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Becoming Richard Pryor
A major biography—intimate, gripping, revelatory—of an artist who revolutionized American comedy.
Richard Pryor may have been the most unlikely star in Hollywood history. Raised in his family’s brothels, he grew up an outsider to privilege. He took to the stage, originally, to escape the hard-bitten realities of his childhood, but later came to a reverberating discovery: that by plunging into the depths of his experience, he could make stand-up comedy as exhilarating and harrowing as the life he’d known. He brought that trembling vitality to Hollywood, where his movie career—Blazing Saddles, the buddy comedies with Gene Wilder, Blue Collar—flowed directly out of his spirit of creative improvisation. The major studios considered him dangerous. Audiences felt plugged directly into the socket of life.
Becoming Richard Pryor brings the man and his comic genius into focus as never before. Drawing upon a mountain of original research—interviews with family and friends, court transcripts, unpublished journals, screenplay drafts—Scott Saul traces Pryor’s rough journey to the heights of fame: from his heartbreaking childhood, his trials in the Army, and his apprentice days in Greenwich Village to his soul-searching interlude in Berkeley and his ascent in the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s.
Becoming Richard Pryor illuminates an entertainer who, by bringing together the spirits of the black freedom movement and the counterculture, forever altered the DNA of American comedy. It reveals that, while Pryor made himself a legend with his own account of his life onstage, the full truth of that life is more bracing still.
Richard Pryor may have been the most unlikely star in Hollywood history. Raised in his family’s brothels, he grew up an outsider to privilege. He took to the stage, originally, to escape the hard-bitten realities of his childhood, but later came to a reverberating discovery: that by plunging into the depths of his experience, he could make stand-up comedy as exhilarating and harrowing as the life he’d known. He brought that trembling vitality to Hollywood, where his movie career—Blazing Saddles, the buddy comedies with Gene Wilder, Blue Collar—flowed directly out of his spirit of creative improvisation. The major studios considered him dangerous. Audiences felt plugged directly into the socket of life.
Becoming Richard Pryor brings the man and his comic genius into focus as never before. Drawing upon a mountain of original research—interviews with family and friends, court transcripts, unpublished journals, screenplay drafts—Scott Saul traces Pryor’s rough journey to the heights of fame: from his heartbreaking childhood, his trials in the Army, and his apprentice days in Greenwich Village to his soul-searching interlude in Berkeley and his ascent in the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s.
Becoming Richard Pryor illuminates an entertainer who, by bringing together the spirits of the black freedom movement and the counterculture, forever altered the DNA of American comedy. It reveals that, while Pryor made himself a legend with his own account of his life onstage, the full truth of that life is more bracing still.
608 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 14, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
February 7, 2015
This is the third Richard Pryor biography I have read and I will say it is the most insightful and gives many explanations of his gifted talent and his endearing nature. It also appears to be the most researched and offers not only many accounts of his life and career it also cites other biographies as well as pryor's autiobiography PRYOR CONVICTIONS which seems to be near impossible to find at least for me.
The book is well researched but most of all what I enjoy is that the book doesn't portray in him in any one light. It presents the facts and let's you make up your mind about him. He wasn't a simple man and seemed to lead a successful eventually yet overwhelmingly tortured life. That he was the main instigator at times behind. But he used that pain to inform his creativity and art. Which I wouldn't suggest for all but to a certain degree he used it until it ultimately destroyed him.
What i found disappointing but ultimately creative was the fact that the writer pretty much ends the biography not upon his death, but when his creativity seemed to leave him. Right after he incident where he set himself on fire. Now brought the rest of the book he gives some biographical information about his development of ms. How his reputation in films started a huge backslide in the 80's and he just seemed more mellow and not tortured, but also he seemed to have muted his humor and his creativity. So after that the book doesn't follow his failing years incident by incident nor does it touch any behind the scenes tapes of the filming of his films past 1980.
The book reminds me of the whole nature of richad Pryor now I love him as an artist, comedian but I will admit I grew up watching him in what some might call his sellout period. I only discovered the earlier stuff later in life and made him even more legendary to me. There will never be another him and his legend will always be remembered by not only me but plenty of others. I can't defend all or many of his actions. I don't necessarily agree with them either, but who am I to judge his life and his reactions. All I can do is sit back in awe and appreciate the comedy he brought the world.
Even if through his art he worked through his pain. Yet caused many other pain on a personal level in his life. I can see some of his reasons and motivations. Not excuses
This book truly gives you a glimpse into his life and what might have made him tick at certain points.
The book is well researched but most of all what I enjoy is that the book doesn't portray in him in any one light. It presents the facts and let's you make up your mind about him. He wasn't a simple man and seemed to lead a successful eventually yet overwhelmingly tortured life. That he was the main instigator at times behind. But he used that pain to inform his creativity and art. Which I wouldn't suggest for all but to a certain degree he used it until it ultimately destroyed him.
What i found disappointing but ultimately creative was the fact that the writer pretty much ends the biography not upon his death, but when his creativity seemed to leave him. Right after he incident where he set himself on fire. Now brought the rest of the book he gives some biographical information about his development of ms. How his reputation in films started a huge backslide in the 80's and he just seemed more mellow and not tortured, but also he seemed to have muted his humor and his creativity. So after that the book doesn't follow his failing years incident by incident nor does it touch any behind the scenes tapes of the filming of his films past 1980.
The book reminds me of the whole nature of richad Pryor now I love him as an artist, comedian but I will admit I grew up watching him in what some might call his sellout period. I only discovered the earlier stuff later in life and made him even more legendary to me. There will never be another him and his legend will always be remembered by not only me but plenty of others. I can't defend all or many of his actions. I don't necessarily agree with them either, but who am I to judge his life and his reactions. All I can do is sit back in awe and appreciate the comedy he brought the world.
Even if through his art he worked through his pain. Yet caused many other pain on a personal level in his life. I can see some of his reasons and motivations. Not excuses
This book truly gives you a glimpse into his life and what might have made him tick at certain points.
July 3, 2015
You really see how the yams brought it out of Richard Pryor.
April 12, 2022
"He will be offensive in vocabulary and theme only to those who are upset by words in themselves, or by reality."
I remember being in junior high and listening to Richard Pryor albums in my friend's basement until the wee hours of the night, astounded that somebody could be such a perfectly unrighteous and pointed motherfucker. Over the years, I've always marveled at his ubiquity as he basically founded what became modern stand-up comedy, with all its surreal and sardonic manifestations, but rarely heard of him getting the recognition he deserved, especially in the wake of his more wan descendants.
This bio is a nice corrective and goes deep into the evolution of Pryor as comedian and sharp-ass social critic. The dude basically turned himself inside out again and again, exposing all the wounds and nuances of his early life in Peoria, IL (where his grandmother, Marie, ran a brothel or two and his family regularly dissolved violently every few weeks it seemed) to point up how we come up and evolve out of what the world's dealt you. After a childhood of abuse and dawning realization that the shade of his skin meant more than it had any reason to, Pryor broke out during a time when the spirit of the 60s counterculture was dying, black militancy was on the wane, and something loud needed to be said. Pryor was hardly a perfect guy. He could cheat and beat any number of wives and women, was a drug addict, but was unabashedly frank about his weaknesses and foibles, which is part of the reason he is so goddamn funny. He teamed with some of the comedy greats (Mel Brooks, Lily Tomlin, and Gene Wilder) and left a legacy of ribald commentary that would probably never see the light of day in our overly sensitive world.
