Richard Pryor

Widely regarded as the greatest stand-up comedian of all time, Richard Pryor's 1979 album Richard Pryor: Live in Concert is considered the first great stand-up film and was selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2019. Pryor won 5 Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, received the first-ever Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1998, and his raw autobiographical storytelling permanently altered comedy's relationship with race, addiction, and vulnerability.