# Richard mother f\*\*king Pryor -- now THAT'S the sh\*\*! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 24, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404 "2000-09-24T23:59:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DeathLlama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DeathLlama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeathLlama)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404/1 "2000-09-24T23:59:48Z")
My word. Last night Ruffian and I watched part of an old Richard Pryor comedy tape we rented. The use of profanity was simply astounding. It felt like at least half of the adjectives normally used in a sentance were replaced with the words “mother f\*\*king” (and spoken very quickly, too). It’s not that I have much against cussing - I do lots of it myself - but it just seemed a bit overused. That and not a whole lot of what he was saying was funny. What’s the deal? ---
**Author:** ![DeathLlama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DeathLlama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeathLlama)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404/2 "2000-09-25T00:03:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeathLlama \* > \*\*…normally used in a sentance… \*\* And I can’t mother f\*\*king spell “sentence” ---
**Author:** ![darkcool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@darkcool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/darkcool)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404/3 "2000-09-25T00:23:54Z")
Well… It’s motherf\*\*king funny! ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404/4 "2000-09-25T00:27:13Z")
Jeez, I thought you were going to say he’s dead. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404/5 "2000-09-25T01:06:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by darkcool \* > **Well… It’s motherf** king funny! \*\* Well, it was funny for about five minutes. Then it was old. Then it was boring. Then it was time to stop the tape and find something more interesting to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404/6 "2000-09-25T01:17:45Z")
You know what you are getting when you rent the video, if it offends you, don’t rent it. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404/7 "2000-09-25T01:32:09Z")
I wasn’t offended, Archer, and if I may speak for DeathLlama here, neither was he. It was boring. And it wasn’t really even shocking to me either; we both knew he had a foul mouth. I was just expecting typical stand-up fare–cussing, crudity, and _funny_ stuff. We got one of the three. (I also looked for a Chris Rock video–I really like his stuff–but they didn’t have anything.) Swearing just isn’t something that offends me, usually. They’re just words. And I think that’s why it was so dull and unfunny to us–_because_ we weren’t offended, _because_ we weren’t shocked, it just wasn’t funny. [Homer Simpson]BOR-ING[/Homer Simpson] ---
**Author:** ![shhh\_zzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@shhh\_zzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shhh_zzzz)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-mother-f-king-pryor-now-thats-the-sh/34404/8 "2000-09-25T04:38:30Z")
You said it was an ‘old’ video. I assume it was filmed when Pryor was at the height of his popularity. As I recall, he was loved and revered for his indiscriminate use of profanity. That, along with his physical expressions and tonal inflections are what endeared him to fans at the time. You probably would’ve thot it was funny when it was new, no? Tastes change and audiences are fickle–especially when it comes to humor. IMHO. Chris Rock’s really good. I still love Sinbad–even watch reruns of his performances.