You know and love him from his ground-breaking infamous stand-up films,
Live!, Live on the Sunset Strip and
Here and Now, as well as from his broad ranging movies, such as
Lady Sings the Blues and
Stir Crazy. But in
Live & Smokin', you will see the ingenious Richard Pryor during his earliest stand-up days, filmed in a live performance at the New York Improvisation on April 29, 1971.
Making frequent references to the fact that being filmed makes him nervous, the comic displays many of the traits that would eventually make his future work uniquely Richard Pryor's: interpretive voices and characterizations, material drawn from his upbringing in a house of prostitution and plenty of comments on racial differences, chemical substances and sex, sex and more sex.
Live & Smokin' also includes the now famous "Wino Preacher & Willie the Junkie" sequence, in which Pryor carries on a conversation between the two characters that start out funnily but spirals into a sad and poignant routine, amply showcasing the comedian's ability to tackle serious acting jobs.