Add Pryor to the list of "People Exemplifying America"!
I remember being in junior high and listening to Richard Pryor albums in my friend's basement until the wee hours of the night, astounded that somebody could be such a perfectly unrighteous and pointed motherfucker. Over the years, I've always marveled at his ubiquity as he basically founded what became modern stand-up comedy, with all its surreal and sardonic manifestations, but rarely heard of him getting the recognition he deserved, especially in the wake of his more wan descendants.
This bio is a nice corrective and goes deep into the evolution of Pryor as comedian and sharp-ass social critic. The dude basically turned himself inside out again and again, exposing all the wounds and nuances of his early life in Peoria, IL (where his grandmother, Marie, ran a brothel or two and his family regularly dissolved violently every few weeks it seemed) to point up how we come up and evolve out of what the world's dealt you. After a childhood of abuse and dawning realization that the shade of his skin meant more than it had any reason to, Pryor broke out during a time when the spirit of the 60s counterculture was dying, black militancy was on the wane, and something loud needed to be said. Pryor was hardly a perfect guy. He could cheat and beat any number of wives and women, was a drug addict, but was unabashedly frank about his weaknesses and foibles, which is part of the reason he is so goddamn funny. He teamed with some of the comedy greats (Mel Brooks, Lily Tomlin, and Gene Wilder) and left a legacy of ribald commentary that would probably never see the light of day in our overly sensitive world.
Add Pryor to the list of "People Exemplifying America"!
July 18, 2022
Man. What a mind, what a talent. What a sad and scared man, what a damn genius, what a terrible boyfriend, what a sharp collaborator.
Fascinating from start (two generations before he is born) to finish (with the death of his grandmother and his self-immolation, before the era of his greatest commercial success.) What a terrible and beautiful mess… for 400+ pages, Pryor is never boring, and never fully pinned down. Restless. No one went faster from hunger for approval to disgust with the people who he’d won.
Fascinating from start (two generations before he is born) to finish (with the death of his grandmother and his self-immolation, before the era of his greatest commercial success.) What a terrible and beautiful mess… for 400+ pages, Pryor is never boring, and never fully pinned down. Restless. No one went faster from hunger for approval to disgust with the people who he’d won.
February 26, 2015
An explicit account of comedian/actor Richard Pryor's beginnings up until his groundbreaking performance film LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP which was filmed after his near tragic self immolation. The book takes you through his formative years of living in a brothel as a child and brought up by an abusive father and his hard edged grandmother who was a well-known and politically connected Brothel Madam. The events that molded him into the man he became (smart, savvy, sly, misogynistic, cruel, kind, and a drug abuser) were awful, yet without these environmental mixed cocktail of experience the Pryor we know today would never have existed. Interesting, yet author Saul makes a big error in citing Paramount pictures as the producer and distributor of SILVER STREAK. He does this over and over again. It was 20th Century Fox. Still, if you are a fan of this explosive groundbreaking comedian, then this book will answer a lot of the questions you might have ... answers that are usually pretty sad and depressing and were, to this reader, unknown.
February 22, 2023
Thoroughly researched, this portrait of Pryor’s life from his incredulous early life in a Peoria, IL brothel until his peak of the late 70’s paints a dynamic image without judgement of a comic which many hail as the most influential of all time. As often is the case the genius is commingling with demons that both drove him and led to a series of disturbing events.
The book lays Pryor bare to the reader in such a way, that the comedian himself might appreciate. If you’ve even the faintest interest in his career or the period itself through the lens of a Black entertainer, then I would strongly recommend this book.
The book lays Pryor bare to the reader in such a way, that the comedian himself might appreciate. If you’ve even the faintest interest in his career or the period itself through the lens of a Black entertainer, then I would strongly recommend this book.
December 18, 2014
Posted first to Blog Critics as Book Review: 'Becoming Richard Pryor', a Biography by Scott Saul.
Comedy, drama and improvisation create a great form of entertainment. There are some who are so powerful and talented in the realm of these genres that they leave a lasting mark on those who have had to the opportunity to see their work and possibly know them.
In Becoming Richard Pryor by Scott Saul, we follow the life and times of Richard Pryor from his childhood forward. A man, a legend, a beleaguered and talented personality ahead of his time, and always on display in some form or other. Pryor did not come from privilege and in fact was raised in his families various brothels. Even outside the norm they had a strong sense of family that Richard clung to. An outcast as a youngster he found his calling early in drama and comedy, the one thing that helped him to pretend he was someone else.
As he grew and continued learning his trade he did what he could to get strong and better, often using his own harrowing background to dredge up and poke fun at those things that he most feared. With his raucous comedy and on to his acting he became a voice in a generation looking for what he had to offer. Yet never one to be stationary, Pryor continued to evolve even when he was burning himself out with drugs he was able to move forward and stay in the limelight. From his loves to his decline you will find the story of his life and his climb to fame remarkable. The strength of will to overcome the disbelievers, and the make his mark in not just comedy with his stand-up routines and improvisation, but then to move on and not just act but to write much of the dialog in his parts in such successful comedies as Blazing Saddles and Blue collar, where he become friends with Gene Wilder another rising star.
A Black entertainer Pryor helped to galvanize the spirit of the black freedom movement and counterculture thereby solidifying the legend of who he became. A product of his times he was a part of the drug culture as well as the sexual revolution and with his burning passion these actions too, become a part of the whole, driving him further into an inferno of fame. To come from obscurity and move mountains to become a legend only to disappear again into obscurity leave you aching with the pain of his passing. Even now there are many who stylize themselves after Richard Pryor, he set the standards in a way that will forever remain, a standard that survives and strengthens his repute and legend. There is so much we take for granted of those who grace our lives with comedy and drama, it is the unknown tales that tie it all together, and Scott Saul has done just that.
If you enjoy biographical works and are a fan of Richard Pryor or even just enjoy learning about those who have lived before us you will be intrigued and immersed in a life of love, laughter and pain. A great deal of pain.
This would be a great book for a book club or reading group. The amazing growth of a star through the culture of the times will create an amazing amount of questions and dialogue.
Comedy, drama and improvisation create a great form of entertainment. There are some who are so powerful and talented in the realm of these genres that they leave a lasting mark on those who have had to the opportunity to see their work and possibly know them.
In Becoming Richard Pryor by Scott Saul, we follow the life and times of Richard Pryor from his childhood forward. A man, a legend, a beleaguered and talented personality ahead of his time, and always on display in some form or other. Pryor did not come from privilege and in fact was raised in his families various brothels. Even outside the norm they had a strong sense of family that Richard clung to. An outcast as a youngster he found his calling early in drama and comedy, the one thing that helped him to pretend he was someone else.
As he grew and continued learning his trade he did what he could to get strong and better, often using his own harrowing background to dredge up and poke fun at those things that he most feared. With his raucous comedy and on to his acting he became a voice in a generation looking for what he had to offer. Yet never one to be stationary, Pryor continued to evolve even when he was burning himself out with drugs he was able to move forward and stay in the limelight. From his loves to his decline you will find the story of his life and his climb to fame remarkable. The strength of will to overcome the disbelievers, and the make his mark in not just comedy with his stand-up routines and improvisation, but then to move on and not just act but to write much of the dialog in his parts in such successful comedies as Blazing Saddles and Blue collar, where he become friends with Gene Wilder another rising star.
