User Reviews

"Richard Pryor Live On the Sunset Strip" showcases comedy legend Richard Pryor in his element, doing stand-up comedy. In his routine, he touches on all subjects, ranging from women to his trip to Africa, and even his scandalous past: the brothel run by his grandmother, his cocaine addiction, and the infamous incident in which he lit himself on fire. There are many laughs to be had in Pryor's delivery, and a few bittersweet moments as well, like Pryor's reminiscences about recovery and kicking his addiction. Even he can look back and have fun with his past. His comedic performance on the Sunset strip will be a wonderful document to remember him by in the future.

Richard Pryor proves his comedic genius here with another comedy film, this time live from the sunset strip. Here, he talks about women, african roots, and Pryor on fire (which is his hilarious account of when he lit himself on fire mixing crack-cocaine). Funny stuff, but not as fully dandy as his 1979 special. Tries as hard as he can, and succeeds in winning the audience over. It also worked for me. Sort of. First of two Pryor comedy films from Columbia-Tristar. A-

Having just watched Richard Pryor: Live in Concert yesterday, I was very much looking forward to this, his next concert film. Quite hilarious when talking about sex, his experiences with the mafia, white people looking for humans like them in black Africa, and how women seem so calm compared to men like him. There's also some poignant stories about his trip to Africa and his resolving to never use the N-word again for humorous purposes compared to some of his past work. And then there's the freebasing/fire incident that concludes this film. His talk about Jim Brown and Brown's attempting to rehabilitate him is perhaps the most touching of the stories but that doesn't mean it doesn't end on a good laugh especially when it concerns his member. But while I liked most of what he did, I have to admit I wasn't too crazy about his "Mudbone" routine even though it was a favorite of an audience member who requested it. Still, while this wasn't as good as RP:LIC, Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip still has many brilliant moments that make this well worth seeing.

One of Richard Pryor's concert movies features him talking about a trip to Africa, employment in a Mafia club, and even his freebasing incident ("The burn unit eliminates race. The only color in there is burnt-up muthaf***as!").

After Pryor died, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock noted that he paved the way for all the African-American comedians who came afterwards. It's hard to deny that. His passing left some big shoes to fill, as did George Carlin's death and Robin Williams's suicide. It must've been quite an experience to get to see Pryor in concert. You're sure to love this performance.

Respect indeed!

RICHARD PRYOR : HERE AND NOW (1983) & RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP (1982) – both ***1/2 Pryor, one of America's greatest stand-up comedians, expertly conveys the inner pain and personal demons of his tumultuous life with heartbreakingly funny takes on his drug abuse, sexual relationships, racism, spirituality abroad in Africa, getting drunk, recalling early gigs with Mob run clubs and the occasional improvs (his bit with a hermit crab shows just how quick on his feet his mind is) showcase the true brilliance of an original artist in his element and total at ease and command for the language of 'vulgur' humor that seamlessly blends into the vernacularity of his topics of discussion (say unlike his protégé Eddie Murphy and only recently touched upon with better results by Chris Rock). Lucky to be alive after his near-fatal freebasing burning Pryor even makes dying sound funny. A genius in every sense of the word.

Richard Pryor performs his stand-up comedy act on the Sunset Strip.

This shows us the benefit of editing two performances together -- we get the best of two shows, making it better than seeing either one of them live.

Pryor has a vulgar routine on sex, and how showbiz has the perk of more women, including one night with an unnamed Playboy Bunny. We hear how Africa has black people that are actually black (suggesting that American black people are not completely black).

We get a great story on how he worked in a Mafia night club in Youngstown, Ohio with stripper Satin Doll, and how "crime don't pay". (Unfortunately, he again does not name names.)

Most striking of all, though, is his frank discussion of cocaine use. Not regretful, he tells it like it is (or was).

Pryor on the cusp and on the mend, halfway between the careening scatological genius of his 70s persona and the PG-rated grown man of the 80s. Yes PG Pryor generally sucks, but you know, setting yourself on fire can and should mellow anybody out. This movie is a stab at synthesis - he's still cultivating his mastery of the squirmy edge, but at the same time he's just turned his keen-eyed intelligence in on himself. It's funny and it's also very, very moving. The N-word disavowal is of course breathtaking - coming from Pryor it's like Rene Levesque doing a stop-smoking PSA. The story of being rescued from his talking freebase pipe by Jim Brown is another peak. And topping all is his seemingly spontaneous response to a shouted Mudbone request, applying that character's merciless storytelling bravado to the ballad of Richard Pryor. There are more dud bits than I'd like, but who cares? This is a fitting testament to a great artist and a good man.

I saw this a few weeks back on Comcast's "On Demand." On Demand usually offers independent films, old films or recent films that flopped. "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip" is somewhere in between - it is older (released in 1982) but probably also flopped. It's not a very good indication of Richard Pryor's comedy - I've heard much funnier stuff coming out of his mouth in the past.

