Remembering Richard Pryor

Last night I heard the rather sad news that Richard Pryor has died. In a way, it's not all that surprising as his health has been bad for so many years. But, I still found the news saddening. I'm part of the generation who boosted Pryor to his well-deserved stardom, then watched as he self-imploded in the 80s falling into the downward spiral of drugs and what they can do to a person. Cocaine in particular, in its various forms, can ruin a life wasting any potential and creating a non-person who just seeks out the next line. I know all about it. It's slow suicide; may as well just put a gun to your head and get it over with quickly. That is, unless you can get by the drug and escape from its grasp. Pryor seemed to do that only to fall ill with MS. Sigh.

It's as hard to believe that Richard Pryor was 65 as it is to know that I hit the half-century mark just a few months ago. Although recent Pryor memories are that of a man whose body is wasted by disease, in my mind he'll be the edgy guy we all tuned into watch on 'SNL' to see if he would get stuff by on the live show. He's the guy who, despite a definite black/white controversial stance in his comedy, brought both the black and white crowds together on his campus and small towns circuit tours before his world of fame really hit.

"We bad, we bad..."

You'll always be so bad that you're good, Mr. Pryor. Rest in peace.