A Black entertainer Pryor helped to galvanize the spirit of the black freedom movement and counterculture thereby solidifying the legend of who he became. A product of his times he was a part of the drug culture as well as the sexual revolution and with his burning passion these actions too, become a part of the whole, driving him further into an inferno of fame. To come from obscurity and move mountains to become a legend only to disappear again into obscurity leave you aching with the pain of his passing. Even now there are many who stylize themselves after Richard Pryor, he set the standards in a way that will forever remain, a standard that survives and strengthens his repute and legend. There is so much we take for granted of those who grace our lives with comedy and drama, it is the unknown tales that tie it all together, and Scott Saul has done just that.
If you enjoy biographical works and are a fan of Richard Pryor or even just enjoy learning about those who have lived before us you will be intrigued and immersed in a life of love, laughter and pain. A great deal of pain.
This would be a great book for a book club or reading group. The amazing growth of a star through the culture of the times will create an amazing amount of questions and dialogue.
August 18, 2024
“Cocaine’s not addicting. My friends have been snortin’ coke for fifteen years and they’re not addicted.”
Welcome to the world of Richard Pryor. It’s a world where a young African-American boy grew up in an inner city brothel, discovered he had a talent for stage performance, and went on to become one of the greatest stand up comics of all time and a movie star too. If you grew up in the 1980s, your introduction to Richard Pryor was probably in family friendly movies like The Toy or Superman III. But those who explored his works further were probably shocked at first by the X-rated brand of humor on his comedy albums in which “bitch”, “motherfucker”, and the n-word are used over and over again. On stage, on screen, and in his personal life he was a complex man with a multi-faceted personality. In Scott Saul’s biography Becoming Richard Pryor, all these different sides are brought out on display. It’s like exploring the closet of a disguise artist to find an almost incomprehensible range of clothing styles that don’t go together but still make up a picture of the man who owned them. Only Pryor wasn’t just changing outfits to suit each individual character he played the way a normal actor would; these weren’t disguises since they came from inside the man, revealing to public view the crazy world that existed inside his head.
There are a lot of ways Scott Saul could have written this biography. He could have simply emphasized the course of Pryor’s professional career. He also could have emphasized the turbulent social and private life of the man. But instead he brought those two threads into a multi-dimensional biographical portrait showing how they contributed to the development of Richard Pryor’s work as an artist. Knowing that Pyror saw himself foremost as an artist rather than a comedian and actor helps clarify what a loftof his life was all about.
Richard Pryor’s childhood was something that no child should ever have to live through. He was raised in Peoria, Illinois by his grandmother, a strict disciplinarian and madame of a brothel who always carried a pistol on her person. His father was also a pimp and a violent man. Pryor spent his childhood seeing women being mistreated in various ways. He also went to integrated schools where he experienced racism first hand while also learning how to navigate in the white world as a Black person. He was smart but not a great student, getting attention by being a class clown. Then a perceptive woman working as a stage director in a youth center saw his potential and inspired him to pursue a career in the performing arts.
Eventually Pryor moved to Greenwich Village in New York City and easily found his way into the bohemian night clubs where he did stand up and got involved with improvisational acting troops. These actors were of the experimental and avant-garde variety and Pryor carried a surreal sense of absurdity into later works as a comedian and film maker.
It didn’t take long for him to get a break so he ended up in Hollywood starring in corny TV variety shows. Although he had made it into show business, he felt lost as though he wasn’t being himself, a situation that led to a nervous breakdown on stage during a performance in Las Vegas. After recovering from that crisis, his stand up comedy took a new, uninhibited turn and Pryor began drawing on his own life experiences to create a unique brand of performance that nobody had ever seen before. He began telling stories, switching his voice and demeanor to represent different characters in absurd situations. A lot of these characters were drawn from people in the African-American community. There were pimps, winos, junkies, con artist preachers, revolutionaries, and do gooders, all ciphers of recognizable character types. What Richard Pryor got right was that he mirrored these personages to the Black community, showing them the faults and shortcomings of people they recognized, but doing so in a way that humanized them. This wasn’t cruel humor. It was self-effacing humor, something rare in American comedy, that allowed Black people a chance to laugh about the things that troubled them. Richard Pryor also found success as a cross over comedian, appealing to progressive white audiences because he gave them a window into a Black community that they never experienced first hand despite their support for integration and the politics of Civil Rights.
The issue of racial politics play a prominent role in this book. Richard Pryor was deeply committed to the African-American cause and a fair bit of his performances were related to issues of racism and social justice. Even when making jokes about winos or tall tale bullshitters like his recurring Mudbone character, there was always a sense that these people were welcome as members of the Black community despite their human imperfections. Even when making jokes about white people he did so in a way that showed white people how they look in Black people’s eyes. This was done in a way that made white people laugh at themselves. Pryor’s relations with the white community were sometimes contentious though. As a child he had white friends at school and often encountered white men in the whorehouses where he lived, something that probably helped him get along with white people later in life, but later in his film career he got into long running disputes with directors and actors who didn’t always see things from his point of view. There were other times when he felt like he couldn’t trust white people even though acceptance in the white community was often a priority of his. And yet making it to the big time meant making it in the white world of entertainment. He had this conflict over being true to his art and his people or selling out, but somehow he came out on top, finding himself in script writing, producing, and acting that he would never have gotten into had he not pushed himself beyond the obstacles that other Black artists saw in their way.
There was one area in which his relations with white people was the most controversial: his relationships with white women. Maybe the seeds for his problems were planted in his childhood when he tried to be friends with white girls in school only to have their parents forbid their friendships because he was Black. As he got older, Pryor married seven different white women and all of the marriages were disastrous. He was an habitual wife beater and all of his wives ended up with bruises, broken bones, and knife wounds. Pryor’s rages were fueled by high doses of cocaine and alcohol and didn’t stop with domestic violence; he sometimes destroyed his own houses in the process. You don’t have to be more than an armchair psychologist to see how his upbringing contributed to this with his violent grandmother, his absentee mother, his woman-beating father, and housefuls of prostitutes that put up with abuse on a daily basis, sometimes even humiliating him for being skinny and weak. He probably felt a great deal of confusion over women as well as anger at the dominant white power structure, so by marrying white women and assaulting them, he dominated them through a violent expression of rage, a maladaptive means of working out his frustrations This is the ugliest side of Pryor’s life and something that could ruin him in the eyes of his fans. The author of this biography treads lightly in this territory. The purpose of the book is to examine the development of Richard Pryor’s art, therefore emphasizing his extreme misogyny could easily distract attention away from that purpose. Yet Scott Saul would be doing a great disservice to his audience by downplaying or dismissing the truth of Pryor’s violence altogether. He finds an uneasy balance in his writing. It is a balance that makes you uncomfortable as it should, but it is a balance nonetheless.
This biography also covers Pryor’s career in Hollywood films. Aside from being the primary script writer for the classic comedy Blazing Saddles, he also acted in a number of movies during the 1970s. Pryor had a charismatic appeal and a strong on-screen presence. It could be said that he was a first rate actor and comedian starring in a series of mediocre movies. But what this biography shows is how much Pryor dedicated to working with directors and other actors to ensure that his characters would project a positive image of Black people to Black and white audiences alike. These movies are all overlooked today, but this book shows how instrumental they were in bringing Black film characters to be accepted in the mainstream of American cinema. Fortunately this book winds down in the early 1980s when Richard Pryor set himself on fire after freebasing cocaine and spares us an in depth analysis of what most would call Pryor’s sell out phase when he starred in commercial blockbusters, turning in less than inspiring acting performances yet maintaining his on screen charm all the while.
