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= RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE IN CONCERT =

Introduction
Richard Pryor: Live In Concert was filmed in Long Beach, California in 1979. This was Pryor’s second stand up performance filmed (IMDB). It features comedian Richard Pryor in an hour and eighteen minute long standup comedy production. He is the lone cast member filmed (excluding the opening entrance with Jennifer Lee Pryor, but she never speaks), however, an opening written message explains Patti LaBelle also performed at the show, but was not featured in the film due to time constraints. Pryor also thanks LaBelle during his set. The film was written by Richard Pryor, and directed by Jedd Margolis. Themes of Pryor’s set included white people vs. black people in various situations, animals, health, discipline, and sex. Historically, Pryor nods at events taking place (in a comedic way), for example police shooting, as well as acknowledging the presence of Huey P. Newton, co- founder of the Black Panther Party, in the audience.

Plot
The film begins with an overhead shot of Long Beach, California. The title credits are displayed as Richard and Jennifer Lee Pryor exit a car and walk into the building. An acknowledgement/ thank you for Patti Labelle’s contribution to the show is displayed, and Pryor takes the stage in front of a roaring crowd. He begins his set by poking fun at the people straggling in from the bathroom or elsewhere to take their seats. He continues to joke about the differences in white and black behavior, and singles out a white man taking pictures in the front. He then verbally thanks Patti LaBelle and compliments her band. From here he moves onto the police topic and talks about his past pets, including dogs and monkeys. He jokes about the heart attack he had and hospital procedures. Pryor interacts a bit with the crowd, then brings up how his father died in the middle of having sex, saying he “came and went at the same time.” He compares black and white again, this time on the topic of funerals, then moves into discipline. He makes a long, descriptive joke about deer hunting, which he acts out on stage, then transitions into the subject of Muhammed Ali and Leon Spinks. He talks about staying in shape, running for you life, swimming, and drowning, then moves into the discipline of his own kids. (Not mentioned in the stand up is how his daughter, Rain, before meeting her father for the first time had “been given to understand that comedy took precedence over fatherhood” and “what’s more, he happened to be a self- destructive, self- absorbed schmuck, and he wasn’t even remotely interested in me” (Pryor, 12), thanks to the stories she’d heard. Pryor then asks to bring the house lights up to introduce Huey P. Newton, though Newton is not actually shown in the film. He rounds out his set with some jokes about Mexicans and the Chinese, and finishes with a big sex and orgasm bang (no pun intended).

Full Cast and Crew
Directed By                Jeff Margolis

Writing Credits           Paul Mooney (uncredited)

Richard Pryor

Cast                            Richard Pryor- Himself

Patti LaBelle- Herself (scenes deleted)

Jennifer Lee Pryor- Herself (uncredited)

Produced By              Saul Barnett, executive producer

                                    Steve Blauner, producer

                                    Jeffrey Chernov, associate producer

                                    Hillard Elkins, producer                       

                                    Del Jack, producer

William Sargent Jr., producer

J. Mark Travis, producer

Cinematography By  Tom Schamp

Film Editing By          Daniel J. Johnson, co- editor

Ken Johnson

Steve Livingston

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Thomas McConnell, associate director

Art Department                 Joe Mast, props

Sound Department            Biff Dawes, sound mixer

Daniel J. Johnson, co- editor

                                    Camera and Electrical Department

Tom Tcimpidis, video controller

                                    Other Crew                Don E. Branker, live event production

Marcelle Garfield, executive production assistant

Carl Hanseman, technical production supervisor

Bill Hopkins, production coordinator

Bill Povonda, production coordinator

Richard Pryor, executive album producer

Rashon, road manager

Rima Risziewicz, assistant to producers

Racial Differences/ Racism/ Black Power
Huey P. Newton’s presence at Pryor's show was a large indicator of Pryor’s ties to Black Power and the Black Panther Party. Although he did so in a comedic way, Pryor addressed real- life issues of racial differences in front of a mixed audience. One of the addressed issues was police treatment of blacks, saying things such as, “Is it okay to break a n*****? Yeah, it’s okay to break a n*****.”

Pryor's comedy draws from the Black Power movement. Although he doesn't directly mention it in this stand up, its roots in the movement are noticeable. For example, in "What We Want," Stokely Carmichael says, "the concept of 'black power' is not a recent or isolated phenomenon: It has grown out of the ferment of agitation and activity by different people and organizations in many black communities over the years." In this sense, Black Pryor is not isolated in Pryor's stand up, but rather intertwined with the jokes, such as those comparing the differences between black and white behaviors. Carmichael also says, "White America will not face the problem of color, the reality of it." Again this is the differences between black and white, as African Americans had to then and continue to now face the color problem every day.

Pryor's relationship to Redd Foxx also influenced his political positions. In "That Nigger's Crazy" Christine Acham says, "Redd Foxx not only gave him the opportunity to experiment with this new material, but also initiated his political awakening. He told Pryor stories about Malcolm X, and Pryor began to feel an affinity to the slain leader." After this introduction, Pryor began to learn more about Malcolm X, during a time where his focus was more on the politics rather than a public comedy career. "He was inspired by Angela Davis, Ishmael Reed, Claude Brown, and the Black Panther Party and began to look toward his roots to inspire his comedy" (Acham, 146).

Sexuality/ Gender?
Pryor makes a rape joke about “lock up vaginas," how women should be able to essentially close them off if they're being raped. Out of context/ today’s views would probably find this particular joke very offensive, but at the time, it was all in good humor. His point wasn't about glorifying rape, but rather really giving women a way to protect themselves against it. The end of Pryor's set is all about differences between men and women having sex and experiencing orgasm.

Similar to other Blaxploitation films, sexuality plays a central role in pieces of Pryor's comedy. In this particular stand up, the focus isn't necessarily on the male having to essentially overpower the female, but rather the sexual differences between the genders. The male power in this case is basically the fact that he is a sexual being and has the ability to enjoy sex and joke about it at the expense of either himself or the woman.

How the film fits into the Blaxploitation genre
The question is does it actually fit into this genre? Yes, in the sense that Pryor uses his style to make self- deprecating jokes at the expense of himself and other African Americans. He is also entertaining both black and white audiences as Blaxploitation films also did. He also includes elements of Black Power in his work, as stated above. However, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert is a comedy documentary film. Although it contains some Blaxploitation elements, it does not neatly fit all the way into this genre. It also isn't ranked on top Blaxploitation film lists such as complex.com 's "50 Best Blaxploitation Movies." However, another film Pryor stars in, The Mack (1973), is listed as #1.

Other Works By Pryor
i.     Richard Pryor: Live and Smoking (1971)

ii. Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982)

iii. Richard Pryor… Here and Now (1983)

Movies Starring Pryor
i.     The Busy Body (1967)

ii. Wild in the Streets (1968)

iii. The Green Berets, The Phynx (1970)

iv. You’ve Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You’ll Lose That Beat (1971)

v.     Dynamite Chicken (1972)

vi. Silver Streak (1976)

Drug Use
Joking about his drug use was part of Pryor's self- effacing style of comedy, as he references it in Richard Pryor: Live In Concert as well as Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip. Pryor freebased cocaine in the 1970's and 1980's; he set himself on fire in 1980, but his drug use continued afterward.

Marriage
Pryor was married seven times to five different women. The first was Patricia Price, whom he married in 1960 and divorced in 1961. Price was followed by Shelley Bonus (1967- 1969), Deborah McGuire (1977-1978), Jennifer Lee (1981- 1982, remarried 2001- Pryor's death), and Flynn Belaine (1986- 1987, remarried 1990-1991).