Richard Pryor, RIP

I loved Richard Pryor. I loved his willingness to be vulnerable and share his ups and downs, to comment on hard issues with a strange grace that proclaimed the truth about the world, but with a kind of shrug that suggested both weariness and optimism, more sadness than anger, and shared humanity and inhumanity. I always had the sense that he was his own worst enemy, that he had no interest in cultivating enemies elsewhere. He did not seem to be about hurting anyone else, because he understood pain too well.

I think he was the funniest man ever born, which probably means he was also the saddest.

Roger L. Simon has a terrific personal remembrance on Pryor. Ed Morrissey mentions “Blazing Saddles”. Oh, my…Pryor would have made that movie something even more memorable than it is!

For me, I just hope the man is at peace. I hope God opened wide the gate. He will be missed. Heck, he was already missed, in his illness. Now, it’s just worse.

UPDATE: Riehlworld has some wonderful clips of Pryor being brilliant. H/T Ann Althouse.