Transcript

Rob Reiner Case Triggers Jennifer Pryor’s Life with Richard Pryor

From Howie Mandel Does Stuff · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 4 min · 11,952 words · 273 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Rob Reiner Case Triggers Jennifer Pryor’s Life with Richard Pryor", an episode of Howie Mandel Does Stuff published January 20, 2026 (1 h 4 min, about 11,952 words). It mentions 31 people, works and ideas, including Richard Pryor, Jennifer Prior, Comedy, Howie Mandel, Paul Mooney.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Comedy, Comedy Store, Jennifer Prior, Arsenio Hall
  2. – 20:00: Comedy, Comedy Store, Howie Mandel, Bill Murray
  3. – 30:00: Comedy, Comedy Store, Howie Mandel, Damon Wayans
  4. – 40:00: Comedy, Stir Crazy, Tucson, Howie Mandel
  5. – 50:00: Tucson, Howie Mandel, Stir Crazy, Apollo
  6. – 1:00:00: Comedy, Comedy Store, Paul Mooney, Attorney General
  7. – 1:04:22: Comedy, Jennifer Prior

Notable quotes from "Rob Reiner Case Triggers Jennifer Pryor’s Life with Richard Pryor"

  • People need it. And I have talked ad nauseium any place I go that my comedy god is Richard Prior. and Richard Prior kind of opened up my eyes.
    about Richard Pryor · at
  • Tim Reid, Sandre Burnernhard, Paul Mooney, Paul Mooney was like his writer was like a right-hand was one of the writers on it. Yeah, there was a you roster of good writing. Rocco Yubitzi, bunch of people were on that show.
    about Paul Mooney · at
  • So I came to the and I was hanging out with Arsenio at the comedy store in 78 and I watched him like showing up every night writing. Paul Mooney would be on the side taking notes and he was.
    about Arsenio Hall · at
  • Is that's he was very real. He was always very real and eventually like he would come to the comedy store and do a bit like that and then hone it and hone it and hone it and…
    about Comedy Store · at
  • Oh god. Howie Mandel here. Do you ever catch a reflection and see your posture looks like the letter C? We spend all day hunched over screens looking like human shrimp. The Petty Bond system is.
    about Howie Mandel · at
  • Just you know wardrobe a lot of details that were for him and but one day he walked out of the and he was already diagnosed by the way with MS and what was the sign like what…
    about Attorney General · at
  • Oh [ __ ] Stir crazy. He was high as a kite on that film. Perform standup.
    about Stir Crazy · at
  • That's a happy ending to this episode. I can't thank you enough, Jennifer Prior.
    about Jennifer Prior · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Richard Pryor — Person · Primary subject (referenced) · 1 mention · first at
    Central figure of the conversation: his comedy, personal life, career arc, addiction, health, and legacy/estate management drive nearly every topic thread.
  • Jennifer Prior — Person · Main guest · 3 mentions · first at
    Interviewee recounting her relationship with Richard Pryor, her role in his later life, and her stewardship of his estate and intellectual property.
  • Howie Mandel — Person · Host · 4 mentions · first at
    Leads the interview, frames Pryor’s influence on comedy, and inserts personal observations and industry context; also performs sponsor ad reads.
  • Paul Mooney — Person · Referenced collaborator (writer/comedian) · 3 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a writer around Pryor’s NBC variety show and Comedy Store era; guest disputes the extent of Mooney’s authorship/credit claims.
  • Arsenio Hall — Person · Referenced peer/comedian · 2 mentions · first at
    Appears as a Comedy Store-era peer and later visitor to Pryor; mentioned discussing rediscovery/usage of Pryor’s NBC variety show tapes.
  • Kenya Barris — Person · Referenced collaborator (biopic development) · 2 mentions
    Named as the writer/producer involved in developing a Pryor biopic project, indicating ongoing monetizable/creative estate activity.
    It with. the fact that you have his estate and a lot of irons in the fire. The biopic we're still working on with Kenya Baris.
  • Jackie Schultz — Person · Co-guest / guest’s daughter (brief participant) · 1 mention · first at
    Introduced as Jennifer’s daughter; contributes occasional questions and reactions, helping frame the conversation as intergenerational/reflective.
    And this is my daughter, Jackie.
  • Jim Brown — Person · Referenced confidant/contact · 1 mention · first at
    Named as the person Jennifer called when she feared Pryor would harm himself; used as evidence of the immediacy of the crisis.
    Apartment in Beverly Hills, and you could do that quickly in those days, by the way, it wasn't Yeah. And I called Jim. I said, Jim, Jim Brown, I called Jim. I said,Jim, it's going to happen.
  • Bill Murray — Person · Referenced comedian/actor (anecdote) · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed in a story about a famous ‘match’ joke after Pryor’s burning incident and asking permission to use it.
    He got That's exactly right. So Bill Murray he the first one really.
  • Tim Reid — Person · Referenced performer (variety show cast) · 1 mention · first at
    Listed among comedians/performers involved in Pryor’s NBC variety show.
    Oh, Robin Williams. Oh, you know there Tim Reid, Sandre Burnernhard, Paul Mooney, Paul Mooney was like his writer was like a right-hand was one of the writers on it. Yeah, there was a you roster.
  • Damon Wayans — Person · Referenced comedian (commentator) · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as questioning why Pryor was being allowed to perform while physically diminished, reflecting industry concern and controversy.
    Rocking that had to be like [ __ ] torture, you know. I remember Damon saying to me, Damon Wes, why are you letting him do that?
  • Angela Davis — Person · Referenced academic/activist · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a professor/course instructor in Santa Cruz, used to contextualize political/civil-rights awareness in the conversation.
    Angela Davis was one of your professors, right?

Companies & orgs

  • Drosen — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Look at his legacy because people were taking not only material things but also his IP. I had to sue Drosen for the laugh records, his early work, the LA, all that Laugh Record stuff.

Concepts & topics

  • Comedy — Concept · 26 mentions · first at
    No, it all matters. It's all [ __ ] going on. And the beauty is the beauty is that [ __ ] is constantly going on in the world and horrible things are happening and the great escape or purveyor of sanity seems to be.
  • Attorney General — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • Drug Psychosis — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    It had everything to do with it. He was in a drug psychosis. He couldn't stop and he saw the only way out was suicide. That was a attempt.
  • Kidney Disease — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And he died sensibly of a heart attack, but his kidneys had gone. Everything was going. He was on a kidney. We had a dialysis machine in the house.

