Editing Richard Pryor (section)

===1970–1979: Breakthrough and acclaim===
[[File:Alan Alda Lily Tomlin Richard Pryor 1973.jpg|thumb|right|Pryor performed in the [[Lily Tomlin]] specials. He is seen here with Tomlin and [[Alan Alda]] in Tomlin's 1973 special.]]
In the 1970s, Pryor wrote for television shows such as ''[[Sanford and Son]]'', ''[[The Flip Wilson Show]]'', and a 1973 [[Lily Tomlin]] special, for which he shared an [[Emmy Award]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.emmys.com/celebrities/richard-pryor |title=Richard Pryor Emmy Winner |work=Television Academy}}</ref> During this period, Pryor tried to break into mainstream television. He appeared in several films, including ''[[Lady Sings the Blues (film)|Lady Sings the Blues]]'' (1972), ''[[The Mack]]'' (1973), ''[[Uptown Saturday Night]]'' (1974), ''[[Silver Streak (film)|Silver Streak]]'' (1976), ''[[Car Wash (film)|Car Wash]]'' (1976), ''[[The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings]]'' (1976), ''[[Which Way Is Up?]]'' (1977), ''[[Greased Lightning (1977 film)|Greased Lightning]]'' (1977), ''[[Blue Collar (film)|Blue Collar]]'' (1978), and ''[[The Muppet Movie]]'' (1979).

Pryor signed with the comedy-oriented independent record label [[Laff Records]] in 1970,<ref name="Billboard1971-01-09">{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28 |title=Soul Sauce |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=January 9, 1971 |accessdate=July 1, 2023 }}</ref> and in 1971 recorded his second album, ''[[Craps (After Hours)]]''. Two years later Pryor, still relatively unknown, appeared in the documentary ''[[Wattstax]]'' (1972), wherein he riffed on the tragic-comic absurdities of [[race relations]] in [[Watts, Los Angeles|Watts]] and the United States. Not long afterward, Pryor sought a deal with a larger label, and he signed with [[Stax Records]] in 1973. When his third breakthrough album ''[[That Nigger's Crazy]]'' (1974) was released, Laff, which claimed ownership of Pryor's recording rights, almost succeeded in getting an [[injunction]] to prevent the album from being sold. Negotiations led to Pryor's release from his Laff contract. In return for this concession, Laff was enabled to release previously unissued material, recorded between 1968 and 1973, at will. ''That Nigger's Crazy'' was a commercial and critical success; it was eventually certified gold by the [[RIAA]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCQEAAAAMBAJ&q=that+nigger%27s+crazy+RIAA+Gold&pg=PA5 |title=Paul Green, "Richie Sets Multiplantium Record: Boston Has RIAA Top Debut Album," ''Billboard'', November 15, 1986. |via=Google Books|date=November 15, 1986 }}</ref> and won the [[Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album]] at the [[1975 Grammy Awards]].

[[File:Richard Pryor at SJSU 1974.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Pryor performing in 1974]]
During the legal battle, Stax briefly closed its doors. At this time, Pryor returned to [[Reprise Records|Reprise]]/[[Warner Bros. Records]], which re-released ''That Nigger's Crazy'', immediately after ''[[...Is It Something I Said?]]'', his first album with his new label. Like ''That Nigger's Crazy'', the album was a critical success; it was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA and won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording at the 1976 Grammy Awards.

