Richard Pryor: Live in Concert
DirectorJeff Margolis[1]
ProducerStephen Blauner
Hillard Elkins
Del Jack
William Sargent Jr.
J. Mark Travis
WriterRichard Pryor
StarringRichard Pryor
CinematographyTom Schamp
EditingDaniel J. Johnson
Ken Johnson
Steve Livingston
MusicPatti LaBelle
StudioElkins Entertainment
SEE Theater Network
DistributorSpecial Event Entertainment
ReleasedJanuary 1979
Runtime78 minutes[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$750,000[2]
Gross$15.8 million[3]

Richard Pryor: Live in Concert is a 1979 American stand-up comedy concert film starring and written by Richard Pryor, and directed by Jeff Margolis.[1]

Production

The film was shot at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California[1] on December 10, 1978. It was produced and distributed independently, and was the first full-length feature movie consisting of only stand-up comedy.[4] The double album Wanted: Live in Concert was recorded at other dates during the same tour, and features much of the same material included in the film.[citation needed]

Reception and legacy

In her review of Richard Pryor Live in Concert, Pauline Kael commented, "Probably the greatest of all recorded-performance films. Pryor had characters and voices bursting out of him .... Watching this mysteriously original physical comedian you can't account for his gift and everything he does seems to be for the first time."[5] Eddie Murphy has called it "the single greatest stand-up performance ever captured on film."[6]

In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[7]

Accolades

Recipient(s)AwardCategoryResultRef(s)
Richard PryorNational Society of Film CriticsBest Actor (5th place)
(tied with Klaus Kinski for Nosferatu the Vampyre and Roy Scheider for All That Jazz)
[8]

References

  1. ^ Maslin, Janet (February 16, 1979). "Richard Pryor Live in Concert (1979) Film: 'Pryor in Concert':Mime and Mimic". The New York Times
  2. ^ David Permut: By Permut Only Movieline Staff (December 1, 1992). "Richard Pryor: Live in Concert". p. 2.
  3. ^ Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, Worldwide Box Office. Worldwide Box Office. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  4. ^ Comedy gold: Richard Pryor Live in Concert | Stage | The Guardian
  5. ^ Kael, Pauline (1991). 5001 Nights at the Movies. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 628. ISBN 978-0-8050-1367-2.
  6. ^ This is a quote from the "Eddie Murphy & Byron Allen interview", an extra on the DVD version of Eddie Murphy Delirious.
  7. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (December 14, 2021). "National Film Registry Adds Return Of The Jedi, Fellowship Of The Ring, Strangers On A Train, Sounder, WALL-E & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  8. ^ National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA (1980) - IMDb