Becoming Richard Pryor is a brilliant biography. The media likes to feed us stories of multiple personality disorder. The status of that mental illness is a matter of dispute to professional psychiatrists, but the designation does fit Richard Pryor, only in his case he sublimated his multiple personalities into stand up comedy routines and acting. Some might criticize Scott Saul for pulling punches when writing about Pryor’s monstrous dark side, but he needed to do that maintain focus on the intended purpose of this biography. If the intended purpose is to show how the life Richard Pryor led off stage and off screen served as inspiration for his performing art, and also to show how Pryor developed his talents over the most important span of his career, then this book is entirely successful. It also reminds us that art is a flower that grows out of a damaged mind. We have to separate the art from the artist, but we also have to be careful when the art and the artist are so intricately entwined. As horrible as Richard Pryor was in his personal life, his art still managed to be uplifting, inspiring, and socially aware while making sharp observations about the human condition. It was all done by a man with a rare talent for being both entertaining and skilled at communicating while also being delightfully weird. Maybe we can still celebrate him for being a genius artist while condemning the worst things he did.
Welcome to the world of Richard Pryor. It’s a world where a young African-American boy grew up in an inner city brothel, discovered he had a talent for stage performance, and went on to become one of the greatest stand up comics of all time and a movie star too. If you grew up in the 1980s, your introduction to Richard Pryor was probably in family friendly movies like The Toy or Superman III. But those who explored his works further were probably shocked at first by the X-rated brand of humor on his comedy albums in which “bitch”, “motherfucker”, and the n-word are used over and over again. On stage, on screen, and in his personal life he was a complex man with a multi-faceted personality. In Scott Saul’s biography Becoming Richard Pryor, all these different sides are brought out on display. It’s like exploring the closet of a disguise artist to find an almost incomprehensible range of clothing styles that don’t go together but still make up a picture of the man who owned them. Only Pryor wasn’t just changing outfits to suit each individual character he played the way a normal actor would; these weren’t disguises since they came from inside the man, revealing to public view the crazy world that existed inside his head.
There are a lot of ways Scott Saul could have written this biography. He could have simply emphasized the course of Pryor’s professional career. He also could have emphasized the turbulent social and private life of the man. But instead he brought those two threads into a multi-dimensional biographical portrait showing how they contributed to the development of Richard Pryor’s work as an artist. Knowing that Pyror saw himself foremost as an artist rather than a comedian and actor helps clarify what a loftof his life was all about.
Richard Pryor’s childhood was something that no child should ever have to live through. He was raised in Peoria, Illinois by his grandmother, a strict disciplinarian and madame of a brothel who always carried a pistol on her person. His father was also a pimp and a violent man. Pryor spent his childhood seeing women being mistreated in various ways. He also went to integrated schools where he experienced racism first hand while also learning how to navigate in the white world as a Black person. He was smart but not a great student, getting attention by being a class clown. Then a perceptive woman working as a stage director in a youth center saw his potential and inspired him to pursue a career in the performing arts.
Eventually Pryor moved to Greenwich Village in New York City and easily found his way into the bohemian night clubs where he did stand up and got involved with improvisational acting troops. These actors were of the experimental and avant-garde variety and Pryor carried a surreal sense of absurdity into later works as a comedian and film maker.
It didn’t take long for him to get a break so he ended up in Hollywood starring in corny TV variety shows. Although he had made it into show business, he felt lost as though he wasn’t being himself, a situation that led to a nervous breakdown on stage during a performance in Las Vegas. After recovering from that crisis, his stand up comedy took a new, uninhibited turn and Pryor began drawing on his own life experiences to create a unique brand of performance that nobody had ever seen before. He began telling stories, switching his voice and demeanor to represent different characters in absurd situations. A lot of these characters were drawn from people in the African-American community. There were pimps, winos, junkies, con artist preachers, revolutionaries, and do gooders, all ciphers of recognizable character types. What Richard Pryor got right was that he mirrored these personages to the Black community, showing them the faults and shortcomings of people they recognized, but doing so in a way that humanized them. This wasn’t cruel humor. It was self-effacing humor, something rare in American comedy, that allowed Black people a chance to laugh about the things that troubled them. Richard Pryor also found success as a cross over comedian, appealing to progressive white audiences because he gave them a window into a Black community that they never experienced first hand despite their support for integration and the politics of Civil Rights.
The issue of racial politics play a prominent role in this book. Richard Pryor was deeply committed to the African-American cause and a fair bit of his performances were related to issues of racism and social justice. Even when making jokes about winos or tall tale bullshitters like his recurring Mudbone character, there was always a sense that these people were welcome as members of the Black community despite their human imperfections. Even when making jokes about white people he did so in a way that showed white people how they look in Black people’s eyes. This was done in a way that made white people laugh at themselves. Pryor’s relations with the white community were sometimes contentious though. As a child he had white friends at school and often encountered white men in the whorehouses where he lived, something that probably helped him get along with white people later in life, but later in his film career he got into long running disputes with directors and actors who didn’t always see things from his point of view. There were other times when he felt like he couldn’t trust white people even though acceptance in the white community was often a priority of his. And yet making it to the big time meant making it in the white world of entertainment. He had this conflict over being true to his art and his people or selling out, but somehow he came out on top, finding himself in script writing, producing, and acting that he would never have gotten into had he not pushed himself beyond the obstacles that other Black artists saw in their way.
There was one area in which his relations with white people was the most controversial: his relationships with white women. Maybe the seeds for his problems were planted in his childhood when he tried to be friends with white girls in school only to have their parents forbid their friendships because he was Black. As he got older, Pryor married seven different white women and all of the marriages were disastrous. He was an habitual wife beater and all of his wives ended up with bruises, broken bones, and knife wounds. Pryor’s rages were fueled by high doses of cocaine and alcohol and didn’t stop with domestic violence; he sometimes destroyed his own houses in the process. You don’t have to be more than an armchair psychologist to see how his upbringing contributed to this with his violent grandmother, his absentee mother, his woman-beating father, and housefuls of prostitutes that put up with abuse on a daily basis, sometimes even humiliating him for being skinny and weak. He probably felt a great deal of confusion over women as well as anger at the dominant white power structure, so by marrying white women and assaulting them, he dominated them through a violent expression of rage, a maladaptive means of working out his frustrations This is the ugliest side of Pryor’s life and something that could ruin him in the eyes of his fans. The author of this biography treads lightly in this territory. The purpose of the book is to examine the development of Richard Pryor’s art, therefore emphasizing his extreme misogyny could easily distract attention away from that purpose. Yet Scott Saul would be doing a great disservice to his audience by downplaying or dismissing the truth of Pryor’s violence altogether. He finds an uneasy balance in his writing. It is a balance that makes you uncomfortable as it should, but it is a balance nonetheless.
