Monday, December 12, 2005

Richard Pryor

So, this morning, I notice a lot of blogs with Richard Pryor entries. I figured, "Today must be the anniversary of his death or something."

Oops. I now realize (hours later) that Pryor just died on Saturday. I honestly thought he was already dead. I don't have any opinion on Pryor one way or another. Because I'm probably too young to appreciate his importance or impact, I always kind of found him overrated.

That's it, I just found it strange that I was so thoroughly sure that somebody was dead, when that was not the case. I suppose it's a shame because it indicates that Pryor clearly faded away (at least to me) instead of being a force 'til the end, which, I imagine, would have been his preference.

Digby has a nice piece up on him.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The reason Pryor "clearly faded away" was becuase he had MS. I recently saw a special on him and it was incredibly depressing seeing the state he was in. confined to a wheelchair, he could barely speak. His wife was basically transalating what he was saying.

Mr Furious said...

Yeah, I can recall him being sick, I just honestly thought he had already passed. And it is clearly a shame that he became incapacitated by a disease that rendered him incapable of his greatest strength—commmunication.

Anonymous said...

i just found something that brings a smile to my face.

what is the world coming to when Mr Furious posts a link to a column that has this sentence in it:
" But there was also this undercurrent of vulnerability and melancholy running beneath the comedy that exposed a canny understanding of human foible. "

Does this mean your unnatural hatred for the term uncanny has dissipated? If i remember, your biggest problem with the word uncanny was that no one uses the term canny.

Mr Furious said...

My unnatural hated is really for anyone who uses the phrase "not uncanny"—which I have actually seen. Wouldn't that be "canny?"

I confess that you must have read that post much more carefully than I did.

And do me a favor, Crow (I can only assume), just open a blogger account with a nickname and post your comments so I know who the hell they are from.

Did you post the first comment too?

ORF said...

I thot he was already dead too...