Mr. Pryor

My obsession with Richard Pryor’s comedy started about five or six years ago, when I broke up with my girlfriend, and I was all fucked up. She was my first true love, and I didn’t stand a chance – immediately after the break-up, my doorbell rang. When I opened the door, depression was just standing there, smiling at me, flanked by two huge suitcases. The two of us spent the next two or three months in my house, in the middle of winter, listening to music, staring, and talking shop.

There are only two things that got me through, and slowly but surely kicked that motherfucker out of my house. The first was my cat. The other was Richard Pryor.

One night, I was downloading scores of depressing music from Napster, and, by chance, I happened to see a Pryor album in my search results. I hadn’t laughed in months, but I guess I was feeling open-minded (i.e., I was drunk), and I checked out the album (I think it was ‘Live on the Sunset Strip’). It was unreal. I spent an hour absolutely cracking up out loud (which I almost never do even when I’m in a good mood). Over the next few days, I either purchased or downloaded every one of Pryor’s albums.

I’m not going to try and explain the unqualified admiration, appreciation, and gratitude I have for Richard Pryor’s comedy. It would take too long, and having read a few of today’s articles reviewing his career and characteristics of his humor, it would probably be pretty boring.

Therefore, although I’m just one fan among millions, for whatever its worth, I am paying my respects to Richard Pryor.

A galaxy far, far to the left

That which passes for the “far left” these days, particularly among our more conservative commentators, is totally out of control. I’ve heard this phrase applied to dozens of people and entities, such as Michael Moore, John Kerry, Cindy Sheehan, and several major newspapers, most notably the New York Times and Washington Post. Bill O’Reilly (probably the funniest man on television) throws the label “far left” around constantly. I realize the obvious (and quite pathetic) strategy and rationale behind this tactic, but can’t these guys just stick with referring to the opposition as “liberal,” instead of mixing everyone who doesn’t say merry fucking Christmas in retail stores into one gigantic mob? If I look over in my proverbial political foxhole and see Bill Clinton standing next to me, I’m going to freak. Please leave actual progressive thinkers out of this shit. Please.

I guess John Kerry resides on the “far left” of the political spectrum because he advocated for future negotiations in Iraq, smaller tax cuts, and abortion rights. Similarly, Michael Moore is clearly a pseudo-socialist due to his speaking out for revolutionary ideas such as labor unions, the lies behind the Iraq War, and gun control.

Wow – these are impressive left-wing credentials. Labor unions? Gun control? This is communism. Starve 180 pounds out of Michael Moore and slap a fake beard on him, and that motherfucker’s Ho Chi Minh. Give me a break. John Kerry is about as “far left” as Spiro Agnew.

If Michael Moore, John Kerry, and the New York Times represent the “far left” in the U.S. today, then where do I stand? Where do all my friends stand? Have we been pushed off the spectrum and relegated to the political “carport,” like small children at a family holiday dinner? Are we hanging off the edge of the U.S. political continuum, or have we simply fallen into political oblivion? Actually, my theory is that Karl Rove’s fat ass takes up so much space on the far right side of the spectrum that he pushed everyone over and knocked the far left contingent off the cliff.