Sunday, December 11, 2005
Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor died Saturday. He was 65.
When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis some ten years ago I looked around for someone in the same predicament and found Richard Pryor. We had almost nothing in common, a scrawny, black, comic genius with a history of coke addiction and a hefty white engineer. But we both had something wrong in our brains that we could not understand or do anything about. The suffering on Pryor's face was always right on the surface, when it was suffering from racial injustice, or his own demons or his failing body the pain was visible for all the world to see. I think that is part of what made him so funny, we laugh because we are looking at a mirror and it makes us a little uncomfortable, so we laugh to chase away the pains.
Since then there have been other celebrities who have chosen to tell the world that they, along with half-million other Americans, live with MS. Teri Garr, also a greatly talented comic. Neil Cavuto, a TV commentator.
But for me there will never be another Richard Pryor.
When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis some ten years ago I looked around for someone in the same predicament and found Richard Pryor. We had almost nothing in common, a scrawny, black, comic genius with a history of coke addiction and a hefty white engineer. But we both had something wrong in our brains that we could not understand or do anything about. The suffering on Pryor's face was always right on the surface, when it was suffering from racial injustice, or his own demons or his failing body the pain was visible for all the world to see. I think that is part of what made him so funny, we laugh because we are looking at a mirror and it makes us a little uncomfortable, so we laugh to chase away the pains.
Since then there have been other celebrities who have chosen to tell the world that they, along with half-million other Americans, live with MS. Teri Garr, also a greatly talented comic. Neil Cavuto, a TV commentator.
But for me there will never be another Richard Pryor.
// posted by Old Math @ 11:33 AM 
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You are so right. There could only be one Richard Pryor. I remember him very fondly from his work on Saturday Night Live.
When you are in the classroom, do students often ask you about MS?
When you are in the classroom, do students often ask you about MS?
I did a talk for an 8th grade science class last year and am on the schedule for this year. Show MRIs and talk about the medicinal aspects. And a few words about how sometimes life doesn’t work out the way you expect, but your reaction to life CAN work out well.
Middle school kids tend to be self-centered. Which is fine, first rule of volunteer work – “It’s not about me”.
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Middle school kids tend to be self-centered. Which is fine, first rule of volunteer work – “It’s not about me”.
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