Places & events

  • Comedy Store — Place · 11 mentions · first at
  • Los Angeles — Place · 2 mentions · first at
    I didn't know anything really about comedy except I was doing comedy. I came down here in 1977.
  • Tucson — Place · 5 mentions · first at
    You know stir crazy for sure. And how do you know? I was living in the house with him up in Tucson. And he And when you say high as a kite, what was he high on?
  • Peoria — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Into the kitchen where he had at this point he had this cadre of people from Peoria and the aunt and the hangers on where the locust had descended basically. So from his family you're talking about because he was raised in a brothel by.
  • Hollywood Presbyterian — Place · 1 mention · first at
    And that's when the police showed up, the cops, the fire department came. He ended up at Hollywood Presbyterian.
  • Hollywood Bowl — Place · 1 mention · first at
    He shot the car. He married her. He married her. had the Hollywood Bowl incident, walked off NBC variety show, and then shot the car.
  • Maui — Place · 1 mention · first at
    So tender and elegant, to use your word, is so appropriate. When we were dating, we were in Hana, Maui, and there was an assistant of his and his bodyguard, and everyone was…
  • Santa Cruz — Place · 1 mention · first at
    In Santa Cruz. Angela I took an Angela Davis course when I was in Santa Cruz.
  • Comedy Store Incident — Event · 1 mention · first at
    Drugs and I mean people started really piling on at that point and but the drug culture especially in the 70s at the comedy store was and even later into the 80s. Kenisonson and all those guys. It was crazy.
  • Betty Ford — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Right? It was very wobbly, straight and narrow, but he was making valiant attempts. He went to Betty Ford at one point, he went to he was an AA. He was really trying to stay sober.
  • Four Seasons — Place · 1 mention · first at
    And Jean and Hannah Weinstein all had a room at the Four Seasons or wherever it was down at the Ritz Carlton whatever hotel in Tucson, the big nice hotel. Richard wanted a…
  • Apollo — Place · 1 mention · first at
    I was living in New York at the time and Richard came to New York to do some kind of tribute that was at the Apollo.

Media & podcasts

Full transcript with timestamps

Oh boy. So, this is uh Jennifer Prior. I know. And this is my daughter, Jackie.

Yes, we met. Jackie Schultz. We had a chat about the events of the last 24 hours.

Yeah. Yeah. But this was probably airing later than that, so we won't mention that.

No, it all it all matters. It's all [ __ ] going on. And the beauty is the beauty is that uh [ __ ] is constantly going on in the world and horrible things are happening and the the great escape or um purveyor of uh sanity seems to be comedy. Yeah,

people need it. And I have talked ad nauseium uh any place I go that my uh my comedy god uh is Richard Prior. and Richard Prior kind of opened up my eyes. I didn't know anything really about comedy except I was doing comedy. I I came down here in 1977. Did you get married? You were you got married to him in 7879?

Yeah, I met him um August 22nd, 1977. Why do you remember that? Um well, I fell in love the minute I met him.

You were a decorator. You were decorating decorating his house. Yeah, I worked for him first. I was acting and playing in gigs around Texas with a friend of mine, music and um I needed a gig when I got back to Los Angeles and a friend of mine was working with him as well on the NBC variety show and she said, "You can help me. I'm decorating his house." I said, "Oh, I'll try that. I can do that." I met him the first day. Friend of his took a photo and I mean, you could see me, the the cat who saw the canary. I was in love the first minute I met him. Um,

were you a fan? No, I was aware of him from my friend who was working with him, but I wasn't a fan. I was pretty unaware of who he was. Really?

Yeah. I was aware that he had, you know, he he had garnered a lot of fame uh recently and that he was happening, but I didn't know his comedy. I was unaware. So, but when I met him, I just saw this incredibly vulnerable person and very sweet and um I just fell and um of course I had to witness him marry another woman. I while I was working in the house and you know as he worked

in the house he was marrying in Northridge. He married Deborah. Um but I you know every morning I would come to work and there would be another woman come out you know uh in the morning and so I knew who we I mean this is

so he got you saw him get married and then you saw his uh they shot the car. Did what?

He shot the car. Well that's when he shot the car. Yes. Yeah. Well in one week he he was incredible. He you know no grass grow to this man's feet. He he just was non-stop. He was working on the NBC variety show.

So he did a he did a a variety show. A lot of my friends worked on some of some of that show. Uh um a lot of comics from uh the comedy store were on he had a variety show. Richard Prior Hour is it called?

It was um it it was four shows. Um and it's a in fact Arsenio just just we had a chat about this about maybe doing something with those shows because

is there tape of it? probably on YouTube. We we'll throw up a little clip from Yeah, we can look

we put up clips on Richard Prior YouTube channel um from it, but it it's it's kind of undiscovered. Um not undiscovered as such because we all are aware of it certainly, but it needs to be out there more.

But who were the other comics? There were other comics that were doing uh sketches with him, right?

Oh, Robin Williams. Oh, you know there uh um Tim Reid, um Sandre Burnernhard, um uh Paul Mooney, um

Paul Mooney was like his writer was like a right-hand was one of the writers on it. Yeah, there there was a you roster of of good writing. Um Rocco Yubitzi, uh bunch of people were on that show. Um but, uh it's it's a great it's some of the skits. I mean, it's incredible. It got on it all.

What network was it on? You remember? NBC. NBC. So I remember seeing it and I remember seeing uh you know that's right when I came to town right that was like 78 79

7 he was shooting it in 7 fall of 77 so it came out um yeah it would have been out in end of 778.

So I came to the the and I was hanging out with Arsenio at the comedy store in 78 and I watched him like showing up every night writing. Paul Mooney would be on the side taking notes and he was writing and a lot of the writing eventually became live on the Sunset Strip, but it was the first time I watched somebody, you know, I've talked about this before, but you know, uh, Rodney was big at the time and and George Carlin was big at the time and they had acts, which I loved. I love their acts, the hippie dippy weatherman and and you know, I get no respect.

Right. Prior was the first person that I noticed talking about like real [ __ ]

Yeah. And I never saw anybody talk about real [ __ ] and then make it um uh relatable.

Yeah. And funny and tragic and jaw-dropping. And I don't think there would be a Chappelle today without Richard or like anybody who's out there really telling stories.

No. Do you have a clip from the show? Do you see one? She liked that table. She ain't going to like it now, baby. Yeah. You know what? Huh? Huh? What you GOING TO DO ABOUT THAT? You going to tell us some [ __ ] about that? Huh? Yeah. Check this out. Huh? What you think of this? Huh? What you think of this?

But he is swearing and stuff. They didn't air. This is the rough. What am I looking?

That's got to be a rough That's got to be Yeah, that's got to be It says it's a deleted scene. That that's the wino. And that character morphed into Mudbone,

right? Which I'm working on. I'm doing a project about Mudbone. A brilliant character. Animation.

Who would you have play? Oh, animation. Yeah. Yeah. I'll have someone do the voices. Yeah.

To some, you know, you could take uh they can uh I don't know how are you in good uh relationship with his uh um kids.

Oh, God no. No. Oh, no. Oh, Lord no. And the and the best thing I ever did was not have kids with Richard. And he thanked me. I said, "Richard, you got too many. I mean, six kids by five different women." Now, they sued me. I prevailed, but you know, no, we're not. We're not.

You're in charge of the estate. Absolutely. So, you have the rights to all these things.

I That was a scene that didn't air, but he he I co-owned that with Bird Sugarman.

