Revolution Televised.pdf

That Nigger’s Crazy 157
tention it deserved. The Richard Pryor Show’s low ratings indicate
not that it failed to reach a black audience but that it did not cross
over to a white audience at the level necessary to create high ratings.
However, the four surviving episodes reveal a truly significant
legacy. True to form, Richard Pryor resisted the confines of television,
expressed his feelings, and created both entertaining and
insightful material for the U.S. audience while targeting issues of
concern for the African American community.
During the taping of the first show, Pryor appears on camera and
states directly to the audience, “There’s been a lot of things written
about me. People ask, ‘How can you have a show? You’ll have to
compromise.’” As the camera pulls out to a wide shot, Pryor stands
there wearing nothing but a flesh-colored body suit with his genitals
hidden/missing. He then says, “Well, look at me. I’ve given up
absolutely nothing.” 24 Needless to say, the joke did not make it past
the NBC censors. They believed that the image was inappropriate
for television, especially during the family-viewing hour. In the
end, the shot did not open the show; a Star Wars bar skit did, with
Pryor featured as the bartender. An image of Pryor naked from the
waist up was shown after the opening skit under the credits for it.
However, the image had no commentary, seemingly silencing the
comedian. Yet, the fact that Pryor shot the material at all eventually
proved that it could not be completely suppressed by NBC; his
commentary on network censorship was seen on ABC, CBS, and
NBC when the evening news on all three networks covered the controversy
and showed the clip.
Outside of this often-mentioned controversy, Pryor produced
slapstick and silly, yet insightful and critical, programming, even
within NBC’s constraints. The Richard Pryor Show accomplished
several important tasks through the show’s structure, which included
both the comedic and the dramatic. While the show provided
a space for critical black comedy on network television, Richard
Pryor also developed dramatic skits that humanized black life for
a mainstream audience and allowed a black audience to see themselves
in genres outside of comedy. Pryor improvised to exhibit his
frustrations in new ways that the network could not legitimately
censor. The Richard Pryor Show was a living critique of network
television’s attempt to shape black life. This was exemplified in
each of the four episodes.