Richard Pryor

WASHINGTON -- OK, let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first.Yes, it was heavily ironic that Richard Pryor -- the comic whose profane language tagged him as unsafe for family viewing, whose frequent walks on the wild side made him, in the words of fellow comic Richard Belzer, author of the field manual for misbehavior -- was honored as an icon of American comedy Tuesday night within the hallowed halls of the Kennedy Center."

Richard Pryor, one of the most tortured souls in Hollywood, gets the "Biography" treatment on A&E tonight."The Marshal" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- MacBride (Jeff Fahey) finds himself playing nursemaid to a suspected cocaine dealer, with a rocket for an arm, who is allowed to continue playing baseball while awaiting trial. ABC."Almost Perfect" (8: 30 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- When Kim (Nancy Travis) and Mike (Kevin Kilner) decide to see how long they can give each other the silent treatment, Mike enlists a former girlfriend to break Kim's resolve.

"Pryor Convictions: And Other Life Sentences," by Richard Pryor with Todd Gold. 257 pages. New York: Pantheon Books. $23Richard Pryor looks out from the cover of this sad, honest autobiography with a distant, pained stare, eyes just this side of tears. His expression says: I have seen and done things you wouldn't believe, and a lot of it hurt.He's made the de rigueur trip to the Betty Ford Clinic. Had multiple nervous breakdowns, a quadruple bypass, six wives. Shot his Mercedes and set himself on fire.

Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg, arguably the most famous interracial couple in America, have decided to call it quits, according to news reports.Now they decide.Last month Mr. Danson caused a ruckus at a Friars Club roast in honor of Ms. Goldberg. It was a rare public stab at humor for him without the benefit of ''Cheers'' writers to put the words in his mouth. His effort went over like a striptease act at a funeral.''We were not trying to be politically correct,'' Ms. Goldberg said in Mr. Danson's defense.

The Richard Pryor concert scheduled for Thursday at Pier 6 Concert Pavilion has been canceled.Tickets should be returned to place of purchase by July 18 for a refund. Tickets bought through Telecharge may be returned to: Pier 6 Concert Pavilion, Attn: Box Office, 731 Eastern Ave., Baltimore, 21202.8, For more information call (410) 625-1400.

Comic Roxanne Reese is on stage at Los Angeles' Comedy Store, finishing her act. "And now," she says, "a real big welcome for a man who's too legit to quit."A big welcome it is. The audience stands, claps and cheers. And then, in the corner, he enters: Richard Pryor, the angry, profanity-spewing comic who started it all for angry black comedians.It's a really big welcome for a man who now looks very little, walking onto the stage, holding the arm of his assistant. There is a dazed little grin on his face.

IF I STOP I'LL DIE:THE COMEDY AND TRAGEDYOF RICHARD PRYOR.John A. Williamsand Dennis A. Williams.Thunder's Mouth Press.234 pages. $19.95.THE ADVENTURES OF AMOS 'N'ANDY: A SOCIAL HISTORY OFAN AMERICAN PHENOMENONMelvin Patrick Ely.The Free Press.322 pages. $22.95. "We seldom appear in the media as who we say we are, rather, as who whites say we are."That statement, attributed to actress Ellen Holly, is from the biography of Richard Pryor, but it serves well as a commentary on "Amos 'N' Andy."

You don't need "Another You," the latest Gene Wilder-Richard Pryor vehicle to self-destruct before take-off. This movie brings new meaning to the word meaninglessness: It is simultaneously predictable and improbable.Wilder plays George Washington, a pathological liar who's just been released from a mental institution in an Abe Lincoln stovepipe hat that signifies his hard-won honesty. Pryor plays Eddie Dash, a small-time con man on parole whose assigned community service duty is to help George adjust to non-institutional life.

Remember when Joan Rivers got big laughs at the 1984 Republican Convention by putting down those who didn't rate an invitation to Nancy Reagan's luncheon?If you like that kind of humor -- the kind that celebrates being on the inside and mocks the less fortunate -- you'll probably like "Good & Evil," which premieres at 10:30 tonight on WJZ-TV (Channel 13).You also may be reminded of "Soap," the ABC sitcom in the late 1970s that spoofed soap operas. There's a good reason for that: Both shows were created by Susan Harris.

It's hard to resist calling "Another You" "Another Bomb."The film, starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, plays like an unsuccessful remake of an unsuccessful French comedy. It's that bad.Somewhere through the unwinding of this curiosity, one of the characters asks, ''Will somebody please tell me what is going on?'' It's a fair question. The film is on hour old before we get any plot. Before that, all we know is that George, played by Wilder, is a pathological liar who has been confined to an institution, and that Eddie Dash, played by Pryor, is a con man who has talked his way out of jail by agreeing to do community service.

