[...] Ross Noble: Having heavily emulated Bill Cosby before finding your own voice, how does it feel seeing your influence on subsequent generations?
Richard Pryor: I hope the younger comics will find their own voice. It's the hardest thing to do. It can hide, but keep looking for it.
RN: Having said that you regret using the word "nigger" on and off stage, how do you feel about its use by younger comics today?
RP: I did and do use it at times. The way most comics use it is for shock and all it does is disappoint. The only comic I hear use it to fit a routine is [US comic] Dave Chappelle. He can do it. [...]
[...] Lenny Henry: Are there any taboos left in comedy?
RP: Taboos? Not really, but doing comedy well is hard.
LH: Did Paul Mooney write the Just Us joke on Is It Something I Said? Or was he a constant collaborator?
RP: Paul takes too much fucking credit for my shit, let him take credit for his own. Just Us, we wrote for [the 1970s US sitcom] Sandford and Son. He was one of the writers on my NBC Shows and a writer on [Pryor's autobiographical movie] Jo-Jo Dancer. But Paul needs to take credit for HIS stuff and leave my shit the fuck alone! [...]
| There's more of "'Be truthful - and funny will come,'" Brian Logan's Guardian UK round-table interview with Richard Pryor
posted in articles on August 9, 2004 5:10 PM | t (1)
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