1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,319 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:21,760 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. This is a story about 4 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 1: a child raised in a brothel who went on to 5 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: become one of the biggest stars in the world. It's 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: about a stabbing, a shootout, a drug bust. It's about 7 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: a man on fire. This is a story about Richard Pryor, 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: a comedian who made some of the funniest films of 9 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: all time, A man who played his role on stage 10 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: as a stand up like a great musician would play 11 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 1: his instrument. And great musicians, of course, make great music. 12 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:53,520 Speaker 1: Unlike that music I played for you at the top 13 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a 14 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called this Man's on Fire MK. 15 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 2: Two. 16 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 17 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: rights to Funky Town by Lips Incorporated. And why would 18 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of puffy parted cheese. 19 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 20 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 1: song in America on June ninth, nineteen eighty and that 21 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: was the day that Richard Pryor nearly died after he 22 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: set himself on fire, winding up in the hospital covered 23 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: in third degree burns. On this episode stabbing. 24 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 2: Shooting, Burnie freebasing and one of the greatest to ever 25 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 2: do it, Richard Pryor. I'm Jake Brennan and this this 26 00:01:43,680 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 2: disgrace Sland. 27 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor was in pain. Most of his body was burned, 28 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: the worst of it the third degree burns. There were 29 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: on his chest, his back, his arms, his neck, and 30 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: his face. They oozed pus and blood. The doc gave 31 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: him a one to three chance of survival, and if 32 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: he did survive, Richard Pryor would have to face something 33 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,239 Speaker 1: else besides the pain. He would have to face the fear, 34 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: the fear that after years of searching from Peoria to Germany, 35 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: Youngstown to Pittsburgh, Vegas, to Berkeley in New York to 36 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: Los Angeles, he had finally found him, the real Richard Pryor, 37 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: and that guy scared the shit out of him. They 38 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: all said that Richard Pryor was fearless, that he was 39 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 1: a pioneer when he came to what could be said 40 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: on stage or what could be written for the screen. 41 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: That after the paradigm shift ushered in by groundbreaking black 42 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: comedians including Dick Gregory and Bill Cosby. Richard Pryor was 43 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: a new kind of comic for a new age. But 44 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 1: even Richard Pryor knew that there was a fine line 45 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: between being fearless and being incapable of living in moderation. 46 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 1: And being incapable of moderation was what got him here, 47 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: covered in third degree burns, fearing that the real Richard 48 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: Pryor was about to be revealed to the world. That 49 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: guy the real hymn, he stepped right out of a 50 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,639 Speaker 1: wall at Richard's home. He stood there in his underwear, 51 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: looking at Richard, looking back at him like a reflection 52 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: in a mirror, and then he said he was the devil, 53 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: which meant they were both the devil, since Richard and 54 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: this thing were one and the same. Are you really me? 55 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: Richard asked him, just to make sure, yes, I am you, 56 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: it replied, and then it disappeared back into the wall. 57 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: At first, Richard wrote it off as the state of 58 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: his mind. It was just a hallucination, paranoia. Night was 59 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: day up was down, and there were no friends and 60 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: family anymore, just people in the walls and on the 61 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: other side of the windows. Out to steal his money 62 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: and maybe even his mind. That was one hundred percent 63 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: the cocaine talking. And I don't mean a couple of 64 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: lines shared at some chic industry party. I'm talking rocks 65 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 1: of pure coke heated up with a big lighter until 66 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: the vapors start to rise and you just breathe in deep. 67 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: I'm talking freebase, just like Dirty Dick tott him. Dirty 68 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:25,599 Speaker 1: Dick had been dealing Richard the good shit for years 69 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: and hadn't steered him wrong yet. So Richard steered himself 70 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: right into an empty room and locked the door behind him. 71 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,280 Speaker 1: Fucked out of the guy in the wall. Richard hit 72 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: the pipe and didn't stop. The binge lasted for what 73 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: two three days. He dipped the cotton swab and rum 74 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: and lit it with his lighter. This was his torch. 