Richard Pryor On His Addictions and Being Raised in a Brothel | The Dick Cavett Show

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's funny it's never happened before does anyone remember what we were talking about I'm quite blank I've had one of my spells now if you just joined this Richard Pryor was running through his sordid sexual history and an alley that everyone walked out of things know I had a similar experience but you're my guest and they read it here you talk Oh tell us about a dick [Applause] you know I don't remember that well because I wrote about it when you write about something you forget if there were a copy of my book here I'd be very happy to read it to you and but there isn't and so I just [Applause] you believe that forgot my stage manager always carries one but unfortunately I don't have my reading glasses and that's true know what it was was that as if in a movie theater and I remember I was watching Hopalong Cassidy movie I was allowed to go to movies as a kid by myself at a very tender age and I was watching this movie and suddenly a voice next to me says put your hand under here and guy over the raincoat naturally talked about hope yeah and I had been told to obey my elders you know yeah so I put my hand where he wanted it apparently and I remember thinking that it wasn't so much I was scared as the humiliation of it I thought what if the lights go up what do I do you know you know it's good that we talked about this you know because you know sometimes people look at us like infallible like like we're not human and never had a life never like there's people like are listening now that have things in their life that they have never talked about that's right you know then it always helps to talk about it and someone yeah I don't mean the world like you know but talk about stuff you know you'd be surprised you take a chance on somebody say look I'm not proud of this part of my life I like to tell you know there's no doubt that it's therapeutic and they say there all the analysts does is take the place of the friend some of us in show business may not have that we can confide in you and I do I'm sure yeah you know okay see the Enquirer now Kevin Pryor confessed assorted homosexual panic [Applause] yeah anyway were you any good in school by that I mean were you good in school we fractious were either one of the teachers I was good until I think in my mind but see we always remember things I guess don't even want to but in my mind I remember I was good until the Catholic school when they kicked me out because my mother's had a house of ill-repute now you know I have read that you were born in a brothel and I figured this is prior putting on an interviewer you know I was born in my mother's womb but yes and we lived in them I guess you call it a brothel we called it a whorehouse but it was home to me [Laughter] yes domicile of ill refused do you remember wondering if that's where I guess that was the world you knew did you think wonder what other kids didn't live among lots of ladies and yeah I had a problem with that finding out that people lived another way when I got too grown and we moved and I met kids that didn't know about that at all and didn't talk like I talked I didn't I couldn't understand it it took me a while to stop hitting on their mothers I could have sworn that was just something he probably said in current biography said and where were you born Richard and you probably thought be funny to say what'd you call it a whorehouse is yeah yeah we didn't have those in Nebraska yes we did the wheeler rooms in Grand Island Nebraska there was a you know you have man and women in Nebraska you had them men and women in the breath oh but I used to remember my father and a friend joking about this place where men went at lunchtime and came back still hungry because they hadn't had time for their there's no place there's no place to teach us about feeling in school you know teach us that you have to learn that out here no yeah when you grow up yeah you know get maybe in some of the more progressive schools now they do I don't know I don't know about that hey would you for that fantasy of going back through school knowing what you know now and how you could deal with the did you have a nasty teacher at any point that you'd love to get even today no I had good teachers I was the nasty one I was lucky yeah I didn't have I think about it now I mean as a child you you know ya know I had real good teacher I was very fortunate kid what is any any waiting in capsule what they they always refer to the dark side of Richard Pryor the rage that is still there the anger and so on mmm-hmm what would it take to get rid of that is it specific people you'd like to get revenge on in some way is it just you know I hate it once and it was about 30 seconds I didn't like it you hated I hated someone once and the feeling it did something to me it's skewed me it's skewed me that's really I really hate wishing someone were dead oh I hate it was about 30 seconds of and I said who was this what is that feeling I didn't like that at all yeah so I let go yeah and his that rage still there they say it's a cliche about every comic there the demons sleep you know if I don't drink I'll use dope then he stays asleep mm-hmm I build him a little house yeah I said just leave me alone please yeah I know an actor with a lot of demons who said you don't seem to have anything chasing you and interesting that about me but he was wrong I know that probably has certain percentage of people when they hear you say I am clean think well of course he'd say that in public yeah but I always said of the house I was I would always say I did it in public too I said yeah and I do doping I like it and I think it's wonderful and then why people refuse to accept the other way they believe that one but yeah [Music] do you run into the thing that I'm told reform drug addicts and alcoholics do run into a supposedly perfectly nice people who will say to you just a little won't hurt you come on try to just loosen up a little I love them when people say to you after you tell them your alcohol you know no alcoholic you do drink a little bit to my ear care No thank you no but there are people who will do that aren't ya are they necessarily people who want to bring you to their level or are they just trying it no they don't wanna drink alone yeah that's a wait a moment I'll be right back [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The Dick Cavett Show

Views: 216,420

Rating: 4.9279976 out of 5

Keywords: The Dick Cavett Show, Talk Show, Musician, Celebrities, Dick Cavett, United States, Chat Show, Interview, richard pryor interview, richard pryor comedian, richard pryor comedy, richard pryor dick cavett, 1985, richard pryor 1985, pryor, richard, the richard pryor show, richard pryor stand up, richard pryor jr, richard pryor show, richard pryor full, richard pryor live, Paul Mooney, dick cavett interview, richard pryor addiction, richard pryor brothel

Id: pWU0CaP9x70

Length: 8min 35sec (515 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 09 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/arealhumannotabot]

I'd never heard of Dick Cavett and this is the second clip of his show I've seen recently. It seems so much more down-to-earth than other talk shows.

And when the stage manager throws the book at him I burst out laughing

[u/IrishSchmirish]

That one woman in the audience that seems to start every single out of place laugh from the audience is infuriating.

[u/asdf3730]

It was funny, but it was also sad. I dont know if I would say the poignant moments were punctuated with comedy, or the other way around, there was so much of both.

[u/john47f]

Did I hear Dick right, saying as a kid he had to put his hand down the coat of some stranger in the cinema? Like ... a child molester sitting next to him?

[u/lightweight]

What drug is he refering to with dope? Cannabis? Heroin?