The whole project feels too "large budget" - from the grand opening to the camera work inside the place. It's all too glossy, polished and over-produced - sticking a camera on stage and just WATCHING Richard Pryor for an hour and a half would have been funnier.

On the other hand, this is still very funny. Pryor's funny no matter what - as a result I've rated this a seven (out of ten) but I can't help but imagine it could have been much, much better.

Worth checking out if you're a Pryor fan - otherwise, start out with some of his albums if you're not familiar with his comedy.

In his second most successful concert movie, again we brace ourselves for what magical dynamic stuff that will spout out of the mouth of an undying and legendary comic, who was pure genius. He cuts the surface of truth with his jokes, which makes so funny. The height of laughs for me, was when he was talking about the mafia. We've guaranteed ongoing laughs here, with new original material, where if your anti swearing, again take a rain check. Again 78 minutes passes by easy in another engrossing night of comedy, where our priceless Pryor tells those lengthy stories where that and vulgarity blend so well, where truths are told in funny and inventive scenarios, wonderfully written, where laughter just has us. No there never has been, or never will be, someone so sharp and cutting, or brilliant, like our Richard. Another concert movie success, in the city of Angels.

...who edited this?

Could this not have been as good if they had just edited it as it was?

They cut to audience responses that did not mesh with the moment.

I would rather have had them print this as it went (maybe no applause at the right time) than to have them show audience response in the wrong places.

This was a let down from his first stand-up movie.

Don't make crap out of gold!

I'm obviously out of critique so I'm padding here.

Bad editing, that's it!

In my opinion, Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip, is the funniest and best example of the genius at work. It is doubly interesting when you consider that it was made not long after Pryor's "Burn Up" accident, to use his way of speaking. Despite this, Pryor hasn't at this point lost any of the inventiveness and imagination wich made him one of the most original, freshest and warm comedians, and perhaps, when in top gear, the best comedian in the world. The audience really responds to him here, hanging on his every word and wanting him to do well. They are with him all the way, as you will be too when you watch it. Pryor opens up the monologues and hysterical stories at machine gun pace, and belly laughs are gauranted. Pryor doesn't dodge anything, retelling side acing tales of his run ins with the mafia, the making of Stir Crazy, his discovery of Masturbation, and most interestingly and humorous his exploding incident : "Of all the brothers who have free based how many do you know who have blew up? Why Me? I started to burn up and i was so high, i didn't even know what was happening. I looked at my hand on fire and thought, hey thats a pretty blue. I was all bandaged up in Hospital and came on the news, Richard Pryor died five minutes ago, i shouted noooooooooooo! wait on a minute jack"

It is equally interesting to take note of how many other comedians have "Borrowed" drom Pryor over the years. For instance, Billy Connoly has quite often used the self mocking humour that Pryor uses to full swing here, and Eddie Murphy is on a much stronger level prone to using the black angst in his performance. Richard Pryor does it better than both here, and Live at the Sunset Strip is an absolute Stand Up Cinema Comedy classic.

A standup comedyshow in Los Angeles, for the posh folks. His comedy routine was a bit less rude and more refined than usual, but still worth listening every minute of it.

His setting himself on fire was the most memorable bit that he spoke about in detail. He also spoke in length about his trip to Africa, where he forgot about racism, because they were all equals.

Richard Pryor's comedy shows are a must see for any Richard Pryor fan. I am still trying to find more shows that I can see of him, because on stage Richard Pryor is truly the king of comedy.

What's sad, but true, the injustices he was joking about remain relevant ALL OF THESE YEARS LATER. Makes one wonder what his comedic genius he'd have applied to today's world. His humor is unflinchingly HONEST. This was SO ARTISTIC that nobody got offended. Yet TODAY, not much has changed. Yes, we did elect a black man to the Oval 5. HOWEVER, THIS TRUMPISM is largely due to this. Was born in 1968 & NEVER SEEN SUCH OUT IN THE OPEN LIKE I've seen in the last 4 years. I believe it's an important lesson for those of us who believed that we'd evolved. I truly believed that the election of Obama was truly a watershed moment for us. Just for a period of time it seems now. THIS BACKLASH IS VERY DISHEARTENING. I'm not a black woman. But, I am compassionate & truly feel pain when a fellow citizen, who hasn't done ANYTHING TO DESERVE TO DIE. Pryor speaks candidly about these injustices for the first time. This was TRULY REVOLUTIONARY for its time. A MASTERPIECE!!!

How do you top your own legend? In Richard Pryor "Live on the Sunset Strip" (1982), Pryor doesn't quite make it -- but he comes awfully close.