75 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: He didn't want to use an actual lighter to heat 76 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: up the pipe, or else you'd be inhaling lighter fluid. 77 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: The rum made it less toxic. Thus was the logic 78 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: of a junkie in the throws of addiction. But this 79 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: rum was one hundred and fifty one proof, and Richard 80 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:03,280 Speaker 1: Pryor was capitalized. Fucked fucked up, that is, before long 81 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: the rum was everywhere, it was all over him, and 82 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: all it took was one flick of that big letter, 83 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: one spark for it all to go out in the flames. 84 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor literally set himself on fire, just like that 85 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: monk did protesting the Vietnam War. But Richard Pryor was 86 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: no monk Jack. Richard Pryor didn't abstain. He indulged in everything. 87 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: Pussy booze, cocaine, cocaine. Man, That shit be fucking with you. 88 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: That shit brought on an entirely different person when you 89 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: were on it, or maybe it was the person you 90 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: truly were on the inside that finally emerged, like that 91 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: apparition from inside the wall, the person you hid from 92 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: everyone else. And as much as you want to deny it, 93 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: that person is real. But just what was real? Peoria 94 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: was real? If it played in Peoria, I could play anywhere, 95 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: or so that old vaudeville same way. They called Peoria 96 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,280 Speaker 1: the model city. But as rich Pryor himself said later 97 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,840 Speaker 1: in his stand up act, the ones calling his hometown 98 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: the model city were the ones keeping Peoria's black residence 99 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: in their place. In the nineteen forties, and nineteen fifties. 100 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: That place was light years from the bullshit family life 101 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: that played out on Father Knows Best. Sitcoms like that 102 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: were science fiction. Over on North Washington Street, in the 103 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: black part of town, Peoria was populated with pimps, drunks, bootleggers, 104 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:30,160 Speaker 1: and sex workers. Richard's grandfather owned the local pool hall, 105 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: his grandmother ran the town brothel. His own mother worked 106 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: at the brothel. And so as a kid, Richard Pryor 107 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: saw some shit. He saw a baby in a shoe 108 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: box deader than a motherfucker. He saw a man who 109 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: lost a knife fight struggling to push his guts back 110 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: into his stomach. He saw his own mother in bed 111 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: with a john. He also saw his mother get hit 112 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: by his father, and that only happened twice. After the 113 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: first time, she told him, Okay, motherfucker, don't hit me 114 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: no more, and after the second time, she didn't need 115 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: her words. She took one look at Richard's father standing 116 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:04,360 Speaker 1: in front of her poop bearing it, wearing nothing but 117 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:06,479 Speaker 1: a T shirt and underwear, and she swung her long 118 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: fingernails at his crotch. Richard's father screamed, blood ran down 119 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: his leg. She ripped his nutsack right open. Yes, that 120 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: actually happened. Look it up in Richard Pryor's Peoria. This 121 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: is how you handled your shit. You did it fast 122 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: and maybe with your fingernails, even better with a knife 123 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: or a gun. When some guy talked shit to Richard's 124 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: grandfather and the family tavern, a place called the Famous Door, 125 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: Richard's father drew a pistol and emptied every last round 126 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: into his ass, and that motherfucker hit the floor, bleeding 127 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: and screaming. But he wasn't dead. He dragged his bullet 128 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: written body across the floor, pulled out a knife and 129 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: sliced Richard's father right across his leg. And between that 130 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: and the torn nutsack, dude was good and fucked up 131 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. And that wasn't the 132 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: life Richard wanted to live. Though work, you're asked to 133 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: the bone in the pool hall and the cat house 134 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: or the slaughterhouse every day, only to get shot up 135 00:07:58,320 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: when you were busy trying to get fucked up at 136 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: the end of a long night. Fuck that. He joined 137 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: the army and he get the hell out of Puria. 