I picked up this movie off of Showtime, to learn more about the famous and very funny comedian, Richard Prior. I knew a little about some of his work, the standup, and some of his movies. This was more about Richard Prior the person, the man, and some of the stuff he was going through. I didn’t really know he was essentially a junkie for a large portion of this career. I also found out he made a trip to Africa to search out his roots. Once there, he found out there were no “n-words” in Africa, and from that point forward he said he would never use that word again. The special said he never did. It also covered the period in his life when he burned himself. Of course, this being a short special, it was like two minutes later he developed MS and died. I know it didn’t go down quite that fast in real life. I enjoyed the special and the fact that they even spent the time to make the special speaks volumes. But to me, they didn’t portray him as the true comic genius that he really was. They did try, with many cameos from famous comedians, but in this respect, it let me down a little. However that is not what this film was about, it was more about the man himself, behind the scenes. I have heard many people speak very highly and I know he has inspired many comedians through his brand of humor. If you never knew anything about Richard Prior, this special will get you up to speed quickly, but you would still need a chaser, maybe a comedy special or two, followed by, maybe the film “Stir Crazy” to complete your education.
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