This biography also covers Pryor’s career in Hollywood films. Aside from being the primary script writer for the classic comedy Blazing Saddles, he also acted in a number of movies during the 1970s. Pryor had a charismatic appeal and a strong on-screen presence. It could be said that he was a first rate actor and comedian starring in a series of mediocre movies. But what this biography shows is how much Pryor dedicated to working with directors and other actors to ensure that his characters would project a positive image of Black people to Black and white audiences alike. These movies are all overlooked today, but this book shows how instrumental they were in bringing Black film characters to be accepted in the mainstream of American cinema. Fortunately this book winds down in the early 1980s when Richard Pryor set himself on fire after freebasing cocaine and spares us an in depth analysis of what most would call Pryor’s sell out phase when he starred in commercial blockbusters, turning in less than inspiring acting performances yet maintaining his on screen charm all the while.
Becoming Richard Pryor is a brilliant biography. The media likes to feed us stories of multiple personality disorder. The status of that mental illness is a matter of dispute to professional psychiatrists, but the designation does fit Richard Pryor, only in his case he sublimated his multiple personalities into stand up comedy routines and acting. Some might criticize Scott Saul for pulling punches when writing about Pryor’s monstrous dark side, but he needed to do that maintain focus on the intended purpose of this biography. If the intended purpose is to show how the life Richard Pryor led off stage and off screen served as inspiration for his performing art, and also to show how Pryor developed his talents over the most important span of his career, then this book is entirely successful. It also reminds us that art is a flower that grows out of a damaged mind. We have to separate the art from the artist, but we also have to be careful when the art and the artist are so intricately entwined. As horrible as Richard Pryor was in his personal life, his art still managed to be uplifting, inspiring, and socially aware while making sharp observations about the human condition. It was all done by a man with a rare talent for being both entertaining and skilled at communicating while also being delightfully weird. Maybe we can still celebrate him for being a genius artist while condemning the worst things he did.
December 29, 2014
I can't give it three and a half stars, so I rounded up based on the subject matter.
On the plus side, this is a well-researched book about the fascinating personal and professional life of the brilliant comedian. It provides very good detail of his troubled childhood on the wrong side of the tracks in Peoria, a large chunk of his childhood spent living in his grandmother's brothel, and being physically and emotionally beaten by the people who raised him. The last few chapters also give good detail concerning Pryor's richest creative period, leading up to 1979's 'Richard Pryor: Live in Concert.'
On the downside, Saul goes into great detail, but little depth, rarely putting Pryor's life in career into any real perspective. And between the first few and last few chapters, the book suffers from stale storytelling: this happened, then that happened, then this happened, etc... The book would have been much more interesting if he had spent more time recording the memories and thoughts of Pryor's rich tapestry of friends, family and collaborators, instead of recording a series of dry facts.
In the end, though, Pryor was such a unique, creative and damaged soul, that there were no such things as 'dry' facts. His is a darn good story, no matter how it's told.
On the plus side, this is a well-researched book about the fascinating personal and professional life of the brilliant comedian. It provides very good detail of his troubled childhood on the wrong side of the tracks in Peoria, a large chunk of his childhood spent living in his grandmother's brothel, and being physically and emotionally beaten by the people who raised him. The last few chapters also give good detail concerning Pryor's richest creative period, leading up to 1979's 'Richard Pryor: Live in Concert.'
On the downside, Saul goes into great detail, but little depth, rarely putting Pryor's life in career into any real perspective. And between the first few and last few chapters, the book suffers from stale storytelling: this happened, then that happened, then this happened, etc... The book would have been much more interesting if he had spent more time recording the memories and thoughts of Pryor's rich tapestry of friends, family and collaborators, instead of recording a series of dry facts.
In the end, though, Pryor was such a unique, creative and damaged soul, that there were no such things as 'dry' facts. His is a darn good story, no matter how it's told.
November 2, 2015
As a Peorian in my mid/late 30s, Richard Pryor held a special place in my local lore growing up, even though I mostly knew him from his post-1980 work (Superman III, Brewster's Millions, The Toy, See No Evil/Hear No Evil, etc.). I knew Richard was a revolutionary, incendiary, self-destructive comic (oddly, not unlike fellow Peorian Sam Kinison... must be something in the water), but I had little first-hand evidence of this. That's because Richard suffered a (chemically aided) heart attack in 1980 and played it relatively safe after that, until his slow decline from multiple sclerosis. Which is what makes this book such a treasure, such a great window into his truly audacious genius in the 1960's and 1970's. Richard broke out of Bill Cosby's shadow, as well as his troubled upbringing by his grandmother and abusive father in a Peoria brothel, to create new forms of comedy that may never have been conceived without his twisted vision and devotion to shock. A great book about a great (though not good) man.
December 19, 2015
I was a fan of Richard Pryor before, but this book opens up a new light on him. This was personal, raw, and hard to read at times. It was whiplash going from one way to the other. The people in his life that affected him so much. Goodness him talking about his birth mom was heartbreaking. His dad is an abuser. Point blank. It's not another word for it. I cried, and laughed simultaneously. I'm so happy I decided to read this. It was a very good book. Very enlightening on one of my favorite comedians ever!
July 18, 2016
I don't typical read biographies, and reading ~500 pages about the life of Richard Pryor seemed like a daunting task. It took me a ridiculously long time to finish this god-forsaken book. That said, this was a pretty fantastic biography and it was marvelously constructed. By the end, I felt like I knew RP personally. And I can't think of a better subject to help ease me into the world of nonfiction.
February 20, 2015
I was waiting for this book without even knowing it was in the works. I'm so glad Pryor finally got the biographer he deserves!
April 22, 2015
Loved it. Fascinating portrait of a flawed genius. Must read for any fan of the man.
November 2, 2017
This was a hard book to get through. I knew from his stand up routines that he had a rough childhood but not until this biography did I grasp just how absolutely awful it had been. His life continued to be horrible into his adulthood. Sure, he had fame and wealth after a certain point, but nothing that could temper the demons within him.
Props to the author for the massive & thorough research he did for this book. I mean, geez, almost 100 pages of endnotes. He put in his homework and it shows. Sometimes it was a bit too much - like I was reading a textbook as opposed to a celebrity biography. Saul certainly gives Pryor a serious respect by detailing and analyzing his life & career so well. I wished that he had not always had such a detached view when narrating certain parts. I think some behaviors you should not try to maintain complete objectivity. Sometimes you need to judge the actions.
The abuse and neglect that Pryor doled out to his wives and kids was nothing short of monstrous. Yet I got the impression from Saul that it was no biggie in the grand scheme of things. Yes, Pryor was a brilliant comedian and influenced an entire generation of comedians. The man is funny, really funny. His comedy is now somewhat tainted to me, after reading about his personal behaviors. That is a drag.
I guess his 7 kids should consider themselves lucky that Richard neglected them so much. It is preferable to what he did to his wives. Two abusive incidents really stood out to me. In one, his second wife was at the hospital, having just given birth to her first child. What a joyful, momentous occasion that is! She is waiting for Pryor to come pick her & the baby up & bring them home. She waits & waits. Imagine how horrible she felt. The nurses asking her if someone was coming to get her. The excitement of bringing her baby home overshadowed by worry and anger. Is Richard off on a bender somewhere? Is he lying dead in the gutter? She takes a cab home, finally, and when she walks into her bedroom at home there is Richard having sex with another woman. In their marital bed. And not just a random stranger, but the housekeeper. A woman I assume his wife hired, a woman his wife deals with on a daily basis, most likely friendly with. A woman who knew Richard's wife was in the hospital with her newborn. What a double betrayal. And when she gets upset, Richard hits her. Wow.
