Richard Pryor - Here and Now | Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney

Richard Pryor - Here and Now | Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney | Fantastic! Misunderstood! Bring your brain *and* your gut. This is the most socially conscious of Pryor's stand-up movies.

DVDs:

Richard Pryor - He...

	Richard Pryor - Here and Now Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney Sony Pictures, 2002 average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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Live from the saenger theater in new orleans. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/27/2007 Run time: 95 minutes Rating: R

Pearls Before Swine

Pryor was brilliant in this set. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, his audience seemed to be composed of the inhabitants of every podunk village in Louisiana, who saw attendance at his show as the crowning moment of their lives, and wanted to make sure Pryor and the rest of the world knew just how momentous it was by announcing it at the top of their lungs, never stopping their celebration long enough to actually listen to Pryor's routine. He had to contend with a constant barrage of drunken heckling but he still managed to weave spellbinding stories and make brilliant impromptu observations about everyday life. In fact, he frequently turned the boorish behavior of the audience to his advantage, and constructed several brilliant bits of business from their sometimes bizarre antics. Still, it was particularly sad to watch the contrast between the profundity of Pryor's depiction of a broken down junkie and the audience's complete incomprehension of what Pryor was revealing. All the same, Pryor manages to transcend his audience's limitations and create a world of characters and experiences that was fascinating, touching and hilarious. If you can manage to do the same, and overlook the audience and immerse yourself in Pryor's world, it will be well worth the effort. Don't sleep on this one.

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Fantastic! Misunderstood! Bring your brain *and* your gut. This is the most socially conscious of Pryor's stand-up movies.

Don't believe the negative reviews. I repeat: don't buy the lukewarm responses.

If you are looking for uninterrupted gut-busting laughter, and an audience laugh-track to cajole you on, you might be better served by Pryor's other movies or the works of artists like Sinbad, Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle, Bernie Mac, George Carlin and others who followed in his footsteps.

In "Here and Now," which Roger Ebert called a "90-minute documentary of one man talking," Richard Pryor evokes a cadence and relevance that none of the above could reinvent. He rises from gift to genius and from talent to savant. Make no mistake, this film contains some of Pryor's best moments.

Yet these moments are not done justice by the superficial label of "comedy." When Pryor ties his arm off and shoots up heroin, wincing with intensity as he stiffly pauses waiting for the hit to materialize, and then transitions into a liquid shiver of euphoria before his entire body falls limp-- it might disappoint those reviewers who were expecting to see Moe, Curly, and Larry.

The rest of us can be spellbound by the power and poetry of the man who is to comedy what Jack Kennedy is to politics; a rare achiever stifled too young and not paralleled since. Pryor is masterful, ad-libbing and sketching us on a roller coaster of laughter, tears, and pure marvel at the human condition.

To those who buy this to appreciate cheap thrills rather than being intellectually and politically prepared to be moved, I say this: "You're no Richard Pryor."

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PART OF THE BIG 3

Not funny? Huh?!?! How can anyone who enjoys Pryor's humor not consider this funny? Granted, RICHARD PRYOR LIVE and LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP our the two better installments of this succession of three great shows (RICHARD PRYOR LIVE is an absolute classic) but this is nonetheless still great comedy. The only downer of this whole set is the often annoying audience. Pryor answers back to the hecklers with sharp humor but the interuptions are certainly annoying.

Still, this is yet another great example of the most honest funnyman of our time.

If, however, you have not seen any of his stand-up, by all means, look to RICHARD PRYOR LIVE first, then get ON THE SUNSET STRIP. But if those two classics tickle your funnybone, I can't imagine why you wouldn't find much to enjoy here.

Not as good as the others, but 1 star? Please!

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Still on fire

Richard Pryor Here and Now demonstrates that he's arguably the greatest stand-up comic of all time. It's true that this concert is by far weaker than Live in Concert and Sunset Strip. There are more slow spots here and the frequent interruptions and distractions by the obnoxious audience throw Pryor off of his rhythm. Part of what makes this fascinating to watch is how Pryor handles these people and saves the film. A lesser comedian would have been crushed. Richard Pryor, even when not in top form and with so much working against him still manages to be very funny. "This ain't Johnny Carson MFs!!!" Prudish people with an aversion for adult language and content, or uncomfortable with in-your-face discussions of race relations or the dark side of American history shouldn't watch this or any other Richard Pryor concert.

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Not his best, but has its moments

I saw this at the old Jefferson Square Theater in Columbia, SC when I was in college in 1983. Pryor's last concert film, and not one of his better ones. Some interesting moments though. Mudbone appears in one of his rare filmed skits (compare this with the "Richard Pryor Show" DVD which repeats the classic Mudbone performance from "Is It Something I Said"). There is a really interesting moment when Pryor talks to a fiddler crab that crawls on his stool that is the kind of one-man theater that distiguished Pryor from his cursing copycats who had all of the profanity but none of the profundity of the master. He also does a frightfully accurate rendition of a junkie going on a nod. You can tell that he knows what he's talking about. In either case, this is for fans only. Rest in Peace brother Pryor.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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