Kai Wright

So, you know, so, yeah, he gets kicked out of school.

And he does, though, go and find sanctuary in this place, this community center in Peoria, where he meets what he calls the angel in his life.

It's this woman who's a drama teacher and sees real potential in young Richard Pryor and starts coaching him and giving him opportunities to perform.

And he starts heading down this road.

So, 1963, he moves to New York City with $10 in his pocket.

He's got a dollar and a dream.

And he starts performing in the Greenwich Village scene.

And I don't know how much you know about that scene from the early 60s.

That's right.

That's right.

It's this intimate place.

And, you know, Bob Dylan, Woody Allen, Miles Davis, like John Coltrane, all these people are performing in these little clubs.

The Village Gate is like one of the big ones.

So Richard Pryor gets booked at the Village Gate on one of his first nights.

He's opening for Nina Simone.

Wow.

I love thinking of, like, young Richard Pryor through Nina Simone's eyes.

She's talking about he is so scared, right?

Like, to get up on that stage that apparently, she says, he shook like he had malaria.

Right, right.