A bit of background for the uninitiated: Pryor, already a huge success via his earthy 1970's comedy albums, made film history with "Richard Pryor Live in Concert." A modestly filmed recording of a 1979 concert he did in Long Beach, CA., it put many of that year's Hollywood blockbusters to shame with its rich characterizations and incisiveness; countless comics still cite it as their impetus for doing comedy.

Unfortunately, Pryor was a volatile man with a severe drug habit. About a year after the concert film was released, Pryor was freebasing and caught himself on fire. (He later acknowledged it as a suicide attempt.) Therapy and cosmetic surgery helped to restore him, but it left him with a quandary: How does a comic whose act was based on fear and hostility acknowledge the love and support of his audience? Unlike its ground-breaking predecessor, the '82 film takes a while to get going. The credits, as simple as they are (Pryor produced the film and wrote the material), seem to last forever. And there's more longeur when Pryor makes his way to the stage via the audience, who can't stop their standing ovation and glad-handing of him.

When he does finally reach the spotlight, Pryor appears a bit unsettled at first. The '79 film showed Pryor prowling the stage, his shirt visibly drenched in perspiration. In "Sunset Strip," he's dressed nattily in a flaming red suit -- ostensibly intended as a visual pun on his fire incident, but so spiffy that even he acknowledges that it ill-suits him. He initially throws out random observations, hoping something will stick.

He finally hits his stride in a riff about male-female relationships, both casual (his encounter with a Playboy Bunny who gets turned on when Pryor does kiddie voices) and emotional (he tearfully calls up a recently estranged girlfriend who coolly advises him, "Don't do this to yourself"). He also hits pay dirt with his account of filming the 1980 comedy "Stir Crazy" at the Arizona State Penitentiary; at first he is moved by the plight of his black "brothers" until he is apprised of their graphic crimes, at which point he declares, "Thank God...we got...penitentiaries!" He also does a great routine about a recent visit to Africa, in which he imitates jungle animals in the manner of the menagerie of impersonations in his '79 film. After this, he begins to soften, as he realizes that his homeland visit has caused him to forever negate his use of the notorious N-word. He follows this with what he claims is "the final appearance" of his street character Mudbone (Pryor lied; he revived the character in his third concert film), who chides his creator Pryor for his fire incident. Critic Pauline Kael was put off by these passages, saying in essence that Pryor was kissing up to his audience with these observations. She might have been on to something, but considering that this comic narrowly escaped death and found some lacerating revelations on the other side, perhaps he was entitled to a little self-indulgence.

All of this, naturally, leads to the movie's showpiece: Pryor's account of his 1980 immolation. He prefaces it with a joke about how it "really" happened: When he had milk and cookies in bed one night, he mixed whole milk with skim milk, "and the s*** blew up!" But when he launches into the true account of the events leading up to and following the fire, he pulls no punches. His gift for bringing inanimate objects to life gets downright eerie when he does the voice of his reassuring freebase pipe, which he came to regard as his only true friend. When I saw this movie upon its initial release, I sat open-mouthed at this routine, unable to laugh -- but not because it was poorly done. On the contrary, it was so forthright and honest that it went beyond comedy, to a point where you could imagine Pryor observing his self-destructive behavior from outside of himself. (Indeed, that was the approach Pryor took when he dramatized the incident in his autobiographical 1986 movie "Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling.") Pryor lived for over two decades after this movie, until multiple sclerosis permanently stilled his demons. But in 1982, "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip" inspired well-earned laughter as well as gratitude that a rich talent such as Pryor was still with us. The movie still stands as a remarkable comedic document -- not quite as great as its '79 predecessor, but still head and shoulders above most of the brain-dead comedy from then and now.

Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip (1982)

*** (out of 4)

Here's a good stand up performance from Richard Pryor, although this certainly isn't his best work. I believe this was his first tour since catching himself on fire and it's rather obvious that Pryor's a bit nervous on stage and doesn't have that wonderful flow that shines through most of his work. The best moments include the talk about his trip to Africa and the various animals in the jungle. The final twenty minutes have Pryor talking about his accident, which has some laughs but they're rather uncomfortable laughs, although his final "message" comes across very nicely and touching.

Candid and funny! Explored his addiction, fire accident and trip to Africa.

Pryor does what he does best: make people laugh. I think this was the first special of his I'd ever seen. He had me in tears talking about his free-basing accident and his visit to the Arizona penitentiary with Gene Wilder.

Whoa! After seeing Richard Pryor Live some years ago, I was eagerly looking forward to this when it appeared on satellite TV a while back. Boy was I disappointed. As soon as I saw that the whole thing had been filmed in soft-focus, and that it had quite obviously been edited with canned laughter like an episode of Happy Days, my shoulders slumped. I barely managed a smile during the whole sad affair, and thought to myself, 'What happened to the genius that I enjoyed in the other concert?'. I can also honestly say that I cannot remember any of the tedious observations that Mr Pryor offered up. This was probably made during his substance abusing days.

Live?...It looked dead to me!