DOG COMMENTARY: Some of the really “top shelf” comedy videos that I post here at ImaSportsphile came from HBO’s On Location Comedy Shows from back in the decade of the 1980’s…..for the 80’s were golden years when it comes to comedy…..including Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, George Carlin, Red Skelton, Jonathan Winters, Steve Martin, Monty Python, Martin…
DOG ASIDE: Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and social critic….who was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues….which employed vulgarities and profanity….along with racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style….and is widely regarded as one…
DOG ASIDE: On Location was a series from HBO that premiered on New Year’s Eve 1975 with a one-hour performance by comedian Robert Klein….which became a source for uncensored stand-up comedy performances from such great comedic talents such as Henny Youngman, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, David Brenner, Redd Foxx, Rich Little, Robin Williams, Phyllis Diller, Shecky Greene, Billy Crystal, George Kirby, Lily Tomlin, Buddy Hackett, Pat Cooper, Freddie Prinze…
DOG COMMENTARY: Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is a 1983 television special that was produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown Records to commemorate Motown’s 25th anniversary after being founded in January of 1958. The program was taped before a live studio audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on March 25, 1983…..and was broadcast…
DOG COMMENTARY: Bone Daddy has literally hundreds of hours of comedy….featuring the funniest comedians and their funniest pieces….but “foul mouthed” or not…..Richard Pryor was as the top of the heap when it came to just making you laugh…..and not just some chuckle….but multiple full blown belly laughs…..you know, the kind that heals the soul….for he…
DOG ASIDE: In 1983, Pryor signed a five-year contract with Columbia Pictures for $40,000,000….and he started his own production company, Indigo Productions. This resulted in the mainstreaming of Pryor’s onscreen persona and softer, more formulaic films like Superman III (1983)….which earned Pryor $4,000,000…. and Brewster’s Millions (1985), Moving (1988) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989).…
DOG ASIDE: In 1969, Pryor moved to Berkeley, California….where he immersed himself in the counterculture and rubbed elbows with the likes of Huey P. Newton and Ishmael Reed. He signed with the comedy-oriented independent record label Laff Records in 1970….and in 1971 recorded his second album Craps (After Hours). Two years later, the relatively unknown comedian…
DOG ASIDE: In 1963, Pryor moved to New York City and began performing regularly in clubs alongside performers such as Bob Dylan and Woody Allen….where on one of his first nights….he opened for singer and pianist Nina Simone at New York’s Village Gate. Simone recalls Pryor’s bout of performance anxiety as follows….”He shook like he had…
DOG ASIDE: Born on December 1, 1940 in Peoria, Illinois….Pryor grew up in his grandmother’s brothel….where his mother, Gertrude L. (Thomas), practiced prostitution. His father, LeRoy “Buck Carter” Pryor (June 7, 1915 – September 27, 1968) was a former boxer and hustler. After his alcoholic mother abandoned him when he was 10….Pryor was raised primarily by his grandmother…