Revolution Televised.pdf

That Nigger’s Crazy 145
would accept into their homes. 2 Pryor continued to perform “colorless”
material in major venues and in his TV debut on a variety
show, On Broadway Tonight, on August 31, 1964. He followed
this with television appearances on The Tonight Show, Ed Sullivan,
Merv Griffin, and Kraft Music Hall.
In an interview with Ebony magazine in 1967, Pryor discussed
his feelings about television. He said that while he enjoyed performing
he was frustrated by the limits created by the sponsors.
He believed that to be on television comedians had to compromise
themselves.
Be clean. They always say “be clean.” . . . They want you to be
something that really doesn’t exist at all. . . . I do the shows, but
I just get bugged. I don’t know about the other cats, but it bothers
me. . . . They would rather use the dirtiest ofay cat in the world,
man, than use [the term] black cat. 3
Later that year Pryor had what he considered a breakdown. 4
Comedic vignettes that are typically the most hilarious evolve from
personal experiences. By imitating Bill Cosby, Pryor denied the existence
of the earlier years of his life. While Cosby was a storyteller
of a middle-class and family lifestyle, Pryor’s life experience was
garnered from a much different perspective.
One night while appearing at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, he
simply walked offstage muttering, “What the fuck am I doing here?”
As Pryor states,
I couldn’t explain the transformation taking place. I don’t understand
it myself. I only know my days of pretending to be as slick and
colorless as Cosby were numbered. There was a world of junkies
and winos, pool hustlers and prostitutes, women and family screaming
inside my head, trying to be heard. The longer I kept them
bottled up, the harder they tried to escape. The pressure built till I
went nuts. 5
. . . Is It Something I Said? Understanding Pryor’s Comedy
Police live in y’all’s neighborhood. . . . “Hello, Officer Timson, going
bowling tonight? Yes, ah, nice Pinto you have, ha-ha-ha.” Niggers don’t
know ’em like that. See, white folks get a ticket they pull over. . . . “Hey,
officer, yes, glad to be of help . . . cheerio!” Niggers got to be talkin’