138 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: But even in the service, even in Germany, in Europe, 139 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: where the world was supposed to be enlightened and free, 140 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: shit was still the same one hundred and fifty bars 141 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:19,679 Speaker 1: in Kaiserslat and only three of them allowed black people 142 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: to walk through the door. And that shit surprised him. 143 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: What didn't surprise him was that when his unit was 144 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: taking in some rn R and watching a melodrama about 145 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: race and class in America, one of his fellow soldiers, 146 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,439 Speaker 1: a white guy, laughed a little too hard at the 147 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: wrong part, and why you could take Richard out of Peoria, 148 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: you sure as hell couldn't take Peoria out of Richard. 149 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: Richard pulled a switchblade. He stuck it in the white 150 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: soldier's back deep, and then he pulled it out, and 151 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: the blade glistened with blood, and Richard stabbed him again 152 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: and again and again. He stabbed that dude six or 153 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: seven times, each time, hoping it would be the final 154 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: blow and that this backwoods pack ahead honky would just 155 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: fucking die. But just like the guy Richard's father shot 156 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: back in the whorehouse in Puria, this kid lived, and 157 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: they tossed Richard in a jail cell. He spent his 158 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: final days as an enlisted man on a cold cement 159 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: floor he received the mercy of a base commander more 160 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: concerned with his own retirement than actually dealing with Richard's 161 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: mutinous ass. And then he received an early discharge and 162 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: he was shipped back home. It was the first time 163 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor cheated death, but it wouldn't be the last. 164 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor was a born performer. He'd been putting on 165 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: a show since he was just a kid, and ever 166 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: since he was a kid, there was incentive to perform. First, 167 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: it was the reward, the performance itself. His elementary school 168 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: teacher cut him a deal. If he could actually get 169 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: to school on time every day, then each Friday afternoon 170 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: he could perform a stand up set in front of 171 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 1: the class. The next incentive was laughter. Tasted sweet like revenge, 172 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: but you could get it without violence. And now, in 173 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven, at twenty six years old, the incentive 174 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: for Richard Pryor was money. Get on stage, say something funny, 175 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: make him laugh, get paid, and get the fuck out. 176 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: Didn't matter if Richard's stand up at the time was 177 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 1: a faint echo of Bill Cosby's shick, he got paid, 178 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: didn't He But as much of a born performer as 179 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:40,200 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor was as much as he learned on the 180 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: stage as a Greenwich village and beyond. It was always 181 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,199 Speaker 1: that occasional tough crowd, like the one at the United 182 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 1: States Customs on the Mexican border. The customs agent didn't 183 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: have a laugh or a smile, or he didn't say shit. 184 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 1: That dude just looked at Richard from behind his ray bands, 185 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: one long look as Richard slowly inched his car closer 186 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 1: and to the checkpoint. And there was no turning around, now, 187 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: no take backs. Richard was in this and he was fucked. 188 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: He pulled up to the checkpoint and applied the brake, 189 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: and the agent got close, craned his neck to look 190 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: in the back of the car. What were you doing 191 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: in Mexico? Just visiting, seeing the sights? It was good, 192 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: real good movie bueno. Richard didn't say anything about the 193 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: Tijuana brothel he visited her, the women he focked, or 194 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: the tequila that flowed like an honorary body fluid. And 195 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: the agent kept on with that long look, and then 196 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: he pointed to an area off to the side pull over. 197 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:36,199 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor had been in Tijuana because he was running