paul mooney was his muse. - you can't get sight, you gotta get hip to what you are. - and paul mooneyr thing, you be black, you go for it." without paul mooney, there is no richard pryor. - comedy before that and comedy after that is never the same. - richard's appearance in 1975 on "saturday night live" kind of showed what black comedy could be. - you got to get down and say things like, "excuse me." (audience laughing) "would you move out of my way?" and you walk like this, check this walk. (audience laughing) - what people don't know is that richard pryor insisted upon writing a lot of his own material for that show. so he didn't rely on the white writers to write his skits. he said, "i'm gonna do it myself. i'm gonna bring paul mooney in to come in and help me write this." so they write these amazing sketches that are talking about what blackness is. - it's just a word association. i'll throw you out a few words, anything that comes to your mind, just throw back at me, okay? - and i say blackness because that's exactly what is was. it was about blackness. - colored. - redneck. (au

paul mooney was his muse. - you can't get sight, you gotta get hip to what you are. - and paul mooneyou come out, you do your thing, you be black, you go for it." without paul mooney, there is no richard pryor. - comedy before that and comedy after that is never the same. - richard's appearance in 1975 on "saturday night live" kind of showed what black comedy could be. - you got to get down and say things like, "excuse me." (audience laughing) "would you move out of my way?" and you walk like this, check this walk. (audience laughing) - what people don't know is that richard pryor insisted upon writing a lot of his own material for that show. so he didn't rely on the white writers to write his skits. he said, "i'm gonna do it myself. i'm gonna bring paul mooney in to come in and help me write this." so they write these amazing sketches that are talking about what blackness is. - it's just a word association. i'll throw you out a few words, anything that comes to your mind, just throw back at me, okay? - and i say blackness because that's exactly what is was. it was about blackness. -

." - "sanford and son" was a more authentic show because of writers like paul mooney and ilunga adell. - redd and i said, "you know what? we need to have some black writers." - what you doing combing your hair? - why does anybody come their hair? to look neat. - but you just going to a job. - pop, just because i work in junk don't mean i have to look like it. - when we had white writers, they would write, "i'm gwan," g-w-a-n. we gwan hit it over der," and redd said, "hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. you don't need to do that. write words, and we, the characters, will say those words the way black people say those words. - who you calling ugly, sucka? (audience laughs) (upbeat music) - we shot the pilot in september of '71, and it just went through the ceiling. we didn't just usher in black shows. we were the foundation for all the sitcoms for the next 25, 30 years. - it just led the way to other sitcoms like "good times." ♪ good times ♪ anytime you need - breakfast is ready if you hungry! - "good times" is one of my favorite sitcoms because i didn't realize i was watching a sitcom. - give me

." - "sanford and son" was a more authentic show because of writers like paul mooney and ilunga adell. - redd and i said, "you know what? we need to have some black writers." - what you doing combing your hair? - why does anybody come their hair? to look neat. - but you just going to a job. - pop, just because i work in junk don't mean i have to look like it. - when we had white writers, they would write, "i'm gwan," g-w-a-n. we gwan hit it over der," and redd said, "hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. you don't need to do that. write words, and we, the characters, will say those words the way black people say those words. - who you calling ugly, sucka? (audience laughs) (upbeat music) - we shot the pilot in september of '71, and it just went through the ceiling. we didn't just usher in black shows. we were the foundation for all the sitcoms for the next 25, 30 years. - it just led the way to other sitcoms like "good times." ♪ good times ♪ anytime you need - breakfast is ready if you hungry! - "good times" is one of my favorite sitcoms because i didn't realize i was watching a sitcom. - give me

." - "sanford and son" was a more authentic show because of writers like paul mooney and ilunga adell. - redd and i said, "you know what? we need to have some black writers." - what you doing combing your hair? - why does anybody come their hair? to look neat. - but you just going to a job. - pop, just because i work in junk don't mean i have to look like it. - when we had white writers, they would write, "i'm gwan," g-w-a-n. we gwan hit it over der," and redd said, "hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. you don't need to do that. write words, and we, the characters, will say those words the way black people say those words. - who you calling ugly, sucka? (audience laughs) (upbeat music) - we shot the pilot in september of '71, and it just went through the ceiling. we didn't just usher in black shows. we were the foundation for all the sitcoms for the next 25, 30 years. - it just led the way to other sitcoms like "good times." ♪ good times ♪ anytime you need - breakfast is ready if you hungry! - "good times" is one of my favorite sitcoms because i didn't realize i was watching a sitcom. - give me