There’s a renaissance going down in terms of live comedy. Indie comedy performers have taken the place and/or matched the number of indie rock bands in the last decade, popping up in coffee houses, basements and wherever the hell you can plug in a microphone. But people of Los Angeles wanting to see the finest in live comedy need only head to a movie theater on November 26th, where Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema will be screening a double feature of Richard Pryor’s first two stand-up specials.
Why is this such a big deal? To begin with, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert has secured its place in history as the first live stand-up special to have a theatrical run with wide release. Pryor and his material were mega racy back in the day, so much to the point that he was replaced in Blazing Saddles at the last minute with Cleavon Little. Investors and studios typically bristled at the idea of putting Pryor in the spotlight, which makes RPLIC that much more important in terms of its success. It’s the maestro at his peak powers and as close of a document that you can get to his manic flow outside of the eponymous LP That Nigger’s Crazy.
Furthermore, this double-header straddles what many consider to be the pivotal moment in Pryor’s career, when he met with an unfortunate accident while using freebase cocaine in 1980. Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip marks one of the first major comebacks in comedy, as Pryor’s style and public image had changed after the freebase incident. Pryor proves that he can fly without drugs and the psycho-metrosexual nightlife, bringing the audience to its knees on the merit of his greatest vice: his brain.
Tickets for these two monumental slices of comedy are, as always, two-for-one and are $8 apiece. Get to the New Beverly Cinema, you city-of-angels fiends! ‘Til then, keep it tipped to the crypt!
CakeMama