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Revolution Televised.pdf

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152 That Nigger’s Crazy<br />

chase: Spear-chucker<br />

pryor: White trash<br />

chase: Jungle bunny<br />

pryor: Honkey<br />

chase: Spade<br />

pryor: Honkey-honkey<br />

chase: Nigger!<br />

pryor: Deeeeeeead honkey! 18<br />

Despite Pryor’s success on Saturday Night Live, he was still considered<br />

unsuitable for network television. However, he continued<br />

to find success with his comedy albums and increasing opportunities<br />

in supporting roles in film. Still, his primary venue continued to<br />

be stand-up comedy. That Nigger’s Crazy (1974) went gold, . . . Is<br />

It Something I Said? (1975) was a platinum record with excellent<br />

reviews, and Bicentennial Nigger (1976) was also a gold album.<br />

Pryor won Grammy Awards for all three albums, and his concerts<br />

were very profitable. 19<br />

Pryor had many small roles in a variety of films. For example,<br />

his stand-up was featured in the concert film Wattstax (1973), and<br />

he had a supporting role opposite Max Julien in the Blaxploitation<br />

film The Mack (1973). However, his performance as Billie Holiday’s<br />

piano player opposite Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues (1972)<br />

and as private detective Sharp Eye Washington in the Bill Cosby<br />

and Sidney Poitier film, Uptown Saturday Night (1974), brought<br />

him to the attention of mainstream U.S. critics and audiences. Then<br />

in 1976, three films featuring Pryor, The Bingo Long Traveling All-<br />

Stars and Motor Kings, Car Wash, and Silver Streak, were released<br />

and became box office hits.<br />

As discussed, many African American artists found ways to use<br />

popular culture as a site of resistance to discuss issues of importance<br />

to the African American community and to create community<br />

across a nation of black viewers. Much of this resistance was evidenced<br />

within hidden transcripts—themes, humor, and ideas that<br />

could be understood in ways unique to an African American audience.<br />

However, as the era progressed, black critical thought within<br />

popular culture became more vocalized. When Richard Pryor’s success<br />

brought him an NBC television contract, he initially believed<br />

that he was allowed to make all creative choices. It quickly became<br />

apparent that this was not the case, and the adjustments that NBC

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