away, 198 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: not unlike he had run away from Peoria to the 199 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: army all those years ago, but now he was running 200 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: from responsibility. His girlfriend was nine months pregnant, and she 201 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: wanted Richard to commit. She wanted Richard to settle down 202 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: and start a family. He'd already done that once before, 203 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: didn't end well. He didn't feel like doing it again, 204 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: not right now. So instead, Richard jumped at a car 205 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,120 Speaker 1: and just drove. Getting over theer was easy enough. Coming back. 206 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: There's another thing, altogether. There wasn't a joke or a 207 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: well rehearsed routine that was going to get him out 208 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: of having his car searched. He didn't even try it. 209 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: The customers agent poked around and found a little grass, 210 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:16,080 Speaker 1: all right, that was Richard's fault. He should have smoked 211 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:18,080 Speaker 1: the rest of it before he hit the road, and 212 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: the agent examined it with his eyes and decided it 213 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: was an ounce. An ounce, damn, there was barely enough 214 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: to roll a joint an ounce his ass. Running away 215 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: from his problems was proven to be a lesson brilliant 216 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: plan for Richard Pryor. Thankfully, business was booming. He was 217 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 1: making that money, so his wallet was fat that he 218 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: could afford to pay his own baill, So maybe nineteen 219 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: sixty seven would be alright after all. Nineteen sixty seven 220 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: was the year Richard met Paul Mooney, the man who 221 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,119 Speaker 1: would become his co writer and one of his closest friends. 222 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: It was also the year he met Dirty Dick, the 223 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: dealer with the top shelf stuff, the cocaine that Richard 224 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: was dishing out one two hundred dollars a day for 225 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: the Nineteen sixty seven was also of the year that 226 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: he had the epiphany. It happened in Vegas. Dean Martin 227 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:06,839 Speaker 1: and those other rap pack dudes half drunk, laughing in 228 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 1: the audience. Richard up on stage, telling jokes, getting last 229 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: getting paid. He had an appearance on Ed Sullivan to 230 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: thank for this opportunity, or maybe it was the Carson Show, 231 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: but he knew it was all in act. Literally. The 232 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: more he went through the motions, the more jokes didn't 233 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: resonate with him. They weren't about his life. What was 234 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,480 Speaker 1: the people said, write what you know, Richard Pryor was 235 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: it writing what he knew? And what did he know? 236 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: He knew Peoria, He knew junkies and drunks, pimps, and pushers. 237 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: He knew sex, he knew pain, and he knew what 238 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 1: it was like to be a black man navigating a 239 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: world of ignorance and fear. The lights on the Vegas 240 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: stage were bright, and they burned into his eyeballs, and 241 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,960 Speaker 1: they flooded his peripheral vision. Soon all I could see 242 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: was the blinding light. It's talking dead in his tracks. 243 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: Must have looked like a goddamn idiot just standing there. 244 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 1: The hell am I doing here? He realized after the 245 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: fact that he had actually said that line out loud. 246 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: It was a rhetorical question. He already knew the answer. 247 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:07,960 Speaker 1: He turned around and walked off the stage. They told 248 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: him he'd never work in Vegas again, and you know what, 249 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: that was just fucking fine with him. He didn't want 250 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,200 Speaker 1: to be that guy. He wanted to be Richard pryor 251 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,440 Speaker 1: the real Richard Pryor. They weren't gonna believe their ears. 252 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: He would shock them, He would make them piss themselves, 253 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: laughing until their slacks were soaked, and not just because 254 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: what he said was funnier, because it was provocative, but 255 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: because it was real, Just like Miles, Miles, Davis did 256 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: whatever the hell he wanted but whatever the hell Miles 257 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 1: Davis wanted to do was one hundred percent the opposite 258 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: of what everyone else wanted him to do. You think 259 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: Columbia Records wanted Miles Davis doing when he did, no 260 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: fucking way, man, But Miles did Miles period, no two 261 