Pryor's 1976 release ''[[Bicentennial Nigger]]'' continued his streak of success. It became his third consecutive gold album, and he collected his third consecutive Grammy for Best Comedy Recording for the album in 1977. With every successful album Pryor recorded for Warner (or later, his concert films and his 1980 [[freebasing]] accident), Laff published an album of older material to capitalize on Pryor's growing fame—a practice they continued until 1983. The covers of Laff albums tied in thematically with Pryor films, such as ''Are You Serious?'' for ''[[Silver Streak (film)|Silver Streak]]'' (1976), ''The Wizard of Comedy'' for his appearance in ''[[The Wiz (film)|The Wiz]]'' (1978), and ''Insane'' for ''[[Stir Crazy (film)|Stir Crazy]]'' (1980).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://biography.yourdictionary.com/richard-pryor |title=Richard Pryor Fast Facts |website=Yourdictionary |access-date=July 30, 2016}}</ref> Pryor co-wrote ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' (1974), directed by [[Mel Brooks]] and starring [[Gene Wilder]]. Pryor was to play the lead role of Bart, but Mel Brooks didn't want to share credit with the quickly-rising comic. Brooks has always maintained Warner Brothers' executives vetoed Pryor's casting, but no studio executive has ever corroborated this claim. It was only after Pryor's passing (in 2005), Brooks' began insisting the comic was "uninsurable" because of a "drug arrest;"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rohan |first=Virginia |title=Mel Brooks reveals the stories behind 'Blazing Saddles' |url=https://www.northjersey.com/story/life/nation-now/2016/08/22/mel-brooks-reveals-stories-behind-blazing-saddles/89130564/ |access-date=November 20, 2023 |website=North Jersey Media Group |language=en-US}}</ref> but to-date, no studio executive (employed at Warner Brothers during this era), has ever gone [[On-the-record|on the record]] to corroborate Brooks' assertions—either the director's vigorously advocating or the studio's absolute rejection (for hiring Pryor to act in ''Blazing Saddles''). According to director [[Michael Schultz|Michael Shultz]], "Richard wrote it and Mel Brooks chased him out,"  Shultz said at the time (during the film's theatrical exhibition). "Mel Brooks was trying to get total credit for the picture. . . . To be outmaneuvered and ripped off at that early stage in his career is something that's a little hard for him to get over. I'd feel the same way." Moreover, Brooks assured Pryor the role of Sheriff Bart was his, but after Pryor departed the director's writer's suite, he never heard from Brooks again. In early-1972, Pryor was reportedly dumbfounded when he had to first learn from [[Cleavon Little]] that Mel Brooks wasn't going to use him on-screen.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henry |first=David |title=Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him |date=November 5, 2013 |publisher=Algonquin Books |isbn=9781616202712 |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |publication-date=November 5, 2013 |pages=146 |language=English}}</ref>

[[File:Richard Pryor and Lou Gossett Jr.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Pryor with [[Lou Gossett Jr.]] in 1978]]
In 1975, Pryor was a guest host on the [[Saturday Night Live (season 1)|first season]] of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' (''SNL''), making him the first black host. Pryor's longtime girlfriend, actress and talk-show host Kathrine McKee (sister of [[Lonette McKee]]), made a brief guest appearance with Pryor on ''SNL''. One of the highlights of the night was the controversial [[Word Association (Saturday Night Live)|"word association" skit]] with [[Chevy Chase]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75ginterview.phtml |title=SNL Transcripts: Richard Pryor: 12/13/75: Racist Word Association Interview |publisher=Snltranscripts.jt.org |access-date=June 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923185534/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75ginterview.phtml |archive-date=September 23, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He would later do his own variety show, ''[[The Richard Pryor Show]]'', which premiered on [[NBC]] in 1977. The show was cancelled after only four episodes probably because television audiences did not respond well to his show's controversial subject matter, and Pryor was unwilling to alter his material for network censors. He later said, "They offered me ten episodes, but I said all I wanted to in four." During the short-lived series, [[Black president in popular culture (United States)|he portrayed the first black]] President of the United States, spoofed the ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]'' [[Mos Eisley]] cantina, examined [[gun violence]] in a non-comedy skit, lampooned racism on the sinking ''[[Titanic]]'' and used costumes and visual distortion to appear nude.<ref>{{cite book|author=Silverman, David S. |date=2007|title=You Can't Air That: Four Cases of Controversy and Censorship in American Television Programming|location= Syracuse, NY|publisher=Syracuse University Press}}</ref> In 1979, at the height of his success, Pryor visited [[Kenya]]. Upon returning to the United States from Africa, Pryor swore he would never use the word "[[nigger]]" in his stand-up comedy routine again.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=Derrick Z. |title=The N-word and Richard Pryor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/opinion/the-nwordand-richard-pryor.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 15, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613054115/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/opinion/the-nwordand-richard-pryor.html |archive-date=June 13, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|JZCS5I80X-8|The word 'Nigger'&nbsp;– Richard Pryor & George Carlin}} {{dead link|date=November 2022}}</ref>