I took 2 sisters to a Richard Pryer concert, early '70's, (just one was GF). So, there was us, & about 10,000 black dudes/dudettes all around us. I never laughed so hard in my life! The girls started elbowing me, I looked at them, they were looking all around. I looked & about ½ the audience was glareing at me. I threw up my hands & said: This dude is GOOD! He is FUNNY! & went back to the show. We made it out OK. Was in San Diego.

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"I applaud your elaborate system of denial"

I saw a Pryor show in ‘78 or ‘79 in Seattle. He did the “heart attack” routine in that one. I think there were more white cats coming to his shows by then, I never felt any bad vibes from black dudes. I foolishly owned a cab for about a year and a half, '76 and '77, sold it to the guy who got me started in the biz. We had been housemates, we had a roommate at one point who had all of Pryor’s albums. The whole house became big fans. That guy was making good money with the cab and bought 12 tickets in the sixth row, found 10 friends to go with him, and gave one away at the door.

When Pryor came out, he put his hand above his eyes to block the spotlight, scanned the audience and said “White people!” The rows immediately behind us were black dudes, and I never got a bad vibe or look.

But I think my favorite show was sometime around ‘81 when Steve Goodman warmed up for his old pal John Prine at the Paramount. Goodman was largely responsible for Prine getting his big break. He invited Kris Kristofferson to come see him at a small club in Chicago, Kris was gobsmacked. At the end of the show, Goodman came out and he and Prine did three or four songs together. Goodman finally succumbed to leukemia in ‘84. I had not known about his illness. The way I heard the story, he was diagnosed at age 18 and given two years to live. He misunderstood them, he thought they said 20.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Pryor was supposed to play Bart in Blazing Saddles but the insurance companies would not insure his health for the three or four months it would take to shoot. Pryor is credited as one of the writers. Mel Brooks said he wrote all the lines for the white guys. So when you are seeing Mr. Taggart you are hearing the words of Pryor.

Mel Brooks tried to get John Wayne to play the Waco Kid but Wayne said it would be bad for his screen image. Wayne did think it would become a western classic.

Maybe with deep fake tech someone will go back and recut this film with these actors in the roles.