Revolution Televised.pdf

150 That Nigger’s Crazy
stereotypes in the minds of most whites who fear them in general.
. . . As a result, Pryor’s audiences have been limited to those who
attend his night-club and concert engagements. These are mostly
black people. When he does appear on television, it is only as a
guest; and even then he is likely to say something considered offensive
to a larger and more varied audience. 15
Pryor’s comedy, while enjoyed within black communal spaces, was
considered too offensive for the mainstream U.S. television audience.
This was exemplified when Pryor hosted the Mike Douglas Show
for the week of November 25–29, 1974, during which he even got
into an argument in one interview with “Mr. Television,” Milton
Berle. 16
Perhaps because of Pryor’s controversial reputation, producer
Lorne Michaels invited him to guest host Saturday Night Live
(then called NBC’s Saturday Night) early in the show’s first season.
Pryor met with writers and producers to give them his ideas for the
show, many of which were rejected as inappropriate for television.
Pryor was again reminded of the limitations of performing within
this venue. Although Pryor was not told ahead of time, on December
13, 1975, NBC aired the “live” episode on a five-second delay
so that his words could be censored. Pryor later indicated that had
he known of Michaels’s plan, he would have refused to do the
show. 17 The episode was aired without a problem and produced
what is one of the classic moments in Saturday Night Live history.
In the skit, Chevy Chase interviews Pryor for a job, and they begin
an exercise of word association. Although the skit begins with benign
words, the interview escalates:
chase: White
pryor: Black
chase: Bean
pryor: Pod
chase: Negro
pryor: White
chase: Tarbaby
pryor: What’d you say?
chase: Tarbaby
pryor: Ofay
chase: Colored
pryor: Redneck