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Richard Pryor A Notorious Word And Me From Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: The coolest thing about modern day technology or storytelling is
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  Speaker 1: the fact that you can get it anywhere. But when
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  Speaker 1: I can't thank you enough for this book and for
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  Speaker 1: so so so many reasons. Probably one of them would
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  Speaker 1: be because I am addicted to watching Johnny Carson at
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  Speaker 1: night on Antanna TV. I'm there and when your father
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  Speaker 1: comes on there, I just and then to have this
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  Speaker 1: book now blows me away because it gives me a
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  Speaker 1: better picture of the man, not just the comedian, but
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  Speaker 1: the man.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, I hope so because that's the
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  Speaker 2: only way I knew him well.
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  Speaker 1: And it takes such honesty and guts basically to take
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  Speaker 1: on the subject that you did on this Because there's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people that need to get a clarification
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  Speaker 1: of where we are with this word. And I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to tell you I was shocked to learn. And then
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  Speaker 1: when you go back and you learn that, my god,
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  Speaker 1: your father, Richard Pryor was a major part of this,
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  Speaker 1: and it's like, I did not know, and yet I
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  Speaker 1: followed your father for these years. I just didn't know.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he was.
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  Speaker 2: He was a groundbreaking black comedian in the nineteen seventies
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  Speaker 2: who decided in the early part of the decade that
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  Speaker 2: it was going to be himself no matter what on stage,
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  Speaker 2: and that included using the word as satire, as protest,
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  Speaker 2: as resistance, the way that black people have used it
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  Speaker 2: in his home and his communities. And he did it
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  Speaker 2: right on stage. And it's in the title of two
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  Speaker 2: of his you know, Grammy Award winning albums. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: What's so fascinated about this is the fact that one
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  Speaker 1: of my things that I've to do is I love
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  Speaker 1: to be with people. So I work at a frickin
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  Speaker 1: grocery store. And the thing is is that this word
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  Speaker 1: is an everyday word at my store because it is
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  Speaker 1: in the community. And the thing is is that it
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  Speaker 1: helps me understand the person who is still using it
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  Speaker 1: today and gets to use it and then but now
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  Speaker 1: there's roots, and now to me, it's a conversation starter
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  Speaker 1: because now I'll go by the way, there's a book
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  Speaker 1: I want you to read, and I think you need
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  Speaker 1: to read this book.
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  Speaker 3: Oh wonderful. I love hearing that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, what my hope is is for people to
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  Speaker 2: be able to use the book not only to see
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  Speaker 2: the tender relationship between me and my father because they're
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  Speaker 2: interested in celebrity, but because as a jumping off point
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  Speaker 2: to have this really hard conversation, because when we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about the end word, we're not just talking about a word.
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  Speaker 3: We're talking about the history of race and racism in
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  Speaker 3: the United States.
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  Speaker 4: And so I hope that's it's it's an inn, it's
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  Speaker 4: a you know when you see kind of the to
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  Speaker 4: the impact that it had on my own life and
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  Speaker 4: on so many other people's.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you think though, that the genius that you guys
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  Speaker 1: put in charge of this book cover is actually the
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  Speaker 1: first step of a brand new beginning for many people.
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  Speaker 1: Because you can walk into a Barnes and Noble or
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  Speaker 1: you can jump onto Amazon. You see this book cover
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  Speaker 1: and you know that you've got something extremely special that's
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  Speaker 1: about ready to happen inside your eyes.
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  Speaker 2: Ah.
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  Speaker 3: I love the book cover too, wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: Just everything about it, the texture of it, the depth,
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  Speaker 1: the photo, the red lettering. What made you decide? Because
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  Speaker 1: red lettering it sticks out and all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: you're going, Oh, I got to see what this is
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  Speaker 1: all about.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean we thought a lot about the book and
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  Speaker 2: the title and how we wanted to present it, and
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  Speaker 2: I think it reflects what the book is, which is.
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  Speaker 3: Part memoir, part historical.