Okay. So, what I would what you know, somebody may watch that and go, "Well, I don't know how funny that is." But what it is and what it represents for me,

right, is that's he was very real. He was always very real and and eventually like he would come to the comedy store and do a bit like that

and then uh hone it and hone it and hone it and every night and then he'd find an inflection or a or a joke or some little tidbit that would add to it and then it be would become the most hysterical thing you've ever seen. But it was based in

Well, yeah. I mean that's exactly I mean after the fire I mean sorry after the car shooting incident um you know he had to go through legal entanglements and stuff and he and I were dating at that point and he said I've got one night we were out at the

You were dating but he was married. Uh no he was divorced at that he it the wife left after he shot the car with her in it.

Right. Deborah remember the routine? Yeah. Which became a routine. Everything that happened everything tragic became a routine. I started following him at the at the comedy store after he burned him. Did you live with him when he freebased and burned himself?

Yeah. So that was you you that you were there? I went I was I I had left him at that point cuz the pipe had moved in. That was his woman and I had moved out. I said this I can't hang with this. This is this is deadly. Um I went out to see him and and he um he said I'm going to hurt myself. I'm going to do something. And

he said he's going to hurt himself. He said I've made up my mind. So I said, "Oh, what the [ __ ] Richard?" And I went into the kitchen where he had at this point he had this cadre of people from Peoria and the the the aunt and the hangers on where the locust had descended basically. So

from his family you're talking about because he was raised in a brothel by his grandmother

and and it basically had turned into a brothel. So I said on my way out the door, I said, "He's going to hurt himself and get out of here, you know, little stupid white girl, get out of there." By the time I got back to my apartment in Beverly Hills, and you could do that quickly in those days, by the way, it wasn't Yeah. And uh I called Jim. I said, "Jim, Jim Brown, I called Jim. I said,"Jim, it's going to happen. He's going to do something." And he poo pooed me, too. He dismissed me. The second call I made was out to the house.

And Aunt D answered the phone and I said, "Listen to me. Please listen." And she dropped the phone screaming. He was running through the house on fire.

Wow. And hence, you know, but anyway, so back to how he uses material. Sometimes when we were married, when we actually got married, he would start a fight with me and I'd say, "Oh, you need new m you need material. I get it. I he would just pick a fight. You need material." But after the car shooting incident, he had left the wife. We were dating. He We had been out at the candy store and had a night and he we're on Cold Water Canyon on the way home. candy store.

He turns the car around. Comedy store. I said, "Where are we going?" He said, "You'll see. Took us to the comedy store. He parks the car, walks in, goes straight up on stage." And I said, "What's happening?" Mity puts me in a table and he starts what became live in concert. And to your point about woodshedding, which is what he called it, he would work. So every night after that, we'd go to the store. I was taking notes. The next morning he'd go over them. We'd sit by the pool. He'd go over the notes, what worked, what didn't work. We'd go back that night and he did the same thing until he ended up with Live in Concert, which what became Live in Concert.

That's amazing. It was incredible to watch it. But you said he picked a fight with you. So, we would go up on stage and do what you guys just talked about.

Well, he would often start [ __ ] with me to Give me an example. Huh? Give me an example.

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Give me an example. Oh god. Uh um you know uh Richard, you know um let's see I was talking to the housekeeper about what are you bothering me with that [ __ ] about? Why don't you just what what are you doing? You know, and I'm like what's wrong with you? I'm just talking to you about something about the house. Something we we need to fix or repair. you know, you you get into things that you shouldn't what what why are you bothering me with that? You know, just explode and you know, he was very unpredictable. Obviously, it was a roller coaster being with him.

You had to hang on tight. That's all. You just had to hang on tight with Richard.

Well, when you were with him, he wasn't faithful right? Oh, no. He wasn't faithful.

And you're okay with that? You said you knew that going in because you were there when he was married. I was aware of it going in. I saw all the red flags. But did that stop me from going headlong?

They weren't flags. They were panties. What? The red panties. They were red panties. They weren't flags.

Yeah. I mean, red flags. Red flags. But, you know, it didn't stop me. But, you know, I thought love would and love did for a while, but he would do [ __ ] like one night he would call me from a brothel, a whout or whatever, and he I'm telling her how much I love you. I'm telling and I'd say, "Hey, Richard, can you come home and do that? Can you?" And you know it, you know, I mean, what can I say?

So, they you he called and for those that don't know, he he almost died and burned himself free base. Do you know that story?

You've told it a bunch of times, but I was under the impression that it was an accident. Because the first time, this is something I learned in marketing, the first thing out of anybody's mouth, people are going to believe, he didn't, he'd poured rum over himself and tortured himself. And he told me he was going to do it.

It had nothing to do with the freebasing. It had everything to do with it. He was in a drug psychosis. He couldn't stop

and and he saw the only way out was suicide. That was a attempt. Did not know that.

So he ended up in the hospital. So he's running down the street, jogging down the street on fire,

right? And that's when the police showed up, the cops, I mean, you know, the fire department came. He ended up at Hollywood Presbyterian. I when I found out that that when I found that out, I went there and said, "Listen, don't overdose him because he's high on vodka and coke. Watch out what you give him because giving him morphine could kill him." and everybody there, the the family as it were, um, you know, they didn't want to know from me. I was the devil at that point. Um, but instead of what was the devil, the drug.

Comedian Richard Prior is in critical condition tonight and given less than a 50/50 chance of surviving after suffering thirdderee burns over half of his body.

Police said Prior was burned because some ether and cocaine he was using in his bedroom caught fire. tried to commit suicide

intentionally. That's all I want to say. The point it says something about that time too that it was even more stigmatized to say that it was a mental health crisis and an attempted suic than but he was okay with saying that it was drugs or an accidental drug. Not only was he okay with saying it, uh he came he came back and did standup when he was still uh had bandages.

He had bandages on his neck and his face. And this became I don't know if it resonates today, but there was a a a joke that everybody did as if they made it up. It was the first joke he made up. He got That's exactly right. So Bill

Murray he the first one really. Yeah. I But he did it on stage. I was in New York with Richard working on something I forget and and he he Bill Murray was living at Seeden's Landing upstate New York and he asked us to come up. He wanted to talk to Richard about something and he asked permission to do that joke. So he is the one who came up with

So the joke was they they would light a match and and then showed the match and it and you'd go, "What is this?" You you take the match and you hop hop hop hop hop down this and then they go, "It's Richard Prior running down the street." because it was just a stick on fire going down the street.

But he he did that on stage. He did it too. Yeah. He said he said I saw all of you do that joke. He saw I saw so that that's how he introduced that joke. Yeah.

But I just thought, okay, so here's a guy who was I had no idea it was a it was even close to a attempt. I thought it was like a near-death experience. And here's a guy on stage

doing the joke about what and and at that time in the late '7s. I mean, you know, I I I don't know that people can be shocked today with the internet and with what happens, but he everything he did was

incredibly shocking, jaw-dropping, uh fresh, not like anything that we had seen on TV before.

