Comedian Richard Pryor

Captain's Quarters: "Richard Pryor died today at 65, after suffering from long bouts of multiple sclerosis, heart disease, drug abuse, and what appeared to be a decades-long death wish. Pryor overcame the pain and illness of his life to change an entire entertainment form -- stand-up comedy -- from a series of jokes and witty third-party observations to a review of his life and his pain that seemed almost Freudian at times, even while making us cry with laughter. ... [A]s Pryor left the pain and the abuse behind him, life dealt him one last blow in the form of multiple sclerosis. Typically, he made it part of his act, refusing to allow the disease to keep him off the stage. Eventually, however, Pryor had to retire from the work he loved and transformed, and we were the poorer for it. Today, the world is poorer for his leaving it."

Daily Kos: "In many ways, Richard Pryor provided the first unvarnished discussion of race relations that people of all races could understand. ... Warts and all -- everybody's warts, but within the context of the realities of what the African American experience has been."

The Huffington Post: "Pryor's true genius was in his ability to convey an unparalleled humanity in his work, whether performing as a character or opening up his personal life with brutal candor -- practically right up until the end. I personally attended a couple of his final performances where he used his battle with MS as fodder for his act. ... It's often been said that only the truth is funny and Richard Pryor was both painfully truthful in his work and painfully funny."

Pajamas Media: "On a couple of occasions, I drove up with Richard to an orphanage in the San Gabriel Mountains for research for 'Family Dream.' ... It was on those jaunts I came to experience up close what Richard meant to the African American community. When black people saw us pulling up at a stoplight in his red Mercedes convertible, it was as if Jesus Christ himself had just come up beside them. 'Daddy Rich! Daddy Rich!' they would shout through tears of excitement. ... I knew that it was Richard's remarkable humanity they were reacting to, his ability to express a people's pain without rancor or anger, with a forgiving grace that finally defused all rage in laughter and put everything on a different, even strangely color-blind, level."