Richard Pryor was born on this day in 1940. To me Richard Pryor was pound for pound the funniest comedian ever. Jerry Seinfeld called Richie Pryor the ‘Picasso of our profession”

Pryor was a stand-up comedian and starred in many films. He was listed by Comedy Central as the #1 stand-up comedian of all time.  Pryor won 5 Grammy Awards.

Pryor had a crazy personal life- he was married 7 times, his problems with drugs were notorious.

Richard Pryor was also one of the writers who wrote the funniest movie of all time “Blazing Saddles”

I have most of Pryor’s comedy albums and listening to the ones from even 40 years ago, they still have me laughing { I had always heard about Lenny Bruce- a few years ago I bought a box set of Bruce’s work and listened to them, I could see the genius there but the humor seemed pretty dated, Pryor’s doesn’t to me}

Richie Pryor died in 2005 of a heart attack. He was 65 years old.