That's right. So much so that each and every night I don't I don't know how often you were at the comedy store but it was lined up because they knew it became uh kind of known that he would show up every night right

to wood wood shop. Is that what he called it? Woodshedding. Woodshedding. Yeah. He would show up every night to woodshed and the who's who of Hollywood were always in the audience. Whoever was number one at the box office. I remember seeing like Raquel Welch and Bert Reynolds and all. That was a photo of you showing up too with and and we took We have that photo.

You have a photo of me? Yeah. Of you with Mity and Richard when he was back at the store in 95. We've got that. Mauricio, where's that?

Oh, in 95. Yeah. Okay. So, that's Yeah. So, that's when Yeah. I I I loved him and he really

uh kind of that's when that's when he was diminished. I call it stand up sitting down and I shot that footage. I've got all that footage of him after, you know, he's got MS. I returned in 945

and married him again. And I married him again. And you were you were divorced?

We were divorced. Yeah. She married him twi. He married seven people. Did he have seven marriages?

Uh well he married Flynn twice, too. That was the woman before me. Um not No, the one before you. Wasn't that Debbie?

No, that was before Flynn. Didn't you say he married Debbie? That's He shot her in the car. He shot the car. He shot the car. He married her. He married her. had the Hollywood Bowl incident, walked off NBC variety show, and then shot the car.

What's the What's the Hollywood Bowl incident? Oh my god, come on. You got to remember that he there was a there was um a a fundraiser at the Hollywood Bowl for the gay community.

Okay? and the lockers were there in a dance group doing something and it was a big event and um he was to perform and he got up on stage and apparently had prior to that there are a few different stories about this but the one that is more salient I believe is the one when he was down in their dressing rooms and he saw the lockers a black troop dance troop being treated badly

and it sent him off so he went on stage age and he railed. Where were you? Fword.

Yeah. When Watts was burning. There's footage of this. There is somebody filmed it. I've got that. And he he says, "You can kiss my ass." And just went off. It was a pretty dramatic.

He was a great also not only a great comedian and a great performer and a great actor, he was a great advocate for civil rights. He really was.

I I I'm I remember and I think Arsenal posted this the other day and and you said that to to remember

that thing on the Tonight Show. There was some lady. She was a uh Oh, fabulous.

You know who You know who I'm talking about? I don't know. We could show it and talk about it. I think she was a journalist from Philadelphia. An old white lady journalist here. Play it

here. This is starves in this country. Nobody has to go out in the corners to beg. You can go and get medical aid there. Nobody lives in the streets.

There's some people that live in the streets here in this country. Yes, ma'am. Well, they don't have to.

Well, tell them this on the Johnny Carson show. Yeah. For those that are just listening.

You're telling me that I'm not being facicious. No, I know you're not. You're telling me that people have doesn't sleep in the streets like they do in India?

Yes, ma'am. But they don't. Yes, ma'am. They sleep in the streets and they die here in America.

Well, they die anyway, even if you sleep in a bed. You just described the number. So no, I mean like in India you die from starvation and stuff.

Well, you don't die of starvation here. Yes, ma'am. You can always get some food. We have

What an idiot. I think we have it, but we don't always give it. Incredibly witty and elegant.

I'm sorry to differ with you, but I don't think statistics would show that you're right. Nobody has to starve in this country. There are

If you get a gun, you don't have to starve. No. Oh, no. Not with a gun. Come on. You know there

are you saying are you saying that the people who are below the poverty level or and there are a lot of people below the poverty level there are the poverty level now because of the cost of living is almost $5,000 and many people who live

this is white people now so I won't bring it to black people so you won't not believe me in Appalachia.

I don't there's no difference in my mind between black and white and get that [ __ ]

You're crazy. You cannot you cannot hysteride behind a lot. I love that Johnny Carson too allowed

the conversation. He's making it. He's He's right though. And there's no way that Johnny can sit there and not in negate this idiot woman whoever.

Exactly. Exactly. You know, but what I was amazed at is like this is a guy who was a prolific standup and then he he handled this like a congressman like uh you know

everyone thinks of Richard as being uh volatile which he could be certainly shut out

and and kind of out of control and wild. Well, he lit himself on fire, but there was certain aspects that were so tender and elegant, to use your word, is so appropriate. When we were dating, we were in Hana, Maui, and there was um an assistant of his and his bodyguard, and everyone was doing Coke, including me, and and they were all using the N-word very liberally.

Right. Well, that was that's how title of his album. Absolutely. And I thought I'd try it out. Oh.

Oh, yeah. Not today. And um and all the coke spoons went when I used the n-word,

right? And Richard said, "Jennifer, come outside with me." And I thought, "Oh god, now I'm really in for it." He took me outside. Took me by the hand and looked and I said, "Oh my god, Richard, I'm sorry." And he looked at the stars and he said, "Jennifer, tell me which one is a

the n-word." And I said, he said, 'N never use that word again. I said, I'm sorry. I

Wow. So, you want to talk about elegant and dear and tender and the lesson that I learned. Also, it it was a big storm um one time we were in Hana and I was reading Malcolm X and he made me read it out loud to him.

Wow. He was a tortured soul. And you know, being a black man in this country and being a having that tortured soul, his upbringing and all of it was just, you know, a conspiracy of everything to to obviously result in his comedy, too. He turned that pain into comedy, as you know, but he he never could get away from, you know, what happened in his childhood. Howie Mandel here. Do you ever feel like you need a science degree just to read the ingredients in your energy drink? Thankfully, Flova is the all naturatural alternative with a simple list of ingredients you can actually understand.

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Was comedy a source of therapy somewhat for him? Oh, I think for him it was like like gills on a fish. I mean, I don't think he could live without it. I think he would have ended up in prison otherwise. I mean, it was it was it was that was his his life force. That was what you know when he got on stage when he did movies you know movies a lot of money a lot of fun but comedy standup was his mediier that was his forum that was his his his life

in the later years and that picture was you know of him at the comedy store. He would still get up and and perform when or sit down and perform when he could, but

he was losing the ability to uh like even in his voice and it wasn't only not rocking that had to be like [ __ ] torture,

you know. Um I remember Damon saying to me, Damon Wes, why are you letting him do that?

Yeah. A lot of people, a lot of comedians were going, they felt like maybe you were taking advantage.

Blame the white girl. Blame the white lady. Well, I don't think it was a white thing. It was a white Sometimes it was, but but you're right. Not all the time.

No, but it was just somebody from the outside taking advantage of whatever. I mean, he wraded being at the store,

right? He said, "I can do this." And and we took him when he wanted to go. And you know, a lot a lot of I heard that a lot. You know, why are you letting him? It's not me letting him. He wants to do this, so let him. I mean, what what am I going to do? Stop him because it Oh, it's not PC. It doesn't look good. It doesn't He's not the He's not the the predatory panther, you know, walking across the stage anymore, you know, doing his comedy with that wonderful bombastic self. But he was still doing comedy. He was still Richard, right?

