re: #724 talon_262

I’m aware that Pryor did a lot of acting (among other things) after writing on Blazing Saddles…I love a lot of his movies, especially his collaborations with Gene Wilder (Stir Crazy and Silver Streak are among my favorites). But, he’d been doing standup and albums for years before that…he was just approaching the prime of his career in the mid-70s. As far as his standup, Live on the Sunset Strip was among his best, IMO.

As far as Blazing Saddles is concerned, I think Pryor did much more as a writer than he would have in the lead.

I’m biased, since I’ve loved Pryor ever since I heard his early albums as a young child. I shouldn’t have been listening to such material as “Bicentennial Ni**er” as a 6-year old, but I had mischievous older brothers who played it for me.

Pryor had already had acting success in Lady Sings the Blues two years before BS. Hard to imagine BS being a better film, but Pryor’s anarchic high-strung insanity might have done the trick. I guess my point is that no one will ever accuse Cleavon Little of being a comic genius.