The second incident that stood out to me was one involving his third wife. Richard got mad at her for some random reason and hit her in the face with a bottle of alcohol, breaking her nose. She runs - in shock & in fear - to the bathroom where she locks the door. Richard then gets an axe and proceeds to chop the door down. JUST LIKE THAT SCENE IN THE SHINING. Yes, that iconic, frightening scene with Jack Nicholson. It happened in real life to this woman. Once he is inside the bathroom he starts strangling her. Pryor only stops because he has over-exerted himself and begins vomiting. She manages to escape at that point.
There are so many disturbing incidents like this scattered throughout the book. The story about Pryor's father's death is another terrible one. He had a heart attack while raping his 13 year old daughter. Not only that, but having a threesome with her & a prostitute. WOW. It is beyond comprehension, what that girl went through. She must have been messed up sexually for life. At the father's funeral, Richard's aunt says to him "Well, at least he didn't fuck you too" when Richard is talking about his father's abuses to him over the years. Whoa, what? So the aunt knew about the molestation but did nothing? Who else was the man raping? That is a good example of how twisted Pryors entire family was.
For me at least, the multiple, endless stories of Pryor's sociopathic behaviors end up overshadowing any events in his career.
Props to the author for the massive & thorough research he did for this book. I mean, geez, almost 100 pages of endnotes. He put in his homework and it shows. Sometimes it was a bit too much - like I was reading a textbook as opposed to a celebrity biography. Saul certainly gives Pryor a serious respect by detailing and analyzing his life & career so well. I wished that he had not always had such a detached view when narrating certain parts. I think some behaviors you should not try to maintain complete objectivity. Sometimes you need to judge the actions.
The abuse and neglect that Pryor doled out to his wives and kids was nothing short of monstrous. Yet I got the impression from Saul that it was no biggie in the grand scheme of things. Yes, Pryor was a brilliant comedian and influenced an entire generation of comedians. The man is funny, really funny. His comedy is now somewhat tainted to me, after reading about his personal behaviors. That is a drag.
I guess his 7 kids should consider themselves lucky that Richard neglected them so much. It is preferable to what he did to his wives. Two abusive incidents really stood out to me. In one, his second wife was at the hospital, having just given birth to her first child. What a joyful, momentous occasion that is! She is waiting for Pryor to come pick her & the baby up & bring them home. She waits & waits. Imagine how horrible she felt. The nurses asking her if someone was coming to get her. The excitement of bringing her baby home overshadowed by worry and anger. Is Richard off on a bender somewhere? Is he lying dead in the gutter? She takes a cab home, finally, and when she walks into her bedroom at home there is Richard having sex with another woman. In their marital bed. And not just a random stranger, but the housekeeper. A woman I assume his wife hired, a woman his wife deals with on a daily basis, most likely friendly with. A woman who knew Richard's wife was in the hospital with her newborn. What a double betrayal. And when she gets upset, Richard hits her. Wow.
The second incident that stood out to me was one involving his third wife. Richard got mad at her for some random reason and hit her in the face with a bottle of alcohol, breaking her nose. She runs - in shock & in fear - to the bathroom where she locks the door. Richard then gets an axe and proceeds to chop the door down. JUST LIKE THAT SCENE IN THE SHINING. Yes, that iconic, frightening scene with Jack Nicholson. It happened in real life to this woman. Once he is inside the bathroom he starts strangling her. Pryor only stops because he has over-exerted himself and begins vomiting. She manages to escape at that point.
There are so many disturbing incidents like this scattered throughout the book. The story about Pryor's father's death is another terrible one. He had a heart attack while raping his 13 year old daughter. Not only that, but having a threesome with her & a prostitute. WOW. It is beyond comprehension, what that girl went through. She must have been messed up sexually for life. At the father's funeral, Richard's aunt says to him "Well, at least he didn't fuck you too" when Richard is talking about his father's abuses to him over the years. Whoa, what? So the aunt knew about the molestation but did nothing? Who else was the man raping? That is a good example of how twisted Pryors entire family was.
For me at least, the multiple, endless stories of Pryor's sociopathic behaviors end up overshadowing any events in his career.
February 26, 2017
A thorough biography which unfortunately ends with Pryor's infamous incident setting himself on fire. The author marks this as the end of Pryor's period of true genius and it's hard to disagree. One still wants a more complete finish to the story of such a troubled life, so not a five star book. Pryor fans beware, for this account doesn't prettify anything about a violent, unhappy man who damaged every woman he was involved with. It will be hard to watch his work with the same pleasure after coming to grips with how horrible he often was in his actual life. The humane sensibility that made his work such a pleasure was absent in his dealings with women, replaced by a brutal pimp's contempt. He dumped and betrayed loyal business partners, and was largely a monster of selfishness and self-indulgence. The book shows why this was true (his terrible childhood and family), but it doesn't make the truth any less powerfully contradictory of the human depth he portrayed in his work. Saddening, and a little sickening.
November 14, 2017
The author often talked about the genius of Pryor's comedy but provided few examples for readers unfamiliar with Pryor's work. The examples he did provide didn't translate well to the written word. But he did provide enough information to make me realize Richard Pryor was a very damaged person who treated others badly.
September 24, 2018
a decent biography about the rise of one of the greatest comics to ever live. His tortured and abusive childhood gave birth to his amazing stand-ups but the toll on his life was quite present. He never was comfortable in his skin and it does him in as all demons usually does.
March 7, 2020
The story of Richard Pryor was funny and sad. I would recommend this book anyone who's a Richard Pryor fan.
January 14, 2021
A very interesting book about a very complicated and funny man
October 31, 2021
Truly a book titled correctly. It speaks to his becoming the comedian and a man in his own right so to speak.
January 2, 2022
It was really good but I'll never read it again because of the graphic descriptions of domestic violence.
October 25, 2022
Decent but a lot of time was spent on people who lived on the periphery of Richard Pryor's life that are not integral in his life story.
December 10, 2014
√ A Tragic Life from Sad Beginnings
This review is from: Becoming Richard Pryor (Hardcover)
BECOMING RICHARD PRYOR is an extensive, well-researched look at the life of Richard Pryor. In fact, the author notes that he actually interviewed hundreds of people for this book. Much of the narrative involves Richard's grandmother Marie, who actually was part of the prostitution family business, which influenced much of Pryor's early childhood: "She may have been a madam but she was also a mother who took care of her family, and a church going woman."
I found BECOMING RICHARD PRYOR a very sad read. It is difficult for me to even imagine the disastrous upbringing that he experienced. Sadly, Richard experienced lots of beatings--especially from his father: "His father would brag, 'my son never cries when I whoop him.' But there was a simple explanation for that. One punch from Buck and Richard was out."
One bright spot was when the young Richard found a helpful teacher at the local community center. She gave him some acting roles, and encouraged him in many practical ways. Another light-hearted section was where the author recounts one practical joke that Richard played on his drama teacher. The nice (but naive) teacher wanted the group to go on a field trip into town--to see what would happen to them if they didn't study hard. It was like a "Show and Tell" day. Young Richard had an inspired thought--he guided the kids on a "shortcut" down the alley, right in front of the brothels that he knew so well, from the family business. As the kids passed by, the ladies were all looking out the windows, waving at the kids. They even invited the kids inside for lemonade. Later, the teacher remarked how well behaved and nice those women were.
