All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 Episode 1

    • September 13, 1977
    • NBC

    Guests: --Paula Kelly (singer-dancer) --The O'Jays - sing ""Work on Me"" Sketches: --""Star Wars Bar"" - Mudbone (Pryor) works as a bartender at the galactic bar from ""Star Wars."" --Presidential Press Conference - The first Black president (Pryor) holds a press conference. (Marsha Warfield, Robin Williams, and Sandra Bernhard appear as reporters.) --""Club Harlem"" - Paula Kelly plays a chanteuse in a WWII era nightclub.

  • S01E02 Episode 2

    • September 20, 1977
    • NBC

    Richard Pryor is a Black samurai, a Mississippi prosecutor, the owner of a pet head, an archeologist in Egypt, a come-from man, and a rock-star from Black Death.

  • S01E03 Episode 3

    • September 27, 1977
    • NBC

    Richard Pryor is a diner who uses his food as foreplay; a caveman who discovers fire; Mr. Fixit; and Little Richard. A woman describes a lesbian encounter.

  • S01E04 Episode 4

    • October 20, 1977
    • NBC

    Richard Pryor is a Chinese chef, a wino, El Neggro, a ranch owner, a survivor of the Titanic and Santa Claus. The cast roasts him. Charlie Hill tells jokes.

Additional Specials

  • SPECIAL 0x1 The Richard Pryor Special?

    • May 5, 1977
    • NBC

    --Opening sketch with John Belushi (takes place on a ship). Pryor learns that he has been selected to do a special for NBC. --Backstage: A religious woman (LaWanda Page) tells Pryor that he needs to add a preacher to his special. --Sketch: Pryor as the Reverend James L. White (greedy TV preacher). --Backstage: A woman (Shirley Hemphill), on an NBC tour, suggests Pryor have "...and the Pips" on his show. --Sketch: "...and the Pips" - The Pips appear without Gladys Knight. They sing the background chorus for "Midnight Train to Georgia." --Backstage: A man who is stealing "Wheel of Fortune" prizes starts talking to Pryor. --Sketch: Pryor as Uganda's Idi Amin Dada. --Segment about the beauty of African-American women. A narrator reads the Langston Hughes poem "Harlem Sweeties." --Backstage: Pryor get his shoes shined by an old man (also played by Pryor). --Bar sketch with Pryor as an alcoholic (and John Belushi as the bartender). --2nd part of bar sketch: Pryor's character arrives at home. Maya Angelou plays his wife. --Backstage: Children suggest to Pryor that he do something educational on his special. (Soap actor Kristoff St. John plays one of the kids.) The kids sing "This World Was Made for All Men." --Backstage: Pryor is confronted by his writers who want him to do radical sketches (Sandra Bernhard cameo). --Pryor is now ready to tape his "special." But instead of being innovative, Pryor begins the "special" by singing a wholesome song. While he sings, the closing credits roll.

  • SPECIAL 0x2 Mudbone Monologue

    • NBC

  • SPECIAL 0x3 The Complete Richard Pryor Roast

    • NBC

    This unaired final episode, a roast of Pryor hosted by Paul Mooney, featured the show’s cast — which included Robin Williams, Tim Reid, John Witherspoon, Sandra Bernhart, and Marsha Warfield — giving Pryor some ribbing.

  • SPECIAL 0x4 Sample

    • NBC

  • SPECIAL 0x5 Never Aired Original Series Opening

    • NBC

    Richard is apparently naked although his genitals are disguised

  • SPECIAL 0x6 Cold Open: Camel Love

    • NBC

    Two segments that did not go to air. The first is a series of rehearsals for a sketch involving Pryor and a camel in bed, the second has him dressed up as a maestro conducting a small orchestra. The picture quality is not very good.

  • SPECIAL 0x7 Chimp Symphony

    • NBC

  • SPECIAL 0x8 TV Violence

    • NBC

  • SPECIAL 0x9 Improv Segment Outtakes

    • NBC

  • SPECIAL 0x10 Audience Q&A

    • NBC