I had no idea that Paul Mooney was the writer behind Richard Pryor; not to mention his significant work for In Living Color and Saturday Night Live! (of course, most of us younger folks know his work on The Chappelle Show). This is an interesting combination of a biography/memoir and an absolutely hilarious commentary on race and society. Mooney helped a lot of comedians "make it" - i.e. Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Sandra Bernhard, etc. - while he mostly stayed behind the scenes. He's got great stories of life in Hollywood with these big names, and he of course tells these stories in a hilarious way. One part I've thought about several times since I've read the book:"For white people, Bill [Cosby] is the perfect Negro. He's the Sidney Poitier of comedy, very clean-cut and articulate. White folks love to use that word to describe us. Articulate. It means we don't grunt like jungle savages."
Ha! Another funny part:
"...We decide to keep all of my money in Mama's bra, since that's the equivalent of hiding it under the mattress. There's a lot of room in there. My money goes into the left cup. I always know where it is. I do my business at the Bank of Mama's Left Tit."
Clearly, if you aren't one for the "m-f word" or a lot of crude humor - this book is not for you. It wasn't a fabulous memoir or book of humor, but I'd give it a solid three and a half stars out of five.
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