Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic Page #9

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to the hospital,

"and I'll get my ophthalmologist."

They look at him.

The intensivist doctor, neurologist.

And both of them said,

"He may have MS."

When we was doing Harlem Nights,

I remember saying to Richie,

he was getting ready

to go do a scene,

he had a Bic lighter in his

hand. And I said to him,

"This is a period piece,

they didn't have Bics back then."

Said he keeps a lighter in his hand

to disguise his fist balling up

and what was going on with him.

And that's when he let me

know he had the MS.

Yeah, back in those days, we never

thought it would turn out like that.

People that have it

know what I mean.

The sh*t fucks

with your nervous system.

When the doctor tells you you've got

it, and then you go, "Oh, I got it?

"What is it?"

"Uhhh..."

I'd never heard a doctor

say "Uhhh," before.

It's a blessing, though.

When you can't walk

and then you have to depend

on others to help you...

..you have to learn to trust them.

Which is very hard for me.

Very hard.

Jennifer came out to handle

his affairs when he was unable,

with the MS,

to do that much for himself.

I came back in '94.

The party was over.

No more cocaine.

That craziness was all gone.

Let's put it behind us and make

some lemonade out of the lemons.

The drug part of it was over.

He was clean from that point on.

He had really learned whatever

it was to be learned from the MS.

It was difficult to visit

Richard when he was sick,

after knowing him

as such a wiry, vital,

athletic type, you know,

moving around and never being,

you know, to all of a sudden

seeing him a wheelchair.

My dick is dead.

No, it died in my hand.

I had it in my hand,

would beat it...

and the dick looked at me

like I was crazy.

"What the f***'s wrong with you?"

"It's not me, it's you,

motherf***er."

Even when he got sick,

I mean, him wanting to be on stage

in his declining years, was,

to me, so heroic.

Warren Beatty's limousine

would show up.

This make me cry thinking about it.

And he'd be sitting there

looking out at Richard

and he'd be crying, because...

because he knew what a great

genius Richard was.

APPLAUSE:

Richard Pryor defined the game of

stand-up comedy and comedy itself.

And if you haven't stole

from Richard,

then you're probably not that funny.

And I wanted to tell him that

I wanted to be just like him,

except for the drug habit and

failed marriages and the temper

and the guns.

As much as people felt bad for him,

that man probably had some nights

and some days...

I mean, it'd take a lifetime

to top that motherf***er's week.

The last time I saw him, he was...

wheelchair-bound and unable to

speak. Jennifer took me to see him.

He couldn't talk.

All I could do was, you know,

give him a kiss and tell him,

"I still love you, Richard."

Richard Pryor died this

afternoon of a heart attack

at his home in California.

He was 65.

APPLAUSE:

So... what I'm saying, what the

point I'm trying to make is,

that there is no point to be made.

That's all there is.

There ain't no point to it, cos

you didn't ask to come to this

motherf***er and you sure

can't choose how to leave.

Cos you don't know

when you're going to go.

Don't take this sh*t sad.

You better have some fun

and plenty of it.

Cos when the sh*t over and you ask

for a recharge, it's too late.

So all I can say is keep

some sunshine on your face.

APPLAUSE:

Even till the end, Richard never

did know how good he was.

Most people did not understand that.

I never heard him said, "I never

knocked them off their ass tonight."

He always said,

"I'll get them tomorrow."

As the song says, we get back up

again because of boundless mercy.

And that you are a champion,

Richard, you are a champion.

And the ground's no

place for a champion.

So we rise, get up,

go back and do your work.

They've always been

there for Richard.

He's always there for them.

Richard belongs to us.

What do you want to be

remembered for?

I'd like for people...

to see my picture and laugh.

Just see your picture? Yeah.

And laugh and have stories

and tell...

tell some lies on me.

"He made me laugh.

I was there, you know?

"I was there Wednesday when he drove

up in the..." You know, whatever.

Like that. Like... bring joy.

That's how I'd like

to be remembered.

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