Richard Pryor - Here and Now

Rating:
Summary: Richard Pryor - Here and Now
Review: I saw this film originaly in the theater and I walked out dissapointed. I finnaly saw it just recently on Encore and laughed like crazy. You be the judge. This film had it's moments, but still doesn't live up to Pryors previous film, "Live on Sunset Strip".

Rating:
Summary: PART OF THE BIG 3
Review: Not funny? Huh?!?! How can anyone who enjoys Pryor's humor not consider this funny? Granted, RICHARD PRYOR LIVE and LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP our the two better installments of this succession of three great shows (RICHARD PRYOR LIVE is an absolute classic) but this is nonetheless still great comedy. The only downer of this whole set is the often annoying audience. Pryor answers back to the hecklers with sharp humor but the interuptions are certainly annoying.

Still, this is yet another great example of the most honest funnyman of our time.

If, however, you have not seen any of his stand-up, by all means, look to RICHARD PRYOR LIVE first, then get ON THE SUNSET STRIP. But if those two classics tickle your funnybone, I can't imagine why you wouldn't find much to enjoy here.

Not as good as the others, but 1 star? Please!

Rating:
Summary: THIS FILM IS UNDERAPRRECIATED! THIS SHOW IS GREAT!!
Review: People say that HERE & NOW didn't make as big an impact as his other concert films , particularly LIVE ON SUNSET STRIP , but I found the film very enjoyable. The excited (maybe drunken) hecklers would sometimes interrupt Pryor's routine early in the film but he rolls with the hecklers garnering applause at times.

The beauty of Pryor's stand-up is that he seems to share seriously revealing aspects of his personal life for the sake of comedy and entertainment. The moment when he is talking about the junkies are an example of that. The routine changes from stand-up to captivating theatre when he talks about the junkie "Motif". Pryor gets into character and when he begins to roll his sleeve up indicating he is about to 'shoot up' it goes from comedy to commentary. You clearly see the sad reality painted by him yet he doesn't go too far out of the comedic light to still make you laugh. He walks that fine line between funny and seriousness. That is part of the reason why Pryor is considered a comedy genius and I haven't seen another comedian do that better.

The DVD is a two-sided disc with widescreen on one side and full screen on the other. The audio is digital mono with english and french subtitles (at least on the disc I own).

People say that this isn't his best stand up routine but that doesn't mean it is bad stand up. Pryor has stand up routines that are tough to measure up to so it really isn't fair to belittle this film by comparing it to his other shows even though in HERE & NOW he is very much open , spontaneous , and connected with the audience. To me HERE & NOW is very funny enlightening , and revealing.

Rating:
Summary: Pearls Before Swine
Review: Pryor was brilliant in this set. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, his audience seemed to be composed of the inhabitants of every podunk village in Louisiana, who saw attendance at his show as the crowning moment of their lives, and wanted to make sure Pryor and the rest of the world knew just how momentous it was by announcing it at the top of their lungs, never stopping their celebration long enough to actually listen to Pryor's routine. He had to contend with a constant barrage of drunken heckling but he still managed to weave spellbinding stories and make brilliant impromptu observations about everyday life. In fact, he frequently turned the boorish behavior of the audience to his advantage, and constructed several brilliant bits of business from their sometimes bizarre antics. Still, it was particularly sad to watch the contrast between the profundity of Pryor's depiction of a broken down junkie and the audience's complete incomprehension of what Pryor was revealing. All the same, Pryor manages to transcend his audience's limitations and create a world of characters and experiences that was fascinating, touching and hilarious. If you can manage to do the same, and overlook the audience and immerse yourself in Pryor's world, it will be well worth the effort. Don't sleep on this one.

Rating:
Summary: this Video had it's Moments
Review: Richard Pryor had me rolling during this set.talking about Ronald Reagan&the white house.also about other topics.The Man is the King of Story Telling.he just brings so much hurt&soul into his Craft.now i will admit that other stage Performances have made a bigger impact overall but seeing Rich on stage doing his thang&Mudbone is always a treat.

Rating:
Summary: Take this as a Warning. I am serious.
Review: This is a warning to anybody thinking of buying this dvd. Here and Now was awful. From the beginning you can see the stupid audience members heckling and bothering pryor. I wish i could invent a time machine to go back and kill those people before they entered the theater that night. I purchased Here and Now because i was at the store hoping to get Live in Conert or Live on the Sunset Strip. They were all out, then i saw this dvd. The price was 20 dollars and i had 20 dollars on me. I thought this must be fate, no it wasn't it was God's and Richard Pryor's way of making a big joke. I had told friends how great Pryor was in the other performance. Live in Concert was genius, just brilliant. So i bought it and showed it to the friends i had hyped him up to, and only one of them even laughed a little and the other's began to criticize Pryor for being so terribly unfunny. And that just made me look like an idiot for recommending him. This is a Warning. Please i beg of you not to buy this; take your twenty dollars and give it to me, I will put it to good use by hiring scientists to build time machines and spaceships to go back in time and smack the coke out of Richard's nose before he decided to do this show. I would only tell you to get it if you have a collection you wish to complete, because there are a only a couple of good parts. Be warned!

Rating:
Summary: Richard Pryor: Here and Now
Review: This is not up to the Richard Pryor comedic standard.

Rating:
Summary: Lousy
Review: Those who are familiar with Richard Pryor at his peak will be very disappointed with this one. Seemingly having no prepared material, Pryor shuffles up and down the stage, frequently stopping to shout at members of the audience (who heckle him throughout the show). Pryor never quite gets on track, and even the "Mudbone" routine falls flat. In all, it is a sorry, boring waste of time, a tedious testament to the creative and artistic decline of a once-great entertainer. Most infomercials are far more entertaining that this piece of garbage. Not recommended.