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: ways around him. And when Miles Davis and Richard Pryor 262 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,120 Speaker 1: did some shows together in New York City, Miles flipped 263 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: the script. Those shows weren't your typical shows with a 264 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,080 Speaker 1: comic warming up the crowd before the musician took the 265 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: stage for a headlining set. Miles told Richard, hey man, 266 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: I opened for you. And that was far out. That 267 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: was Miles Davis giving Richard Pryor his blessing. That was 268 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: Miles saying, I see what you're doing, I hear you, 269 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,520 Speaker 1: I feel you. But just as Richard Pryor's realness was 270 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: having a profound effect on his career and on the 271 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,960 Speaker 1: evolution of American comedy, it was making everything else in 272 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: his life worse. Every year was some new bullshit. He 273 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 1: was arrested again for getting in a fight with the 274 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:26,720 Speaker 1: guy working at the desk at his apartment building. That 275 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: dude ensued Richard for seventy five thousand dollars and won. 276 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: And then there were the girlfriends and the ex girlfriends, 277 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: and the wives and the ex wives. They were piling up. 278 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: Some were coming after Richard for child support, some were 279 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: coming for blood, Some were the lawyered up, some had warrants. 280 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,239 Speaker 1: And as the nineteen sixties turned into the nineteen seventies, 281 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor was a wanted man. But Richard Pryor wanted 282 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: something else. He wanted to do more cocaine. He wanted 283 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: to get drunk. He wanted to fuck. He wanted to 284 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 1: unpack all the dark corners of his life, all those junkies, pimps, 285 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: and scary family members of his past, his grandmother, his mom, 286 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:04,440 Speaker 1: all the dope he was doing, and the sex he 287 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: was happy, get it all out of his head, get 288 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,080 Speaker 1: it down on paper, and transform it all into a 289 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: comedy juggernaut that had never been seen before. To do 290 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: all that, he had to get away. So in nineteen 291 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: seventy one, Richard Pryor once again got behind the wheel 292 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 1: of a car, this time with his pal Paul Mooney 293 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: at his side, and he escaped away from his obligations, 294 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: away from the soul sucking traps of places like Las Vegas, 295 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 1: and away from the people trying to catch him, the 296 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,920 Speaker 1: people trying to stop him, and Richard Pryor didn't stop 297 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,880 Speaker 1: running until he reached Berkeley, California, that freaky diey place 298 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: on the edge of the world where the Black Panthers, Bradburgers, 299 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: musicians and poets were all conspiring to do whatever it 300 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: took to feel free. We'll be right back after this. 301 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 3: We're we're where. 302 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,359 Speaker 1: The gun was on the nightstand inside his north Ridge home, 303 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: three point fifty seven magnum, big motherfucker. It wasn't small 304 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,440 Speaker 1: like his three eighty automatic. It wasn't unweely like his shotgun, 305 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,800 Speaker 1: or useless like his antique flintlock. This was the showpiece. 306 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,440 Speaker 1: This was the what the fuck did you say? Gun? 307 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor picked it up. This was the piece Richard 308 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: waved around when it was clear he was losing another 309 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: argument with his wife. You're gonna shoot me, then shoot me, 310 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: his wife told him. Richard pointed it away from her. 311 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: He didn't actually want to shoot her, which didn't mean 312 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 1: he didn't want to shoot something, and she told him 313 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: to put the gun down. Fuck you, he said, and 314 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: then he told his wife to round up her friends 315 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:43,199 Speaker 1: and get the hell out of his house. It was 316 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: just minutes in a New Year's Day nineteen seventy eight. 317 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:49,439 Speaker 1: The party that Richard Pryor and his now third wife 318 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,400 Speaker 1: were hosting had gone as flat as day old champagne. 319 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: What had started out as a celebration was now all 320 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,679 Speaker 1: out domestic warfare. Moments ago, Richard and his wife had 321 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:02,919 Speaker 1: shared midnight kiss, and now they were at each other's throats. 