Kai Wright

That the man shook like he had malaria.

So she says to get him up on stage, she would rock him like a baby.

Like, put her arms around him and just rock him till he calmed down.

So she did that on the first night, and then the next night was the same, and the next, I rocked him each time till he calmed down.

That's right.

Yes.

Nina Simone midwifed Richard Pryor.

And, you know, he says at the time the kind of comedy he started to develop was essentially copying Bill Cosby, right?

So, like...

This is, you know, the mid-60s.

Bill Cosby is certainly the reigning Black celebrity, but probably like one of, you know, because he's on TV as a Black man.

That's really unusual at this time.

And he's, you know, Bill Cosby is like telling Cosby jokes, right?

And so Richard Pryor thinks this is comedy, and so I'm going to do that.

There's this clip I found from his, like, closest collaborator in comedy, Paul Mooney.

And he's pretty good at it, actually.

And he starts to take off and he gets on the Ed Sullivan show.

That's his big moment.

Like, and he starts doing these bits on the Ed Sullivan show in the 60s and becomes known as like a rising star as a consequence.

You know, this is the new Bill Cosby.