Richard Pryor - Here and Now

Starring:Richard Pryor
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Did you ever have a good concert spoiled by yahoos in the audience? In Richard Pryor: Here and Now, the last and least of Pryor's three concert films, Pryor's consummate comic genius is put to the supreme test by audience members who shout out, heckle, and otherwise break the spell during even the more potent, personal pieces, such as the near 15-minute character sketch about a junkie from Pryor's old neighborhood. Filmed in New Orleans, Here and Now is not as primally funny as Live in Concert and Live on the Sunset Strip. At this point, Pryor is seven months sober. At different points in the concert he reflects on his substance abuse. A routine about acquaintances from those days reminding him about his outrageous behavior is a more graphic variation on Shelley Berman's classic routine about "the morning after the night before." But he keenly confronts and challenges racial attitudes when speaking about white panic when drugs reach beyond black neighborhoods into their own homes. "Epidemic," he observes, "is when white folks are doing it.... Maybe the next time you see black people in trouble, you'll help." (Prophetic pre-Katrina words!) Even with less-than-inspired material, Pryor is mesmerizing to watch, whether evoking frigid Illinois winds or getting inside the head of a crab that an audience member presents to him during the show. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic! Misunderstood! Bring your brain *and* your gut. This is the most socially conscious of Pryor's stand-up movies........2006-02-13

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."

Not his best, but has its moments.......2005-12-12

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.

Pearls Before Swine.......2004-10-02

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.

PART OF THE BIG 3.......2004-10-02

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!

Take this as a Warning. I am serious........2004-02-02

This is a warning to anybody thinking of buying this dvd. Here and Now was awful. From the beginning you can see the stupid audience members heckling and bothering pryor. I wish i could invent a time machine to go back and kill those people before they entered the theater that night. I purchased Here and Now because i was at the store hoping to get Live in Conert or Live on the Sunset Strip. They were all out, then i saw this dvd. The price was 20 dollars and i had 20 dollars on me. I thought this must be fate, no it wasn't it was God's and Richard Pryor's way of making a big joke. I had told friends how great Pryor was in the other performance. Live in Concert was genius, just brilliant. So i bought it and showed it to the friends i had hyped him up to, and only one of them even laughed a little and the other's began to criticize Pryor for being so terribly unfunny. And that just made me look like an idiot for recommending him. This is a Warning. Please i beg of you not to buy this; take your twenty dollars and give it to me, I will put it to good use by hiring scientists to build time machines and spaceships to go back in time and smack the coke out of Richard's nose before he decided to do this show. I would only tell you to get it if you have a collection you wish to complete, because there are a only a couple of good parts. Be warned!

Dave Chappelle - For What It's Worth/Richard Pryor - Here And Now Two Pack

Average customer rating:

Dave Chappelle - For What It's Worth/Richard Pryor - Here And Now Two Pack

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Platinum Comedy Series - Dave Chappelle - Killin' Them Softly
Chappelle's Show - Season 2
Chappelle's Show - Season 1
Chappelle's Show - The Lost Episodes (Uncensored)
Richard Pryor - I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!! (Uncensored)

ASIN: B000ERVFL2
Release Date: 2006-03-14

Amazon.com

Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth finds the Comedy Central superstar in performance at San Francisco's legendary Winterland, where he's welcomed with a huge ovation. Easing into his set, Chappelle shares a few observations about the city itself, noting there's nothing tender about the Tenderloin District: "You've got people smoking crack while sitting in front of Starbucks." Chappelle's inspiration dips a bit after that, as the subject of sex with monkeys and smoking weed with Indians doesn't quite reach his usual standards. Then, suddenly, he's on top of his game again, his material like an echo of vintage Lenny Bruce as he discusses why whites drink grape juice and blacks drink "grape drink," why police harassment has led him to believe in impromptu alibis, and why the culture of celebrity should stay away from real-world issues: "Maybe Jah Rule doesn't have the answers we want in a disaster." --Tom Keogh

Description

Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth: Comedian Dave Chappelle does what he does best in this outrageous and hilarious standup performance, which allows him to really push the envelope and go even farther than he does on his TV show. Taped in San Francisco at the famed Fillmore, Chappelle lets loose on such topics as black celebrities, what it's like to have raunchy fans of his TV show approach him while he's trying to enjoy Disneyland with his kids, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant and crackheads, of course.

Richard Pryor: Here and Now: This high-voltage concert film shot in New Orleans, features the sensational Richard Pryor in his prime. Doing some of his most innovative material, Pryor takes charge on stage with an electrifying style and an unequaled comedic genius, in an incredibly funny performance guaranteed to rock you with side-splitting laughter!

DVD:

DVD List

DVD

DVD

Sheer Terror - Beaten By the Fists of God

Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Destination Vegas (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat

The Rosary Murders