322 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: Didn't help that they were drunk and high on some 323 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: a dirty dick's supply. Richard decided that his wife and 324 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: her friends weren't moving fast enough. He pointed the magnum 325 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 1: at the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The gun fired, 326 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: and the bullet blew apart the ten thousand dollars Tiffany, 327 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,639 Speaker 1: she had a leer hanging from above, and the women 328 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: moved faster. Now outside, they piled into a buick. Richard 329 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,160 Speaker 1: got into the Mercedes, turned the key in the ignition, 330 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: put it in drive, and then he drove it straight 331 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: into the buick, over and over. The women screamed, they 332 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 1: ditched the buick. Richard falled soon and stepped out of 333 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: the Mercedes. He didn't know what his wife's next move 334 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: would be. Maybe she'd push him aside and take the bence, 335 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: get the fuck out. Maybe it would be the last time. 336 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: Maybe she wouldn't come back. Richard didn't care, but all 337 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:50,879 Speaker 1: the same, he didn't want her getting in that car, 338 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: not because she'd leave, because if she did, then she'd win, 339 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: and Richard Pryor wasn't about to lose another argument. Fuck that. 340 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: So we jumped between his wife and the Mercedes, pulled 341 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,520 Speaker 1: back the hammer on the magnum, pointed it at one 342 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:12,320 Speaker 1: of the tires, and pulled the trigger. A few years 343 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,239 Speaker 1: earlier before, he had a house in northrich back when 344 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,919 Speaker 1: he was making his Great Escape to Berkeley with Paul Mooney, 345 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:20,800 Speaker 1: Richard felt like he'd found a new lease on life, 346 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: creatively and personally. Here in the Bay Area, hippies were 347 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: protesting the war. Black people like him were declaring that 348 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: there were somebody. He started hanging out with freedom fighters 349 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 1: like Angela Davis and Hughey Nue, with poets like Ali 350 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,199 Speaker 1: Young and Ishmael Reid. Intellectualism didn't have to be a 351 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,280 Speaker 1: dirty word. You could be smart and cussed. Like one 352 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: of the women who worked at his grandmother's brothel. The 353 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,639 Speaker 1: two weren't mutually exclusive. That was the lesson, along with 354 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,119 Speaker 1: the realization that he had a lyce Worth material to 355 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,359 Speaker 1: draw from, a lesson he took with him when he 356 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,920 Speaker 1: moved down to Los Angeles. It was all about being fearless. 357 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: There was again that word fearless, the word that everyone 358 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: was using to describe him. In reality, Richard Pryor just 359 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 1: didn't give a shit anymore. He didn't give a shit 360 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 1: that his material was obscene, that it was profane, but hey, 361 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,679 Speaker 1: selling over a million copies of a live comedy record, 362 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:15,879 Speaker 1: holding on the number one spot on the Billboard arm 363 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 1: B chart for four straight weeks for a live comedy record, 364 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: and then winning a Grammy Award for a comedy record 365 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: that he could give a shit about because now he 366 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 1: was in demand, and because now the money was rolling 367 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 1: in more than it ever had, which meant more money 368 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,720 Speaker 1: for Calrossier and cocaine. But whether it was getting profound, 369 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 1: getting laughst getting famous, or getting high, Richard Pryor did 370 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:43,200 Speaker 1: nothing in moderation, which was exactly why mel Brooks hired 371 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor to help write a script for his next film, 372 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: a Western satire about a black railroad worker who's appointed 373 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: sheriff of an all white town. Mel Brooks wanted this 374 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 1: movie to not just be funny, to be outrageously shockingly funny. 