Dick Gregory is going to be at the DC Improv next week. Is he still funny, or will it just be an hour of politics and activism?
I don’t know if he’s ever been funny, but he definitely is not currently funny. He appeared at the Comedy Centryl Roast of Hugh Hefner and while everyone else was reeming Hef good, DG comes on and gives five minutes of maudlin tripe about what a hero Hef is for giving blacks opprtunities at his clubs in the 50’s and 60’s when it wasn’t cool to do so. My guess is he is now the type of stand-up who gets applause, not laughs.
Is Dick Gregory still alive? 
The only reference I know to Dick Gregory is when Robin Harris in Houseparty says to “leave him alone, so he can have his Dick Gregory”, which I guess referred to some sort of healthful shake mix??
I never thought he was particularly funny, even when his outdated “message” was lukewarmly topical.
Updating this thread:
Username/post combo of the day.
mmm
I guess the answer is “no,” then.
This is a total mischaracterization of his life and work and out of any context.
Here’s another article, from the New York Times:
That his message was considered by some to be outdated and not close to topical a decade ago seems interesting today.
The whole point of his life and work was to make his message outdated.
We had him at college sometime around 1979. First half was standup, which I remember as funny. Second half was political/social commentary, which was unexpected, particularly at a small Minnesota college.
I’m 50 and I’ve never known Dick Gregory to be funny or to actually do comedy. Any time his name came up it was about his activism. Since I was in the NYC news area the Walter Hudson story was big news. I was surprised to hear he did comedy at all anymore.