Richard Pryor - Live On Sunset Strip

Richard Pryor is my favourite comedian of all time and has a life story that would make most people's toes curl , have cut the story of his childhood  from wikipedia as its very sad and shows what can be achieved when you try to be the best you can be  and have also included a link to his best show , live on sunset strip , a very good observation of lifes ups and downs and well worth a watch , theres a bit at 35 minutes that tells a story of lions and cheetahs in africa that has to be one of the funniest storys ive heard ,hope you enjoy it as much as i do , to view the show scroll down on the page provided and press play , its hosted on megavideo so should stream good http://www.bestcomedyonline.com/stand-up-comedy-concerts/richard-pryor-live-on-the-sunset-strip-videoEarly life

Born in Peoria, Illinois, Pryor grew up in his grandmother's brothel, where his mother, Gertrude Thomas, practiced prostitution. His father, LeRoy "Buck Carter" Pryor was a former bartender, boxer, and World War II veteran.^[17]
After his mother abandoned him when he was 10, he was raised primarily by his grandmother Marie Carter,^[18] a violent woman who would beat him for any of his eccentricities.^[19] Pryor was one of four children raised in his grandmother's brothel. He was a victim of sexual abuse as a child.^[17][20]
He was expelled from school at the age of 14. His first professional performance was playing drums at a night club. Pryor served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960, but spent virtually the entire stint in an army prison. According to a 1999 profile about Pryor in The New Yorker, Pryor was incarcerated for an incident that occurred while stationed in Germany. Annoyed that a white soldier was a bit too amused at the racially charged sections of Douglas Sirk's movie Imitation of Life, Pryor and some other black soldiers beat and stabbed him, though not fatally.^[21] According to Live on the Sunset Strip, when he was 19, he worked at a Mafia-owned nightclub as the MC. On hearing that they would not pay a stripper, he attempted to hold up the owners with a cap pistol. The owners thought he was joking, and were greatly amused.
During this time, Pryor's girlfriend gave birth to a girl named Renee. Years later, however, he found out that she was not his child. In 1960, he married Patricia Price and they had one child together, Richard Jr. (his first child and first son). They divorced in 1961.