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  Speaker 2: Exploration of the N word with my relationship with my
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  Speaker 2: and gry father at the heart. And the reason he's
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  Speaker 2: there isn't just because he's there, but because, like I said,
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  Speaker 2: he put the word on the pop culture map.
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  Speaker 4: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: What's interesting is that so many people have different stories
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  Speaker 1: about Richard Pryor in the way that I didn't get
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  Speaker 1: to see him necessarily as a child or a young
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  Speaker 1: adult teenager on as a comedian. He was my my
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  Speaker 1: outdoor movie theater guy. I mean, when we went to
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  Speaker 1: the outdoor movie theater there was your dad and you
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  Speaker 1: know what I mean. So I got a whole completely different,
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  Speaker 1: you know, experience with him, and then too, and then
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  Speaker 1: everything else fell into place, and then this just goes
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  Speaker 1: right there with it where it brings it together into
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  Speaker 1: one person now and not all of these different people
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  Speaker 1: that he was.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love hearing about that. One of the things
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  Speaker 2: that's been so incredibly gratifying. And I also have an
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  Speaker 2: Instagram prior Histories that I've been doing because I've been
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  Speaker 2: teaching a course called Richard Pryor's America and at Smith
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  Speaker 2: College where I teach. And one of the things that's
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  Speaker 2: been so gratifying and so powerful is hearing stories from
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  Speaker 2: people in the comments about how deeply my father touched
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  Speaker 2: so many people and in so many different ways. Like people, many,
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  Speaker 2: many people have a Richard Pryor memory.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's because of his expressions. I also think
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  Speaker 1: it's because of his writing. But boy, he knew how
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  Speaker 1: to use his facial muscles to sell an idea. And
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  Speaker 1: you as the daughter my god, I mean, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I guess this is the kind of kid
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  Speaker 1: I would have been up in Montana. I would have
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  Speaker 1: looked at my dad and said, are you acting right now?
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  Speaker 1: Or are you really doing this in front of me?
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  Speaker 4: Oh?
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  Speaker 1: This is for real? Then I better take you seriously, dad.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean that was like, that was a
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  Speaker 2: little tricky. I gotta say with my father, which was
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  Speaker 2: trying to figure out like is he is he being
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  Speaker 2: playful playful or is he being scary playful like that
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  Speaker 2: because they you know, he he was eerotic. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: he was admittedly a drug addict and alcoholic, but when
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  Speaker 2: he was present, he was more present than anybody else
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  Speaker 2: in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Elizabeth store dur
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  Speaker 1: Pryor coming up next. The name of her book something
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  Speaker 1: we said, Richard Pryor a notorious word and me. We
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  Speaker 1: are back with author Elizabeth store Durer Pryor. I host
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  Speaker 1: a special that's on iHeartRadio that goes up today that's
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  Speaker 1: based on post production blues. And we talked about the
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  Speaker 1: authors that when they come off or even even the
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  Speaker 1: performers when they come off the stage, they go into
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  Speaker 1: that moment. I mean, I mean, all of these big
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  Speaker 1: names all go through it. And I had and I
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  Speaker 1: sit there and I read your book and I'm going
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  Speaker 1: he had to have he had to. I've identified what
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  Speaker 1: post production blues is that moment where it's like everything
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  Speaker 1: falls out and it's like, okay, why did he go
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  Speaker 1: this direction because he must have had it. He must
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  Speaker 1: have known that he had it, and he knew how
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  Speaker 1: to help cure it in that moment.