375 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: The jokes, the lane, which, the lines that were crossed, 376 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: the whole thing had to be no holds. Barren blazing 377 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 1: Saddles was a perfect assignment for Richard Pryor. He threw 378 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: himself into the script he wrote with utter abandon. He 379 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: helped create not just one of the funniest mel Brooks movies, 380 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: but one of the funniest American comedies of all time. 381 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: And he did it while under the impression that he 382 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: Richard Pryor would also play the lead role of Bart, 383 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,919 Speaker 1: the black sheriff. Richard often acted out lines and scenes 384 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,400 Speaker 1: in the writer's room. Everyone involved in the movie could 385 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: see it. He was the obvious choice, but at the 386 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 1: last minute the studio revealed that they thought otherwise. They 387 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: claimed that Richard lacked acting experience, but there was something else. 388 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: His reputation was equally lacking, his drug use, his run 389 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,399 Speaker 1: ins with the law, the simple fact that he was, 390 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 1: by nineteen seventy four or one of the most controversial 391 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 1: people in Hollywood. Warner Brothers took the safe bet for 392 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: a movie that was all about taking huge risks, and 393 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: they cast Richard's friend Little as Barne instead. Richard walked 394 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,719 Speaker 1: away from the experience confused and disappointed and more than 395 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,600 Speaker 1: a little mistrustful of the powers of being in Los Angeles. 396 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: He felt used, used by mel Brooks, used by the studio. 397 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 1: He wanted to prove them all wrong, that not only 398 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: was he not an unreliable cokehead, but that he could act, 399 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 1: and not just in a mel Brooks satire. He took 400 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:28,119 Speaker 1: a lead role in Blue Collar, the directorial debut by 401 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: Paul Schrader, then best known for his screenplay for Martin 402 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: Scorsese's Taxi Driver. Along with Harvey kai Tel, Richard Pryor 403 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,679 Speaker 1: played a disgruntled autoworker who decides to rob his union local. 404 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,960 Speaker 1: It was a role unlike anything he played before, and 405 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: he never did anything like it ever again, because it 406 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 1: was painful. He had a look inward to act in 407 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: a drama like that, go deep into the recesses of 408 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,120 Speaker 1: your own mind. Not that that was different from comedy, 409 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:57,720 Speaker 1: but at least the payoff in comedy was a laugh. 410 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,399 Speaker 1: There was a release when how many hits. Richard once said, 411 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: it's as close to flying as man gets when you're 412 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,640 Speaker 1: on and rolling. Nothing comes close, not cocaine, not even 413 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: pussy capital a acting wasn't pussy or cocaine, and assure 414 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:18,360 Speaker 1: shit wasn't comedy. Richard was exhausted when the Shoe was over, 415 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: just like Blazing Saddles. He walked away from Blue Collar, confused, disappointed, 416 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: and frustrated. The movie didn't go anywhere. Critics loved him 417 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,919 Speaker 1: in it, but critics didn't pay the bills. So in 418 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: order to not feel much of anything, Richard did more cocaine, 419 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: and then he did some more, and by New Year's 420 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,159 Speaker 1: Morning in nineteen seventy eight, he wasn't even sure what 421 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,960 Speaker 1: he was supposed to feel anymore, and honestly, he didn't 422 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: give much of a fuck. The second bullet hit another tire, 423 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:53,760 Speaker 1: the tire hissed aggressively. Richard Pryor reloaded the magnum. He 424 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: aimed it at the Mercedes again and fired. Fucked this car, 425 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,880 Speaker 1: fucked this marriage. He reloaded and fired again, and by 426 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,399 Speaker 1: the time the police got there, the car was shot 427 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,639 Speaker 1: to shit. They took Richard downtown assault with the deadly weapon. 428 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,640 Speaker 1: Pretty soon wife number three would be ex wife number three, 429 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 1: but not before wife number three's friend, sporting a new 430 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: neck brace, walked into La Superior Court with the story 431 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: of how Richard orchestrated a quote unprovoked attack when he 432 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,240 Speaker 1: chased them from his house in the early hours of 433 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: New Year's Day. She sued into the tune of seventeen 434 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 1: million dollars if she gets it, Richard said it, meaning 435 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: his money, I'll marry her. On June ninth, nineteen eighty, 436 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: Richard Prior's addiction to freebasing cocaine reached a harrowing new low. 437 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,880 Speaker 1: That was the day he set himself on fire. Neighbors 438 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,879 Speaker 1: watched as he ran down the street, screaming, his body 439 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:05,439 Speaker 1: engulfed in flames. It took six weeks of skin grass, 440 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: plastic surgery, and physical therapy, and even then it was 441 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: still a long, hard road to recovery. On July twenty fourth, 442 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 1: during his first interview after being rushed to the hospital, 443 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,640 Speaker 1: Richard denied that he was freebasing cocaine when the accident happened. 