Is It Something He Said: The Mass Consumption of Richard Pryor's Culturally Intimate Humor

Abstract

With a “culturally intimate” style of humor that provocatively dissected working-class African-American culture, Richard Pryor was one of America's most popular comedians. This article outlines the different types of Black humor, discusses Pryor's career and comic works, and then examines audience reception of his humor. Despite Pryor's complex invocation of African-American stereotypes, Black and non-Black viewers generally viewed Pryor's comic representations of African-Americans through the lens of dominant stereotypes, especially when a working-class milieu was signified.

Notes

¹The White actors responsible for the voices of Amos and Andy appeared in blackface for the movie Check and Double Check and for publicity appearances.

²It should be noted that the surveys were conducted by Amos ‘n’ Andy's sponsors.

³Unlike its radio predecessor, Black actors and actresses filled all the roles on the television version of Amos ‘n’ Andy in the early 1950s.

⁴The phrase “Will it play in Peoria” derives from the city's status as a major destination on the vaudeville circuit of the 1930s and 1940s (Watkins, 1994).

⁵In his autobiography (Pryor & Gold, 1995), Pryor claims that it happened in 1968, though the exact year has never been ascertained and a number of different stories have circulated about the event. In a number of interviews and on one of his comedy albums, Pryor claims, with tongue probably ensconced safely in cheek, that he ran off the stage, stripped, and jumped on a blackjack table, whereupon he exclaimed “Blackjack!!!” (Bicentennial Nigger album, 1976; Rovin, 1983)

⁶Although Pryor abandoned his brand of racially neutralized humor, some of his vocal mannerisms continued to retain the influence of Cosby's style.

⁷According to Williams and Williams (1991), the character is probably based, however loosely, on Pryor's Uncle Tommy.

⁸In “Mudbone: Little Feets,” Mudbone relates a tale about two Black men who both lay claim to having the “biggest dick in the world.” Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, they both start to urinate. The first man tells the other that the water is cold to which the second man responds, “And it's deep, too.”

⁹In 1980, Pryor nearly burnt himself to death in a drug-related incident.

¹⁰The question “What did you like best” appeared as “What was your favorite part of Pryor's performance” for the first group of 29 respondents.

¹¹These comments were in addition to the ones who named “Black and White” differences as what they like best.

¹²This last question was only asked of Live in Concert respondents.

¹³This question was only asked of Greatest Hits and Live and Smokin' respondents.

¹⁴The two larger Live in Concert groups were asked the open-ended question. The smaller Live in Concert class was given the option of “perpetuates,” “refutes,” and “neither” and the question was amended from “stereotypes” to “negative stereotypes.”