And that was what he wanted to do. So why should I stop him is the question was

we have a clip of that. Okay, let's see it. Back in the summer of 94, Richard wanted to get back on stage. We started going back in January 95 and which went into 96. Went back a lot. He loved going to the comedy store. It gave him great joy and purpose to get back on stage.

This is great. You know, I was I remember something that happened to me. I went to, believe it or not, I went to Arizona Tucson to a drug rehab. MAN, I got on the plane and I was ready to go and I'm filling my oats AND [ __ ] AND I saw somebody on the plane. There is a guy, you know, cuz I saw a net bunello. Yeah. You know, M I C K Y M L M L M O U.

She was from the Mickey Mouse Club. She was right THERE FOR ME ON THE PLANE. She got up, came over and talked to me a little bit, you know, shook my hand. I grabbed her HANDS FOR DEAR LIFE. Bless her heart. I said, "Damn, man. I'm You couldn't have done as much drugs as I am."

All right. I mean, but the fact that I mean, that's what you know, that's what he wanted to do and that's

and again, he's talking about probably a very trying time in his life and found the humor in it. For those that don't know, if you're too a net, Kyle, do you know who Annette Funachello is?

No. Okay. So, Net Funachello was from the Mickey Mouse Club. When the Mickey Mouse Club started, it was a big TV show. Annette Funichello was the lead girl in the It's like saying I'm trying to think of who you could compare her to today.

Britney Spears. No, she wasn't. Well, she did say Britney Spears was in the Mickey Mouse Club. I don't Yeah, but if you saw I was going to say Britney. Yeah.

No, no, no. But you guys are both wrong because if Britney Spears if if if somebody said Britney Spears is going to rehab, nobody would go. There's no way. I'm trying to think of somebody from uh from children's television who has no who you wouldn't think would do anything bad or wouldn't do any drugs or wouldn't Annette Funachello was the the epitome of Disney right

of you know I think that you Britney in rehab is probably in everybody's mind well he was talking about her too for about the MS she had MS and Right.

Yes. Yes. So that was, you know, that to me, how many drugs could she have done?

Exactly. Right. Exactly. Yeah. But her son was and that's son was my agent. Yeah. Wow.

Yeah. Interesting. So u but he turned everything which doesn't seem when you watch Netflix now or you listen to Chappelle or you listen to any of these they're just telling you about the state of the world the state of Nobody did that I know

nobody did that before Prior Carlin Carlin turned into that he became that but when when at at Carllin's height and at that same time when when Richard was exploding or just beginning to explode.

He was doing the hippie dippy weatherman. He was doing uh you know he was doing characters or he was doing written material that were kind of

you could repeat uh and and I'd see him on the George Carlin. I loved him on the Tonight Show all the time. I'm talking about when I was seeing Carla when I was watching Richard, he loved Johnny, but I was seeing him none of that stuff could ever be on the Tonight Show.

Well, that's true. and and but you know look at Richard's evolution too. Richard was doing kind of step and fetch it stuff too.

I heard that story that uh he was trying to be like a or he was referred to as the Bill Cosby 2 and and the Bill Cosby of then not the Bill Cosby of

and and and he walked off stage in Las Vegas. In Las Vegas. So Bill Cosby was the like the number one black comic, you know, and he had his own series. He was on a show called

the Oreo cookie. Clean on the out clean. Yeah. Yeah. And and then so the I think Prior started doing some TV shows which I've seen where he's working kind of clean and vanilla

and and he got a job. He was in Vegas and he just went it reminds me of Jim Carrey because Jim Carrey was like exploding and doing um impressions right and then he went [ __ ] I don't want to do this. I just want to do what I do and and go ahead.

Isn't that like the same thing you always talked about um your friend Bob Saget who's like Mr. clean everyone's uncle and then they'd go see him in comedy and he was like the filthiest comic.

Yeah. But Bob but Bob Saget uh Bob Saget did the filth in comic and then got hired for something clean we um prior got a big job in Vegas.

Yeah. And was doing this all American comedy act and just went [ __ ] it. This is not me. He says he looked he looked out in the audience one night and he saw Dean Martin looking back at him with this sort of oddlooking quizzical look and that's when he realized that he he couldn't do it anymore that

because Dean Martin was Dean Martin not enjoying him enjoying him apparently he had a very perplexed look on his face like you know what are you doing kind of thing and that's how Richard read it you know that's how he took that in.

Were they friends? Well he Yeah. I mean, he was hanging out with all those dudes out there, you know, and uh and that's when he said, "Fuck it." and walked off stage. Yeah.

Yeah. And did he and then went to Cal went to Berkeley, hung out with the Black Panthers, and that's where his that's where Prior was really developed and and that comedy was born. And he started seeing that he had to talk be in the real world and talk about real things, right? He couldn't do this this white comedy anymore. And white meaning vanilla. Right. Right.

Because and you know as as they said as they somebody once said Bill Cosby was clean on the outside, dirty on the inside.

Prior dirty on the outside, clean on the inside. Interesting. It is interesting.

Yeah. Angela Davis was one of your professors, right? Yeah. What? In Santa Cruz. Angela I took an Angela Davis course when I was in Santa Cruz. But um I wanted to ask you talk a lot about the time during in the comedy club when other comics were mean and nasty or jealous or catty behind the scenes. Did you ever witness any of that?

Not the word prior. I don't know. I think when it comes to comics Yeah. all due respect, Howie, you guys can be more narcissistic and vicious than any actors.

I agree with you. I mean, yes, there is such jealousy in that community and and you know, people stepping on and not that's not you, Howie. I'm not saying you, but yes, I witnessed it a lot

cuz mom said she heard it a lot. Probably even more than you cuz she would be backstage or in the audience while he was out and she would hear it.

Yeah. But very competitive. I mean, so competitive. Very And you know what was interesting? Another reason why Richard wanted to go back to the store. He loved the store. He loved comedy and he loved comics, even the bad ones. He had such respect for the art and for anybody having the nerve to get up on stage.

I agree. I knew that. Right. And so Richard, I never saw that in Richard. I mean, I saw a lot of flaws, trust me. And there were there were plenty to to to talk about, but not that he was very open and generous with other comics. kind, kind, giving and and but yes, there is viciousness in the in the

Did he have that? Did you witness any of that? Was there any jealousy toward him or did somebody Was somebody vicious? Was there somebody in the comedy world that was uh

Well, I I don't think it was chipping away at him. I I think that it was behind the scenes. I I don't think it was overt because Richard had status and fame,

but which makes people more jealous. But But is there anything you know of that we don't know of?

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but the drug culture especially in the 70s at the comedy store was and even later into the 80s. Kenisonson and all those guys. It was crazy.

It was through the roof. Through the roof. People there were piles of drugs and people were uh bringing weapons into the club. It was like dangerous and and crazy there.

Well, Belushi, I mean that night, you know, apparently Richard was, you know, supposed to I I think it was Paul who said, "Richard, just go home." And and Belushi had arrived and apparently wanted to take Richard and the big this big party that was at the chateau. Oh god, thank god Richard wasn't there. Richard was sober at that time. Um, actually it was after the fire. When When was Belushi? What year was Belushi? What year did John Belalushi die at it? Yeah, we'll get we'll get that information in just a second.