One of the most horrible parts of Richard Pryor's life was the well-known account where he was playing with fire and wanted to see if he could set himself on fire--which of course he did. Pryor ran down the street, burning, with police in chase trying to help him. Pryor was just yelling to the police that if he were to stop he would die. I found this account to be horrific beyond belief.
Other sad events in his life: Besides doing very poorly at school, Richard's stint in the Army also did not go very well. He was booted out--he did not even make a good plumber in the army. And finally, Richard Pryor in 1986 was diagnosed with "MS," or multiple sclerosis.
√ All in all, BECOMING RICHARD PRYOR is a sad, bittersweet tale of a man who escaped a miserable upbringing, and managed to climb to the height of his profession. I found the story to be a sobering, tragic account. Formatting note: At the end of the book the author includes an extensive notes section to support his various comments in the chapters
♫ A Review by Chris Lawson
This review is from: Becoming Richard Pryor (Hardcover)
BECOMING RICHARD PRYOR is an extensive, well-researched look at the life of Richard Pryor. In fact, the author notes that he actually interviewed hundreds of people for this book. Much of the narrative involves Richard's grandmother Marie, who actually was part of the prostitution family business, which influenced much of Pryor's early childhood: "She may have been a madam but she was also a mother who took care of her family, and a church going woman."
I found BECOMING RICHARD PRYOR a very sad read. It is difficult for me to even imagine the disastrous upbringing that he experienced. Sadly, Richard experienced lots of beatings--especially from his father: "His father would brag, 'my son never cries when I whoop him.' But there was a simple explanation for that. One punch from Buck and Richard was out."
One bright spot was when the young Richard found a helpful teacher at the local community center. She gave him some acting roles, and encouraged him in many practical ways. Another light-hearted section was where the author recounts one practical joke that Richard played on his drama teacher. The nice (but naive) teacher wanted the group to go on a field trip into town--to see what would happen to them if they didn't study hard. It was like a "Show and Tell" day. Young Richard had an inspired thought--he guided the kids on a "shortcut" down the alley, right in front of the brothels that he knew so well, from the family business. As the kids passed by, the ladies were all looking out the windows, waving at the kids. They even invited the kids inside for lemonade. Later, the teacher remarked how well behaved and nice those women were.
One of the most horrible parts of Richard Pryor's life was the well-known account where he was playing with fire and wanted to see if he could set himself on fire--which of course he did. Pryor ran down the street, burning, with police in chase trying to help him. Pryor was just yelling to the police that if he were to stop he would die. I found this account to be horrific beyond belief.
Other sad events in his life: Besides doing very poorly at school, Richard's stint in the Army also did not go very well. He was booted out--he did not even make a good plumber in the army. And finally, Richard Pryor in 1986 was diagnosed with "MS," or multiple sclerosis.
√ All in all, BECOMING RICHARD PRYOR is a sad, bittersweet tale of a man who escaped a miserable upbringing, and managed to climb to the height of his profession. I found the story to be a sobering, tragic account. Formatting note: At the end of the book the author includes an extensive notes section to support his various comments in the chapters
♫ A Review by Chris Lawson
December 7, 2015
Ten years after Pryor's death, we now have a biography worthy of him, and one that incorporates all the contradictory aspects of his personality and career. It is also an honest and direct examination of Pryor's failings, particularly his relationships, his rage, and his insecurity, which fueled his addictions.
In order to write such a biography, Saul conducted an impressive amount of research, delving into obscure recordings and interviewing dozens of people involved with Pryor. The story details some of the legends surrounding Pryor's upbringing (the childhood spent around brothels, the violence Pryor encountered at home and in the streets of Peoria) and his tendency to undermine his own success, either through anxiety, anger, or stubbornness.
A good biography should emphasize not just the highlights of the subject's life (the factors that interest one in reading a person's biography in the first place), but convey the facets of the subject's personality, so that one feels closer to understanding the subject as an actual person. Saul tackles that task without glorifying Pryor or wallowing in the sordid details of his life (of which there are many). If anything, one ends up admiring Pryor in spite of his faults, which is not an outcome I expected before reading this.
Saul also incorporates critical evaluations of Pryor's films and television appearances, providing a useful overview of the occasions when Pryor's instincts were groundbreaking, and when his creativity was subsumed by commercial interests and/or network censorship. Saul skips over the weaker films of Pryor's later career, choosing to taper off circa 1981's "Bustin' Loose," and the reader may agree with Saul that much of Pryor's later film work does not merit extensive analysis.
I was most intrigued by the discussion of the work Pryor did on network television before he achieved celebrity status. Saul explains how Pryor bargained for his creative freedom and the many aspects of Pryor's television work that was truly innovative. This is an important aspect of Pryor's career that is often neglected in favor of his work in film and stand-up, and it is refreshing to see it discussed in such detail here.
This is not a "complete" biography, in the sense that Saul does not extensively discuss the last 20 years of Pryor's life. But by the conclusion of this book, one will have reached an understanding of Pryor that no other work has provided. The honesty, depth, and level of detail that Saul has provided on Pryor's life is valuable, and reflects the complexity of an artist's personality.
In order to write such a biography, Saul conducted an impressive amount of research, delving into obscure recordings and interviewing dozens of people involved with Pryor. The story details some of the legends surrounding Pryor's upbringing (the childhood spent around brothels, the violence Pryor encountered at home and in the streets of Peoria) and his tendency to undermine his own success, either through anxiety, anger, or stubbornness.
A good biography should emphasize not just the highlights of the subject's life (the factors that interest one in reading a person's biography in the first place), but convey the facets of the subject's personality, so that one feels closer to understanding the subject as an actual person. Saul tackles that task without glorifying Pryor or wallowing in the sordid details of his life (of which there are many). If anything, one ends up admiring Pryor in spite of his faults, which is not an outcome I expected before reading this.
Saul also incorporates critical evaluations of Pryor's films and television appearances, providing a useful overview of the occasions when Pryor's instincts were groundbreaking, and when his creativity was subsumed by commercial interests and/or network censorship. Saul skips over the weaker films of Pryor's later career, choosing to taper off circa 1981's "Bustin' Loose," and the reader may agree with Saul that much of Pryor's later film work does not merit extensive analysis.
I was most intrigued by the discussion of the work Pryor did on network television before he achieved celebrity status. Saul explains how Pryor bargained for his creative freedom and the many aspects of Pryor's television work that was truly innovative. This is an important aspect of Pryor's career that is often neglected in favor of his work in film and stand-up, and it is refreshing to see it discussed in such detail here.
This is not a "complete" biography, in the sense that Saul does not extensively discuss the last 20 years of Pryor's life. But by the conclusion of this book, one will have reached an understanding of Pryor that no other work has provided. The honesty, depth, and level of detail that Saul has provided on Pryor's life is valuable, and reflects the complexity of an artist's personality.
February 24, 2017
I loved this book too much to write anything even close to intelligent about it. I read it and my brain gave birth to another brain, and that baby brain exploded.
December 17, 2014
This is far from a standard celebrity bio. Saul has done seven years’ worth of legwork to fill in the gaps in Pryor’s back story, especially his family’s background and his upbringing in Peoria, Ill. There’s no overstating how important that is, since the places and characters of his youth (his indomitable grandmother Marie Carter, his imposing dad, the winos, the whorehouses, the pool halls) made up the foundation of the comedy that made him a star.