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  Speaker 2: I agree with you a hundred percent because I think
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  Speaker 2: about how wrong or he made himself on stage, and
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  Speaker 2: I don't think he could help it. I think that
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  Speaker 2: was what kept him going. But I imagine that once
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  Speaker 2: he got off and then what's funny about performance, and
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  Speaker 2: we talked about this a lot in my class, is
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  Speaker 2: like the way in which people will repeat your favorite
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  Speaker 2: lines back to you, right, you know, their favorite lines,
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  Speaker 2: and you don't necessarily want to engage with them off
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  Speaker 2: stage about these things that you've explored on stage. Right,
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  Speaker 2: And yet he he that's what happened to him. You know,
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  Speaker 2: people would people felt like they knew him. They felt
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  Speaker 2: like they would you know, I'd be walking down the street,
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  Speaker 2: what Oupridge? You know? People were like so, you know,
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  Speaker 2: people were so excited by him, and I often, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the more the deeper I get into understanding his work
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  Speaker 2: as an adult and a mother myself and a professor,
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  Speaker 2: the more I realize how vulnerable he must have felt
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  Speaker 2: once he walked off stage.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, your vocal cadence reminds me so much
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  Speaker 1: of your dad. Like I said, I watch a lot
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  Speaker 1: of Johnny Carson and your dad was on there. And
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  Speaker 1: to hear you speaking, I swear to God, your cadence
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  Speaker 1: is so much like his. And it's like I'm sitting
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  Speaker 1: here going I'm talking to Richard Pryor, but no, it's
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  Speaker 1: his daughter, I know, but it's Richard because I can
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  Speaker 1: hear it in your voice.
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  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, thank you.
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  Speaker 2: This is the sincerest compliment I've ever gotten.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much so when you're teaching though, because
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  Speaker 1: I'm an instructor as well, when I get different parts
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  Speaker 1: of the country to come in and your focus is
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  Speaker 1: on on exactly the subject you have, how does the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the nation in their own regions bring in
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  Speaker 1: their experiences with what you're teaching Because we're all coming
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  Speaker 1: from the same country, but we're from different areas.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I think all that I really want is
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  Speaker 2: for people to sit down at the table and have
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  Speaker 2: the conversation.
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  Speaker 1: And I bless you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's what That's what I think it's all about.
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  Speaker 2: And so far my audiences have been willing to have
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  Speaker 2: the conversation. Somebody asked me recently at one of my
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  Speaker 2: presentations like when do you know to be part of
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  Speaker 2: the conversation and not to be part of the conversation
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  Speaker 2: to walk away?
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  Speaker 3: And it's like, I don't.
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  Speaker 2: Really want to have conversations with people who don't want
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  Speaker 2: to be in the conversation with me, right, I don't
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  Speaker 2: want to try to convince anybody to have this conversation.
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  Speaker 3: But I do think the book lays the groundwork for.
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  Speaker 2: People who don't know how to have the conversation, are
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  Speaker 2: curious about it.
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  Speaker 3: To have it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's the conversation starter. What do you do?
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  Speaker 1: What is your secret? And so I have to ask
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  Speaker 1: you because mine will be what do you binge watching?
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  Speaker 1: Or oh what's on? Because people will wear those T
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  Speaker 1: shirts and I'll talk about it. They have no idea
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  Speaker 1: what shirt they've got on. And so it seems like
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  Speaker 1: that in this book, you do create the conversation. And
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  Speaker 1: I would love to know how many people are going
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  Speaker 1: to use your words to create that conversation.
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  Speaker 3: And I hope a lot.
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  Speaker 2: I hope a lot because I've been doing it in
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  Speaker 2: my classroom. I've been doing it in workshops for teachers,
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  Speaker 2: and I've found that no matter where I have it
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  Speaker 2: people are so engaged and so happy to be in
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  Speaker 2: the convers They want to remember.
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  Speaker 1: If people aren't happy to see you, they're happy you
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  Speaker 1: saw them. That's what I get from this book, and
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  Speaker 1: you are happy to see us. We're going to thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for this book. Oh my god, you
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  Speaker 1: must have known that we needed this book.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: You got to come back to this show anytime in
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  Speaker 1: the future. We're just barely scratching the surface here because
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  Speaker 1: I want to know you the teacher, you the author.
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  Speaker 1: I want to know more about your process and how
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  Speaker 1: you're changing the world. So we're gonna have to set
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  Speaker 1: something up.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, anytime, excellent.
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  Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 3: Take care,