I think it was Yeah, but but um No, I think the comedy story was Let's say right there. He died in

82. March 5th, 82. So, Richard was trying to be sober then. It was after the fire. U June 9th, 1980 was the fire. Um so he was he was really trying to keep his head together and to stay on a a straight and narrow, which the straight and narrow was like this, right? It was very wobbly, straight and narrow, but he was making valiant attempts. He went to Betty Ford at one point, you know, he went to he was an AA. He was really trying to stay sober. Ultimately, um he would fall back. I was working with him on um Hear No, See No Evil, Hear No Evil in New York, and I was back in New York living there at that time. We were divorced, but I worked with him and saw him. I was still, you know, Richard could recycle women like nobody's business. and we were all available for it. Um but but um yeah, so I was working with him on that.

And what do you mean working with him on that? What were you doing? I was running lines with him. I was, you know, um I would go to the same

that's a Gene Wilder movie. Another Yeah. Yeah. Arthur Hiller directed that. And um so you know show up at he was staying at Plaza today and um he you know just just you know wardrobe a lot of lot of details uh that were for him and uh but one day he walked out of the and he was already diagnosed by the way with MS and

what what what was the sign like what made him go to the doctor? Why did he get diagnosed? He was tripping apparently um a lot and so he went to the Mayo Clinic and got diagnosed. But one day uh in the Plaza, I didn't know that yet. It was still a secret.

Mhm. I said, "Richard, why are you walking like an old man? What's going on?" And he said, "Jennifer, I've got something to tell you." That was in ' 89, he told me, working on that film. So, he was already having these physical um issues, not not as his body wasn't working the way it should. He was tripping and

kind of just stiff and right those were the symptoms. But one day at the hotel I saw him walk out of the bathroom and there was blood dripping down his arm. I said, "What? What's going on?" And he said, "Nothing. It's just bunk. What's bunk? It's I guess what drug people call any combination of drugs." But um and I'm like, "Richard, no, no, no, no." So he was dabbling at that point

during the movie. Yeah. Did he perform high? Oh [ __ ] Stir crazy. He was high as a kite on that film. Perform standup. Not not well. He was pretty disciplined about his standup.

But you on all those scenes in the movie Stir Crazy. He's high. You think we were separated at that point so you wouldn't know?

But I was visiting him up in Tucson. But he can act and he could remember his lines and

act and it was 110 degrees one day and I go to the set and he's dressed as a clown doing a rodeo show. Yeah.

That scene. I as a kite. Really? Oh yeah. Stir crazy. Richard Prior is a clown.

You know stir crazy for sure. And and how do you know? I was living in the house with him up in Tucson. And he

And when you say high as a kite, what was he high on? Freebase. He was He was on the pipe. This is before the fire.

Okay. He's not sober. He's I love that movie. Well, I'm sorry to I can't watch it because I know what was going. He was buying Coke from

the Hell's Angels. He was buying Coke from the Hell's Angels. Yeah. and he wanted uh Sydney Portier and uh Jean and Hannah Weinstein all had a a room at the um uh Four Seasons or wherever it was down at the Ritz Carlton whatever hotel in Tucson, the big nice hotel. Richard wanted a house up in the hills where the Coyotes live. And okay, so we're way up in the hills, deserted, isolated, and he's doing freebase

in front of you. Oh yeah. And one night, did you do it? I did it, but that not at that point. No, I No, no, no, no. I had stopped at that point. I did it for about a week with him. And it was not my oy. I would snort occasionally, but no, no, no, no, not not that drug was like a hammer on the head,

right? And you I don't know how anybody can function. But I heard this gra I heard I smelled cigarette smoke one night, middle of the night and I heard footsteps on the gravel outside this house way up in the hills and Richard had a shotgun and he took I said, "Richard, there's somebody outside." Yeah. And he cocked it, you know, with the shotgun. I'm like, "This is this is not good."

You're good. You're very sensitive to these things. What? No, I say it's amazing that you're able to pick up once you hear a shotgun outside, you you realize something's not good.

Yeah. But he was and then the the the you know the the Hell's Angels would come to the set and go into the trailer. I I would always leave the trailer when they came.

I can't imagine Jean Wilder being around Hell's Angels. Oh, they were really pissed. Sydney and and Jean had had it. They had had it. Richard took drugs into the prison in Tucson to the guys.

What do you mean he took them into the prison? He took some coke into the prison.

How did he know? They were shooting in the prison. I don't know how he did that, but he did. And Sydney and Jean, they were all very angry at him. Very. It was not a good set.

Really? It was a very, very bad set. They did a lot of movies together though. Jean. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. They didn't like each other or Jean. It was it was well it would you know they loved each other but it was rough. It was they weren't you everyone thinks that they were besties. No they weren't besties. They were friends but they weren't besties.

No because Jean's not a drug taker. Oh god no. Oh no no no no. But when we left after we wrapped we were leaving and I was on the plane and Jean sat down next to me and Richard at this point was running back to the house to get his last stash or whatever and I got out of the car. I said I'm going to the airport. I'm on the plane. Jean's sitting next to me. Richard gets on the plane, sees Jean sitting next to me and goes crazy. I mean, the vibes going on was

crazy because he he thought jealous. He thought Jean was coming on to me. Jean wasn't coming on to me. He was just talking to me, right, about Richard,

right? Is everybody was worried. So, what happened? Well, it was I mean, there was an argument that didn't go anywhere and we finally, you know, all flew back to LA. But um it was, you know, shortly after that there were some re-shoots that needed to be done and they asked me to go see Richard to talk him. He had walked off the set cuz somebody had thrown a watermelon. Yeah. Member of the crew did something really offensive like that. And

because I don't know why. I mean, why would somebody You walked this on stir crazy

on the set. Yeah. So, Richard walked off. This is heavy talking about all this [ __ ] Wow. Um, Richard walked off and Hannah called me and said, "We need him to come do re-shirts." R-shoots. Can you talk him into it?

Who's Hannah? Hannah Weinstein was the producer. Okay. And I went out to the house and I said, "Richard, you got to do these re-shoots. You've got to go back." And um he was basically out of his mind at that point. And I was in danger again.

What do you mean you're in danger? You did you ever feel threatened? He told me. Yeah. He threatened my life.

What? What did he say? You really want me to talk about this? It's very dark. It's okay.

I know you're going to edit this. So you I may not. He said I'm going to kill you.

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Now mind you, I'm not living with him at this point. I had moved out because the pipe had moved in. I said, "Richard, I'm just here to So we fell asleep when I woke up."

Why did you hang out? If somebody says they're going to kill you, why why would you even

Well, um that's called enabling and it's called codependency. And I spent a lot of years in Alanon dealing with that very question and in therapy. Why did he say he's going to kill you? Why would he? And and

he was just out of his [ __ ] mind that you know that he was in drug psychosis. So I woke up and there was a pile of coke on the desk and I said, "Oh, Richard, come on. I got to go now." And he said, "No, now the sun's coming up." And he said, "You're going to die." And I said, "Richard?" and I had a cross around my neck and I grabbed it and I said, "Give me the words. Give me the words." And I calmed him down. I talked him off the ledge. I said, "Everything's going to be okay. There's no need for any violence here.

