Coolest part about being on set for this one? Chatting with Tim Reid, whom we cast in a guest role as a tribute to “Frank’s Place,” a great show about New Orleans.
Being a comedy nerd, I asked Mr. Reid about his early years in standup comedy... that is, his partnership with Tom Dreesen in a pioneering black-and-white comedy act. (They wrote a very entertaining book in 2008 – “Tim and Tom” – about those days.)If I’d known about the YouTube video below, I would’ve asked Tim Reid about this. Reid’s big break in Hollywood came as a sketch player on “The Richard Pryor Show.”
Check out this uncensored clip from the final episode of “The Richard Pryor Show.” It is scan-do-lous! You’ll recognize not only a young Tim Reid... but Marsha Warfield and Paul “Miss Thing” Mooney. (“Spoon on the end” is John Witherspoon.)
To see the next clip in the sequence, where Richard flames Robin Williams and Sandra Bernhard, click here.
17 comments:
Bless you! That was great. I've only seen the aired portion and that alone was funny. This right here was comic gold.
I have this, but have never watched it. Miss Thing...dang.
Gosh. I forgot all about Tom Dreesen.
"Treme" yet another tired derivative theme of urban pathos with the usual cardboard caricatures created by white folks like Simon etal..
I guess some measure of employment created for a select few black actors and writers is tolerable..But after years of this tired shit I am having a problem with Black actors taking on these roles..Blackface in Black is just as offensive as the original mistrelsy
Wow !! Confirmation of what I've always suspected about Mr. Mooney.
And looking back at this roast, I can only think, "Oh, how politically incorrect."
"Frank's Place" was a great show. As usual the greed-heads at the record companies are holding up release of the DVD (music rights).
Interesting...
Back when many Blacks felt that "Black Is Beautiful" - they seemed more able to laugh at themselves without getting their feelings hurt.
Today, everyone is so PC that the least racial remarks are cause for protests from the two old men with perms.
fun! and best of luck on the treme shoot. hope that goes well. can't wait to see it.
who is the white woman on the left side of the table?
i "met" pryor many years ago when he was the first recipient of the mark twain prize for comedy. great to see him in action.
Awesome stuff!!
Fascinating and funny stuff.
is paul mooney gay? cause he tried to hit on me years ago. my girlfriend made some reference to how small his feet were, and i couldn't stop laughing after that...
maybe he's just ummmm... "persnickety"? lol
PS: 70's humor is SO not funny to me--i guess i just don't get it
^ I don't know if he's gay. He's certainly "womanish." I interviewed Mooney for a Washington Post profile in the early '90s... in a downtown hotel lobby... and to drink her ordered... a mimosa.
well, that bit of info doesn't exactly do anything to dispel the "miss thing" moniker now does it?
then again, he's wasn't the only "womanish" man to have a thing for me...i don't know what is, but i wish i could switch it off, lol
Funny. But whenever I watch Mooney, I think: "Is he gay?" Then I immediately dismiss the thought because he has children. (Of course, plenty of gay men have fathered children....)
Hey Dave,
I thought I was the only one WHO remembered Frank's Place. Not on very long, so DVD reissue is very unlikely. I watched that show religiously when it was on. Speaking of PC: remember the one where he was asked to be the first 'colored' person to join the Creole (mixed race) club? He turned down the offer for personal and philosophical reasons.
Don V.
That wasn't a roast, that was a broiling!
DAMN! That was so raw. My thoughts on Mooney have been cleared up. And as far as Thrasher and TREME being a blah, blah pathos theory-- it's a reflection of the truth as in THE WIRE... THE WIRE was a reflection of people of color from the bottom to the top. Can't wait for show.
Who cares if Paul Mooney is gay? His autobiography seems to dispel the notion as it suggests he is and has been married for quite some time. I know that is not the defining measure, but who cares?
Other than that, Rich did a great job getting everyone back for the shit they said about him in the roast.
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