is a clear-headed legend at work.

RICHARD PRYOR : HERE AND NOW (1983) & RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP (1982) – both ***1/2 Pryor, one of America's greatest stand-up comedians, expertly conveys the inner pain and personal demons of his tumultuous life with heartbreakingly funny takes on his drug abuse, sexual relationships, racism, spirituality abroad in Africa, getting drunk, recalling early gigs with Mob run clubs and the occasional improvs (his bit with a hermit crab shows just how quick on his feet his mind is) showcase the true brilliance of an original artist in his element and total at ease and command for the language of 'vulgur' humor that seamlessly blends into the vernacularity of his topics of discussion (say unlike his protégé Eddie Murphy and only recently touched upon with better results by Chris Rock). Lucky to be alive after his near-fatal freebasing burning Pryor even makes dying sound funny. A genius in every sense of the word.

Richard Pryor, who would have turned 71 today, was truly one of the comedy greats. "Richard Pryor...Here and Now" shows him performing in the Saenger Theater in New Orleans. He talks about a lot of the stuff on which he frequently focuses, and ends the concert with a gag that really made me crack up! The part where Pryor impersonates the Japanese was kind of racist, but other than that the concert was really good. Having survived the freebasing incident and gotten more sober, Pryor had apparently met some people whom he'd known while wasted, but now didn't recognize them! Anyway, it was always fun to see the guy doing what he did best. He will always be missed.

Richard Pryor has met with a few pot holes in life's bumpy road.He has done countless things that he never should have,and he is the first to admit this.He uses his own unique comic style to tell us the gritty details of his life and to give us the message to not travel the road that he has traveled.You see,Richard Pryor not only wants to entertain us,he cares enough about us to tell us how stupid we would end up looking if we did the things that he has done.He is hilariously funny,and he is caring,and that makes him all right with me.I would urge all Pryor fans to have it in their collection.He was definitely at his peak here. Thumbs up.

Richard Pryor was one of the three greatest stand-up comedians of all time (along with George Carlin and Lenny Bruce), and there are three films that collectively show why: Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip, and this comedy-concert film. In Here and Now, Pryor finds one of his best audiences in New Orleans - one patron even gives him a pet crab mid-show - and stumbles upon one of his most relaxed performances sans-"king of comedy" garb. His elderly character Mudbone shows up to discuss rude children, Mexicans, and earthquakes, along with a junkie character later who speaks of jail, invincibility, and tells us, "I did it myself" before depriving us of his company. There are no scenes in a comedy concert, so my favorite bit is the gut-clenching finale about erections, vibrators, herpes, and public toilets. Pryor was a master.