Using public records and interviews with friends and family members who had previously been silent, Saul brings alive a formative period that had previously only been sketched out. He also goes deep into the transformative period Pryor spent living in Berkeley in the early ‘70s, a time that had been almost entirely murky in previous tellings of his story.
One very canny move is concluding the book at the end of 1978. This was when Pryor’s stage craft almost certainly reached a pinnacle with the filming of ‘Richard Pryor: Live in Concert,’ and also the time when Pryor’s beloved and feared grandmother died. Her death breaks Pryor’s story in two, as it set him on the tailspin that culminated in his 1980 self-immolation, with which we’re all too familiar. And the fact is, Pryor’s life and work just aren't nearly as interesting after that.
Saul’s writing is a bit clunky at times, but he has a deep understanding of what made Pryor brilliant. And as much as he admires Pryor, Saul doesn't shy away from his almost bottomless dark side, which was manifested in outrageous substance abuse and the gross mistreatment of the most important people in his life.
Most important, though, there has never been this much data about the man’s life in one place before. With last year’s ‘Furious Cool’ by Joe and David Henry -- which was less a biography than a loving, profound appreciation – ‘Becoming Richard Pryor’ gives us the most complete picture we’re likely to ever have of the man his friend Paul Mooney affectionately (and accurately) called “Dark Twain.”
Using public records and interviews with friends and family members who had previously been silent, Saul brings alive a formative period that had previously only been sketched out. He also goes deep into the transformative period Pryor spent living in Berkeley in the early ‘70s, a time that had been almost entirely murky in previous tellings of his story.
One very canny move is concluding the book at the end of 1978. This was when Pryor’s stage craft almost certainly reached a pinnacle with the filming of ‘Richard Pryor: Live in Concert,’ and also the time when Pryor’s beloved and feared grandmother died. Her death breaks Pryor’s story in two, as it set him on the tailspin that culminated in his 1980 self-immolation, with which we’re all too familiar. And the fact is, Pryor’s life and work just aren't nearly as interesting after that.
Saul’s writing is a bit clunky at times, but he has a deep understanding of what made Pryor brilliant. And as much as he admires Pryor, Saul doesn't shy away from his almost bottomless dark side, which was manifested in outrageous substance abuse and the gross mistreatment of the most important people in his life.
Most important, though, there has never been this much data about the man’s life in one place before. With last year’s ‘Furious Cool’ by Joe and David Henry -- which was less a biography than a loving, profound appreciation – ‘Becoming Richard Pryor’ gives us the most complete picture we’re likely to ever have of the man his friend Paul Mooney affectionately (and accurately) called “Dark Twain.”
January 30, 2015
Richard Pryor lead a very complex, very troubled life, and Scott Saul's biography does a good job of not only detailing the intricacies of it, but also explaining why it unfolded the way it did. What I think Mr. Saul excels at here, is developing that story without being preachy or judgmental, which in the case of Pryor it is rather easy to do. After all, the man was anything but politically-correct. That, of course, is why he was such a great comedian, after all.
What I found particularly enlightening was the exposition on the emotional depth and inner intellectual life that Pryor maintained. This was a very intelligent, wise person. Maybe not academically, but in other ways. The biography acknowledges this and paints a portrait of a flawed character, but not one without deep knowledge of those flaws and how they are affecting him and others. It shows that in the midst of turbulent times and all the drug use, the alcohol -- byproducts of the showbiz era Pryor existed in, for sure -- that the comedian was there, paying attention, taking it all in, and using it to fuel his prodigious, influential and legendary creative work.
The writing is not overly wordy or complex. In effect, it's a work of journalism and written almost like a super long magazine piece. It's a lengthy book, but one you might not want to put down. I highly recommend it.
What I found particularly enlightening was the exposition on the emotional depth and inner intellectual life that Pryor maintained. This was a very intelligent, wise person. Maybe not academically, but in other ways. The biography acknowledges this and paints a portrait of a flawed character, but not one without deep knowledge of those flaws and how they are affecting him and others. It shows that in the midst of turbulent times and all the drug use, the alcohol -- byproducts of the showbiz era Pryor existed in, for sure -- that the comedian was there, paying attention, taking it all in, and using it to fuel his prodigious, influential and legendary creative work.
The writing is not overly wordy or complex. In effect, it's a work of journalism and written almost like a super long magazine piece. It's a lengthy book, but one you might not want to put down. I highly recommend it.
November 29, 2015
Becoming Richard Pryor definitely has its strengths: for starters, its subject matter is extremely compelling, and it is well researched and readable. But Scott Saul editorializes a bit too much for my taste, emphasizing over and over again his interpretation of the curves of Pryor's contradictions instead of letting the man's life speak for itself.
Saul isn't a completely unwelcome presence in the text - there are times when his opinions help to contextualize Pryor's art. However, he does use the same gloss to describe most of the major events in Pryor's life, thus making the book a little repetitive, and his eagerness to conflate actual events with cultural criticism leave you with a book that isn't quite a biography and which isn't quite an argument.
Still, Pryor's life was so exceptional that I was willing to tolerate a few authorial quirks in order to learn more about him, and I do feel like I understand the man and his historical importance a lot better now that I've read this book.
Saul isn't a completely unwelcome presence in the text - there are times when his opinions help to contextualize Pryor's art. However, he does use the same gloss to describe most of the major events in Pryor's life, thus making the book a little repetitive, and his eagerness to conflate actual events with cultural criticism leave you with a book that isn't quite a biography and which isn't quite an argument.
Still, Pryor's life was so exceptional that I was willing to tolerate a few authorial quirks in order to learn more about him, and I do feel like I understand the man and his historical importance a lot better now that I've read this book.
November 18, 2015
Book description:
Richard Pryor may have been the most unlikely star in Hollywood history. Raised in his family’s brothels, he grew up an outsider to privilege. He took to the stage, originally, to escape the hard-bitten realities of his childhood, but later came to a reverberating discovery: that by plunging into the depths of his experience, he could make stand-up comedy as exhilarating and harrowing as the life he’d known. He brought that trembling vitality to Hollywood, where his movie career—Blazing Saddles, the buddy comedies with Gene Wilder, Blue Collar—flowed directly out of his spirit of creative improvisation. The major studios considered him dangerous. Audiences felt plugged directly into the socket of life.
My Thoughts:
I truly enjoyed this book. I always been a fan of Richard Pryor. The author did an good job in telling Pryor’s story from childhood until adulthood. The book was well written
Richard Pryor may have been the most unlikely star in Hollywood history. Raised in his family’s brothels, he grew up an outsider to privilege. He took to the stage, originally, to escape the hard-bitten realities of his childhood, but later came to a reverberating discovery: that by plunging into the depths of his experience, he could make stand-up comedy as exhilarating and harrowing as the life he’d known. He brought that trembling vitality to Hollywood, where his movie career—Blazing Saddles, the buddy comedies with Gene Wilder, Blue Collar—flowed directly out of his spirit of creative improvisation. The major studios considered him dangerous. Audiences felt plugged directly into the socket of life.
My Thoughts:
I truly enjoyed this book. I always been a fan of Richard Pryor. The author did an good job in telling Pryor’s story from childhood until adulthood. The book was well written
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