Richard Pryor

This early recording of Richard Pryor finds him establishing the racially conscious, outrageously off-color and ultimately human persona that completely changed the rules of stand-up comedy in the 1970s and beyond. While the "Mudbone" sketches haven't aged so well, his cocaine material is, as always, as hilarious as it's honest.

All comedy albums have flat bits--which probably vary from listener to listener--and there are moments here when you get the feeling Pryor is making nasty not to shock but to fulfill expectations, like the guys in the fourth year of Hair waving their cocks at the tourists. But his long tale about Mudbone (stupidly edited between two sides) is so breathtakingly wise and weird that--and I never say this--it's worth the price of the record. A lot of the rest is pretty funny, too. Maybe you and your friends can chip in. (Grade - A)