Everything's going to be fine." And he had his he had his hands around my neck at one point during this episode.

Wow. And I calmed him down. I went and got my slacks, put them on my slacks, and I hightailed it out of there.

Wow. There were there were a few instances like that. How But you always came back.

I did. Listen, the Rob Reiner murder was such a trigger for me. Michelle Reiner, Rob Michelle was such a trigger for me because I think as to your point about mental illness, I think drugs is still easier to talk about than mental illness. I think that there was such a codependence there. Shouldn't have been living in the house, right? So, but it was a trigger for me because there was an episode that I think of that came back to me roaring back to me where Richard had a 357 Smith and Wesson Magnum in the house in his bedroom kept loaded. And one night he shot off three rounds. One in the bedroom wall, one in the ceiling, and another I I at that point was in the front hall, back hall um vestibule, and he had the gun behind his back and he shot off another round and then he brings it forward and I'm counting how many bullets are in the gun and he [ __ ] the trigger and he says, "Get out, bitch."

Cocked it. And I said, "No problem." Walked outside, sat on the back step, had a cigarette. 10 minutes later, I walked back in.

Why? He's in the bedroom. Yeah. He says to me, I said, "What was that about?" And he said, "Oh, I'm so glad you didn't make me shoot you." You want to talk about codependency? That's codependent. anybody else would have been running down the street with their hair on fire. Get me out of this house. Get me out of here. I didn't. So, when that murder happened, that was a real trigger for me in terms of my own codependency. There were a lot there were instances like that where, you know, I'm lucky to be here.

Wow. Yeah. That's truly I don't you didn't know any of that. I don't I don't know any of that.

Well, nobody knows any of that. I mean, you know, it it's it's not he was always tortured. Was he ever h

Yes, he was happy fishing in Hana. No, no, no, no. But I mean, was he aware of his success?

Was he aware of his success and of how many people adored him? Mhm. Aware of it here? Not here.

What is Yeah. What What do you mean? Not here. Arsenio tells me stories about like at the end Arsenio would come and visit him or take him places or bring people in to visit him because

he said at the end it was really sad because people would just come and take things.

Oh well, okay. I came back in 95. Mhm. I was living in New York at the time and um Richard came to New York to do some kind of tribute that was at the Apollo. He was staying at the Helmsley Palace a few blocks up from me. I went to visit him and the locust had descended. There were girlfriend ex-girlfriends. There were this assistants this this this and he had a big tall glass of vodka, water glass full of vodka and pills. This is um this is early 90s and I said early 90s like 90 it was to be specific it was 94 and I said Richard what are you doing and Deborah was there and she wanted me to go down to the jewel

got shot at Deborah Maguire whom he had married and divorced she was there she said Jennifer I'm trying to get a a ring downstairs at the jewelry store can you go down and get the white lady price she is black. The what? Cuz Richard would buy her hotel jewelry. That's the kind of thing that was going on. I did, by the way, and I got a better price for the ring. For I

I have the ring, by the way. Do you have a Do you have a book? You have the ring?

I have the ring. Um cuz she went broke and asked us and asked us to buy it from her. Oh god. Um that's the kind of [ __ ] that was going on. So he said to me, "Jennifer, my life's falling apart. I need help." So he asked me to come back at that point. I said, "Let me think about it long and hard because Richard's life was it was chaos." So I think about it and so I I take a trip out to LA to see if it's possible to to make sense out of this chaos because I know it's chaos. He's sick. The hangers on are here. Everybody who's supposed to be watching the the farm, so to speak, are not, meaning lawyers and business managers etc.

And I talked to my father who was an attorney and he said,"Jennifer, just make sure you're protected because you know this is going to be more chaos." I came I drove cross country with my two dogs and a friend in the summer of 94 and I returned in 95 and um I mean in the summer of 94 and um you know and sensibly to take care of him stop the hemorrhaging of money because everybody was walking out to Arsenio's point with I the day I arrived there were there was a cook Richard wasn't eating she's making three tiered cakes you know I mean it just you couldn't make it up.

And Richard said, "Fire the business manager." Why didn't he do that? He he he wasn't mentally

He wasn't Heap at that point. He was just, you know, it it was out of control. He he he didn't have his arms around any of it. It was really out of control.

You know, I cut off Deborah was supposed to get a condo in the Marina del Rey. I stopped that. I mean, I lowered child support payments. They all came after me. The mothers came after me. Um, but the payments had been established when Richard was making a lot of money, right? Big bucks. It had to be readjusted. So, I just tried to make sense of it all and and stop the hemorrhaging and and coales and take care of him physically as well and and look at his legacy because people were taking not only material things but also his IP. I had to sue Drosen for the laugh records, his early work, the LA, all that Laugh Record stuff.

Yeah, I had to sue. We got it back, but he was selling stuff that didn't belong to him. Droen,

you're the sole uh owner now of that left record catalog. Well, of all the estate Richard Prior. Well, the rec the audio is is is you know some is Warner, some is Richard, some So that's

No, but anything that's Richard Prior, you are the any IP, you are the Yeah. And they're not

Well, the kids the kids sued me because they wanted more. They had a trust. Richard left them some money in a trust.

I knew Rain a little. Rain worked at the at the comedy store. Rain was doing some comedy, but um yeah,

I don't know that she still does, but I I remember when I Yeah, she Yeah, she was trying to have a career, I think, but she lives in Baltimore. Um

yeah, yeah. Um that was rough stuff because they they waged a campaign. Not only did they sue me for they wanted IP, but Richard had put me in charge of that because he knew his his legacy was important to him.

Yeah. Were you there when he died? Yeah. What was that? Heart attack. Did he know he was did he or

Well, Richard, he had he was on, you know, the last several years. So, I returned in 94 and he died December 10th 2005. And he died sensibly of a heart attack, but his kidneys had gone. Everything was going. He was on a kidney. We had a dialysis machine in the house. and up until that day. But he was lucid and communicative.

He was he was lucid. He was communicative. Not talking a lot, but diffic with difficulty.

Would you? And you spent quality time with him. Yes. And And you know, we would take him out and he would he would he had some quality of life. Yes. I'm very proud of that that Richard knew that. First of all, he was protected and that everything would be okay after. And I'm very proud that the last 11 years of his life when I was there that he he lived in dignity and care and love. And you know, I'm very proud of that.

What's the last thing he said to you? Well, he had a heart attack in the middle of the night. Um, I had walked out of the house that afternoon and he said, "I love you, Jenny."

That's That's beautiful, you know. And he meant it. Oh, I know. I know that I was loved.

Does he Did he Did he know that he was loved? Mhm. Yeah, that's good. Cuz I don't think he felt that his whole life. Wasn't that what the whole

Yeah. You know, and and you ask why do you keep coming back? I mean, that of course is the big question. Why does Because somehow love is going to fix it all right?