Dear Chris Rock: I apologize in advance for the language that will shortly follow. And yes, there is a certain irony there, given that you are one of the most profane men on the planet. Also one of the funniest. That's why I eagerly anticipated your new HBO special, Kill the Messenger, even though I knew there would inevitably come a moment that made me embarrassed for you. And sure enough, it came. During your routine, you noted how, last year, the NAACP held a symbolic "burial" of the N-word.

Rain Pryor says that when her father, Richard, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the legendary comedian and actor saw the disease as another trial in a life that seemed tormented from birth. She says he insisted MS stood for "more stuff," then she flashed a wily grin and admitted that "stuff" was a euphemism for a four-letter cuss word her dad was known for using. Rain Pryor , author of Jokes My Father Never Taught Me: Life, Love and Loss With Richard Pryor, will read from her book at Security Square Mall Center Court, 6901 Security Blvd.

MARYLAND Building of bay islands planned The Maryland Port Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are proposing to spend more than $1 billion to rebuild two islands in the Chesapeake Bay - the government's latest plan to use dredge spoil from shipping channels to enhance the environment. pg 1A State to certify principals The state education department is set to announce today that it will award full principal certification to graduates of a yearlong New Leaders for New Schools program designed to train new principals for Baltimore city schools.

THE AL QAEDA FILES -- PBS Home Video / $34.95 PBS' remarkable Frontline series long has been one of the surest bets on television. At a time when network news divisions are constantly being downsized and the line between entertainment and journalism is becoming more and more blurred, Frontline has continued soberly reporting the news, taking the time and making the effort to tell the whole story, completely and dispassionately. The Al Qaeda Files collects seven programs that ran between March 2000 and January 2005, all of which focus on America's war on terror and its main target, Osama bin Laden, the 17th of 52 children of a Saudi businessman who had made millions in construction.

Rain Pryor brings her autobiographical one-woman show, Fried Chicken & Latkes, to the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts tomorrow night at 8. She recently chatted about the cabaret-style show, a series of monologues and songs chronicling life growing up in Beverly Hills, Calif., as the child of a black father (late comedian Richard Pryor) and a Jewish mother. Pryor also spoke candidly about how her father's recent death affected her. Fried Chicken & Latkes is about growing up biracial.

WASHINGTON -- If there is anything that Richard Pryor and Eugene McCarthy had in common besides their sadly coincidental deaths on the same day last weekend, it is this: Both men understood the value of humor as a sweetener of persuasion. Both men were amusing mavericks who reshaped our political and social landscape in a time of turbulent change. Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III, who was 65, reinvented standup comedy in the 1970s with a gumbo mixture of Dick Gregory's political edge, Bill Cosby's folksiness and Lenny Bruce's profanity-laced social commentary.

Richard Pryor forged in his soul the uncreated comic conscience of his race -- and proceeded to rock, rumble and pratfall all over it. He was a performing genius. A virtuoso of profanity, he fearlessly explored that jazzy realm where even curse words fail. Burblings of desire or yelps of pain or eruptions of rage took over to upsetting and uproarious effect. As elastic as Plastic Man, he boasted the balletic moves of a back-alley Baryshnikov, turning ghetto scenes into symphonies of the street.

Richard Pryor, who revolutionized American comedy by tapping into his experiences as a black man in a white-dominated society, died of heart failure early yesterday at his home in Encino, Calif., just nine days after his 65th birthday. He had been ill for years, having been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system, in 1986. There were comedians who came of age in the 1970s. And there was Mr. Pryor. Scathingly funny, bitterly angry, utterly fearless, Mr. Pryor, whom his friend Robin Williams once called "the Evel Knievel of comedy," answered to no comedic standard but his own. He became not only a trailblazer, expanding the boundaries of American humor by holding no cow sacred, but also - in a twist that amazed him endlessly - one of the best-loved comics of his time.

Imagine growing up black and Jewish in Beverly Hills, Calif., during the 1970s and '80s. Now imagine making jokes about growing up black and Jewish in Beverly Hills in the '70s and '80s - talking about things like walking into a beauty salon called "The Great Big Nappy Hair" and ordering a "Jew-fro." That's the kind of in-your-face humor few performers other than, say, Richard Pryor, could get away with. So it's definitely a point in her favor that Rain Pryor, the veteran stand-up comic's 36-year-old biracial daughter, is a chip off the old block.

The golden era of comedy albums -- the late 1950s and 1960s -- began with comics such as Shelly Berman and Lenny Bruce. The classic "2000-Year-Old Man" routine from Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks made its debut on vinyl in 1960, as did recordings from the comedy team of Elaine May and Mike Nichols. Bob Newhart had back-to-back No. 1 comedy albums in the early 1960s, but it was a presidential impersonator who set a sales record. The First Family (1962) featured the late Vaughn Meader's indelible impersonation of President Kennedy.