R. I. P.

I think it’s easy for people of my generation to underrate him because of his generally dreary feature film career, but Richard Pryor was a genius comedian, one of the very greatest. I’ve been listening to his collection of comedy recordings–mostly from his peak in the mid-70s–and it’s just brilliant stuff, a must-own if you’re interested in the genre at all.

The NYT has an extensive obit here.

…nice roundup and tribute from Joe Gandelman. Good stuff from Digby too.