I don't know. Well, that's what the codependent thinks too. love is going to which I believe you know I mean

that's not the case for everyone that's in a domestic violence situation though.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It didn't it didn't fix the rhiners. There was it was domestic violence. It absolutely was. Um and

you're lucky to be alive. I am. So when I came back there was the campaign to get rid of me. Right. The children basically ran this. She's terrible. Look what she wrote in the book. Look what And Rich, you know what Richard said? The [ __ ] told the truth.

He always told the truth. He always told the truth. And And so he respected that. He liked it. I mean, like it. I mean, he respected it.

Yeah. What is the Before we go, I'm going to First of all, I can't thank you enough for coming out.

How Thank you. I mean it well but I loved him and he really people don't you know I don't think you can see an iota of you know when I tell people that that people ask me who's my biggest influence in comedy it is Richard Prior and I don't think anybody who's ever watched or listened to me can see one string of what

Richard is but it's it's inherent in in in any given moment I try to be as authentic as I can possibly be whether that's feeling silly feeling, you know, I want to cross the line or whatever. And he he kind of gave me that or allowed me to believe that I have the license to do that. And and

howie, you tell a great story and and it's all over the internet and I love it.

Well, thank you. So, story about Richard doing Jesus that Oh, that was one of my favorite nights.

I know that. And the way were you there? Did you ever hear I was not there. Did you ever hear that story?

No. But I also like your story about running him running into him on a plane and saying, "Why did you stop doing that?" And he said, "Because Robin started doing it."

Yeah. Yeah. Robin was famous. So there therein, by the way, is some of the jealousy how that comes in. People stealing routines. Right. There you go.

That was one of the most moving routine I've ever heard. For those that don't know and

you can listen. I'm not going to retell it now, but he he showed up at the comedy store one day and he said he was Jesus and everybody was laughing. And then he said, "I'm here to pick up my son." You've heard me tell this story. Yeah.

And then he acted like, "What did you do to my son?" And it it devolved into the most moving, heart-wrenching everybody. He left everybody in tears in the room. So he he's just he was able to just move people and not be non apologetic. He just did it. And sometimes it's not funny, sometimes it's tragic, and sometimes but there is a thin line. You know, you look at those two masks between comedy and tragedy and he wore both of those very vividly.

That's really well said, Howie. That is brilliantly said. Is there something that you can leave us with? Can you and nobody knows or and that uh you haven't spoken about before that?

Oh god. Well, a lot of stuff I told that you know some nuance of what I of what I said too. Um you know I just what? Oh my gosh.

Was he friends with Paul? was Paul Paul Mooney always seemed to say I'm and lived

Paul was a piece of work. Paul was always a bit of a a bit of a a a quagmire, let's say.

Quagmire. Yeah. And Richard said to me at one point when Paul wanted to write something with me, he said, "Be careful, Jennifer. He's he's really and he's got a lot of [ __ ] in him. Be careful." And I remember um um Elaine Booler saying to me recently, "Jennifer, you've got to write a sequel." And I I said, "Okay, well, I actually have it." And she said, "You have to write a sequel because you have to set the record straight." Paul takes credit every time he's interviewed for everything Richard wrote. He said, "That's ridiculous." Now, Paul wrote some stuff, but

he worked on the variety show, that variety show he showed. I don't know what else. And I know I saw him there when he was working on Sunset Strip. I I assumed that Richard was writing everything because it was his and then he would stuff, you know, I I know because I'll work out I haven't done specials in years, but when I was working out comedy and I'm always working out comedy, there isn't a moment when you hang out at the comedy club, that's what it's as much as it there narcissist and as much as it's incredibly

uh competitive. It's also fun to hear a fellow comedian do a bit and somebody when you walk backstage go, you know, I got a tag for that. You can here's a little tag or maybe if you just twist it, you know, it's fun to add just a little bit and and kind of and and I felt that that's what embellish it.

Yeah. You know, you're hearing it from a different angle and I I I'll always take somebody else's.

Well, you know, it it's it's interesting. It it's also how is comedy born? Like it's it's worn from your your everyday life, your experience, right? One day we made love. This is just a little story. Talk about somebody nobody knows. One day we made love and Richard really knocked it out of the park. Okay. And

nobody knows that. Nobody knows that. Oh, Richard could be a great lover and a selfish one, but he could be a great one. But um so we got out of bed and he's peacocking around the house, around the bedroom. And I said, "Oh, macho man, huh? Oh, Art, look at you now. Macho Macho Man." And that became a routine,

right? His macho man routine. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And that was born That was born out of the bedroom.

Out of your vagina. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What a great way to end. That's a happy ending.

Out of an orgasm. Exactly. That's a happy ending to this episode. I can't thank you enough, Jennifer Prior. And I wish you continued success and keeping his legacy alive and and being uh you know uh

figure out what you want to do with what you have, the tools that you have to do it with. the fact that you have his estate and

a lot of irons in the fire. The biopic we're still working on working on with Kenya Baris.

Who who wow that's a good writer. Who who would if you were to choose somebody today to play prior who would it be

today? Mike Eps. Okay. Note taken. All right. Thank you enough. This is uh I want everybody to subscribe. I want everybody to uh you know comment uh and thank you. That's the end. Sunny, do you have a song to play us out?

Get your crew on right now. Watching how women deal on right now. Watching how women dare. Jennifer Lee a prior model producer and actor started out in NYC with her folks Pat and Harry free a spirit songwriter turn interior designer love a man with the fire twice a married Richard now watching how women guitar right now watching how we mentor.

Yay. My god, you are brilliant, dude. Come on. But I lay my phone in

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Rob Reiner Case Triggers Jennifer Pryor’s Life with Richard Pryor"?

Jennifer Prior (Guest), Howie Mandel (Host), Jackie Schultz (Guest), Damon Wayans (Referenced comedian (commentator)).

What is discussed in "Rob Reiner Case Triggers Jennifer Pryor’s Life with Richard Pryor"?

In order: 0:00 Comedy, Comedy Store, Jennifer Prior, Arsenio Hall; 10:00 Comedy, Comedy Store, Howie Mandel, Bill Murray; 20:00 Comedy, Comedy Store, Howie Mandel, Damon Wayans; 30:00 Comedy, Stir Crazy, Tucson, Howie Mandel; 40:00 Tucson, Howie Mandel, Stir Crazy, Apollo; 50:00 Comedy, Comedy Store, Paul Mooney, Attorney General; 1:00:00 Comedy, Jennifer Prior.

What is mentioned in this Howie Mandel Does Stuff episode?

31 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Richard Pryor, Jennifer Prior, Comedy, Howie Mandel, Paul Mooney, Arsenio Hall. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Rob Reiner Case Triggers Jennifer Pryor’s Life with Richard Pryor"?

The episode runs 1 h 4 min; the transcript is about 11,952 words in 273 timestamped sections.

More from Howie Mandel Does Stuff

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.