444 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 1: In this version of the story, someone accidentally spilled some 445 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:25,679 Speaker 1: of that high test rum on him, and when he 446 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: went to innocently light a cigarette. He was on fire. 447 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: But that wasn't the truth. That was a story meant 448 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: to hide the real Richard Pryor from the public. Years later, 449 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:41,920 Speaker 1: in his nineteen ninety five autobiography Prior Convictions, Richard described 450 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: how he had smoked so much rock that day that 451 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: he actually ran out. He was alone, miserable, afraid. He 452 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,440 Speaker 1: just needed to get higher, to smoke more. Cocaine was 453 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: always the answer, no matter the question. But with no 454 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: drugs in the house, what was he going to do? 455 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,240 Speaker 1: He started to laugh, and then he was crying. He 456 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:04,000 Speaker 1: needed to do something, something to make him feel less. Feelings, 457 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,919 Speaker 1: feelings hurt, Feelings dragged you down, Feelings took you back 458 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 1: to places like Peoria, into jail cells in Germany. He 459 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: grabbed the bottle of booze and dumped the entire thing 460 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: on himself. He was still alone, but he no longer 461 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,879 Speaker 1: felt scared. He stood in silence and waited for his 462 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: moment of sin, and then the door to the room 463 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: flung open. His cousin stood in the doorway. He saw 464 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: that Richard was holding his big lighter in his hand, 465 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: and that he was soaked. Wait, Richard, what the fuck 466 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,960 Speaker 1: are you doing? Don't be afraid, Richard said, and then 467 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: he flicked the lighter. His body was swallowed by fire. 468 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,120 Speaker 1: And by Richard Pryor's own account, that accident was no accident, 469 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:45,399 Speaker 1: and by the account of his fifth wife and widow, 470 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 1: Jennifer Lee, it was very deliberate. In the twenty nineteen 471 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:52,399 Speaker 1: documentary about Richard's life, Jennifer Lee said that he had 472 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,199 Speaker 1: tried to take his own life, but instead of dying, 473 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: he lived. He lived to become front page news for 474 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,680 Speaker 1: all the wrong reasons. He lived to become a cheap punchline. 475 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: He lived to make a bunch of bullshit movies, cringey 476 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,360 Speaker 1: comedies like The Toy that I actually loved by the way, 477 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: pointless franchise cash ins like Superman three. He lived to 478 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: make money, and in fact, that's why he kept saying 479 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 1: yes to the movie rolls for the money, just like 480 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: back when he was another funny guy on a Vegas 481 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: stage with a pocket full of stupid gags. Fuck her. 482 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,840 Speaker 1: This wasn't Berkeley in nineteen seventy one. This was Hollywood 483 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 1: in the me decade. Who cares if most of the 484 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: movies he made were disposable. He got paid, didn't he 485 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,679 Speaker 1: those disposable comedies also served as a cover for the 486 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,120 Speaker 1: real Rochard Pryor, the one who couldn't stop, the one who, 487 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 1: even after his near death experience, couldn't shake the habit. 488 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: Even when he got ms, he still chased pussy and 489 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,440 Speaker 1: cocaine from the confines of his wheelchair right up until 490 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,439 Speaker 1: the day he died in two thousand and five a 491 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,040 Speaker 1: heart attack at the age of sixty five, zero moderation. 492 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: Those who knew him best weren't surprised, and the least 493 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: as his great friend and co writer Paul Mooney once said, 494 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:05,119 Speaker 1: Richard is a junkie first and a genius second. Always 495 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: it's a disgraceful truth about one of our greatest comics. 496 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:22,760 Speaker 3: I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. 497 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:31,240 Speaker 1: All right, hope you dug this episode. Apple podcast listeners, 498 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:33,399 Speaker 1: make sure you have auto downloads turned on so you 499 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,840 Speaker 1: never missed an episode of disgrace Sland. This week's question 500 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: of the week is which comedian from your childhood cracked 501 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: you up the most? And why? Hit me up? Voicemail 502 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: and tech six one seven nine oh six six six 503 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: three eight let me know. 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