Richard Pryor Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Comedy Store filed a lawsuit on Tuesday claiming that it lost out on $8.5 million in COVID relief funds because its accountant didn’t know about a government deadline. The comedy club sued Moss Adams LLP, alleging that the firm failed to warn that the application period for the grants was about to close. In late 2020, Congress approved $16 billion in relief funding to theaters and live performance venues that had been forced to close due to the pandemic. In the suit, the Comedy Store says that its business plummeted by nearly 90% in the latter half of 2020. The iconic club — which helped launch the careers of Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, David Letterman and many others — was not allowed to reopen at full capacity until last fall.

Angelique Jackson Film icon Pam Grier has teamed with Village Roadshow Pictures to develop a project based on her bestselling 2010 memoir, “Foxy: My Life in Three Acts.” Known as the queen of 1970s Blaxploitation classics like “Coffy” and “Foxy Brown,” plus Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated film “Jackie Brown,” Grier is enjoying her latest act thanks to movies like 2023’s “Cinnamon.” That film kicked off her relationship with Village Roadshow Pictures, which produced the title under the company’s Black Noir Cinema banner for Tubi. “Foxy: My Life in Three Acts” details Grier’s legendary screen career; her relationships with Richard Pryor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Freddie Prinze, among others; her experience as a Black female star in an era with rampant racism and sexism; and her battle with stage-four cervical cancer, diagnosed in 1988, when she was told she had 18 months to live.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran actor and comedian Eddie Griffin has signed with Independent Artist Group across the board, Deadline has learned.

Patricia Arquette built a career by showing up in eclectic, high-profile 1990s flicks like “Ed Wood,” “Bringing Out the Dead” and “Holy Matrimony.”But there was one film that the Oscar winner, 55, appears to have found a little bit too weird — the mysterious 1997 thriller “Lost Highway.”Arquette recently opened up about her experience on the cult-fave David Lynch project — and why filming an iconic nude scene was actually a “terrifying” experience, Variety reported.Arquette portrayed the dual role of Renee Madison/Alice Wakefield in the drama, alongside an ensemble cast that consisted of Bill Pullman, Balthazar Getty, Gary Busey, Giovanni Ribisi and Richard Pryor.During an appearance at the Series Mania Festival in France on Thursday, Arquette noted that at the time, she was “so extremely modest.”“I would take a bath in the dark,” she said. “The scene when my character had to strip was terrifying to me.”The “Boyhood” star added that the cast and crew would say degrading things to her when she had to peel off her clothes.

Way back in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, we saw reports that filmmaker Kenya Barris was set to write and direct a film based on the life of iconic comedian, Richard Pryor. However, like so many projects in the works at that time, we haven’t really heard much about it over the past few years.

Kenya Barris joined the Variety Studio presented by Audible at the Sundance Film Festival and provided some new updates on three of his most high-profile new projects. It was announced back in 2020 that Barris was set to direct a biopic on Richard Pryor, one of the most influential comedians of all time. The project remains in development, only Barris now confirmed that it’s actually a television series.

Marc Maron As a Jew, you are taught early on that you are different and people will hate you for it and maybe kill you. They’ve done it since the beginning of Jews. We watched Holocaust documentaries at Hebrew school to make sure we understood.

A newcomer will be easing on down the road next year.

Charna Flam Comedian Mark Normand has announced his first hourlong special for Netflix, “Soup to Nuts,” which will hit the streaming site on July 25. Since he was a kid, Normand knew he was interested in comedy. But once his mother doled out VHS tapes of the Marx Brothers, it became an integral part of his life. After watching it, he soon discovered comedians, films, shows and specials from the past, all due to his mother’s suggestion. “I thought, ‘This is great. It’s all jokes. This is hilarious. Still holds up.’ Then I went into a deep dive, where you find Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy,” Normand told Variety. “And then it was my whole world.”

What starts out looking like it wants to be a gross-out comedy in the Porky’s vein eventually, and more gratifyingly, heads closer to The Graduate territory in No Hard Feelings.

The Broadway-bound revival of The Wiz, which will launch a national tour in Baltimore this fall, has cast Kyle Ramar Freeman (A Strange Loop) as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson (Apple+’s Sharper) as the Tinman, and former The Voice contestant Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow.

the comic’s polarizing comments in his Grammy-winning Netflix stand-up special “The Closer.”In the 2021 special, Chappelle said he “agrees” that “gender is a fact”, as he discussed how J.K. Rowling had been branded a “TERF” (Trans-exclusionary radical feminist).When asked if her new Netflix special in which she defended the transgender community “balanced out” Chappelle’s set, Sykes told Variety, “Um, I don’t know about balancing it out, because I think what he said was so hurtful and damaging to the trans community.“So yeah, the scale is still tipped, I will say, in their favor. But I know I wanted to say something, because so much has been said on that platform.

, has died, according to a statement provided by his family. Per the statement, the late screenwriter died March 15 at his Hudson Valley home in upstate New York. He was 83.Born in Brooklyn, New York, and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh law school, Steinberg turned to comedy writing after life as an attorney did not turn out how he had imagined it would.

Norman Steinberg, who co-scripted Mel Brooks’ comedy classic Blazing Saddles with and won an Emmy for Flip Wilson’s 1970s variety show, has died. He was 83. The WGA East said Steinberg died March 15 but did not provide other details.

creative talents at “The Daily Show.” Sure, he’s got all the accolades now, but the Louisiana native started chasing his dream post-college after moving to Chicago. There, he slept on couches and worked at grocery stores. But he has an interesting perspective on his early days.On this week’s “Renaissance Man,” Josh told me that if you aren’t used to having creature comforts, “you don’t actually know the difference.

The Midnight Special, the once hugely popular music program that featured such now legendary performers of the 1970s and early ’80s as David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elton John and too many others to list, is now available to watch on YouTube.

Donn Cambern, the Oscar-nominated Romancing the Stone film editor whose credits also include Easy Rider, The Last Picture Show and Ghostbusters II and was a longtime president of the Motion Picture Editors Guild, died Wednesday, his family told the guild. He was 93.

Yousef Srour Freddie Gibbs is “The Mack” of hip-hop — hunched over a grand piano, two ice cubes in his old fashioned, white dress shirt unbuttoned to his torso, Big Boss Rabbit chain glistening across his neck. Slightly off-tune on purpose, he croons classic soul songs, from The Jackson Five’s “One More Chance” to Stan Smith’s “Stay With Me” to TLC’s “Waterfalls,” but there’s one exception: he wrote them. “Oooh, baby give me one more chance” transforms into “Oooh, baby give me one more gram,” as Gibbs gives them the Freddie Corleone treatment. In tandem with the emergence of Blaxploitation films in the early 1970s, artists among the likes of Richard Pryor and Ron O’Neal have lent their hand as the comedic relief to tales of pimps and gangsters, dealing crack to their respective communities. Freddie wants you to ask yourself: “Is it entertainment or is it an autobiography?” Blurring the line between fact and fiction, “Soul Sold Separately” finds Freddie Gibbs on the Kane Train once again, running hijinks, opening fire and selling cocaine at the $$$ Casino.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros just set Kenya Barris to write and direct Wizard of Oz, a reimaging of the fantasy classic, with his Khalabo Ink Society producing.

Neil Castles, a NASCAR driver who later worked in films as a stuntman, transportation coordinator and actor, died today at 88. His death was reported by journalist Deb Williams.

A brand new animated adventure has arrived in the form of “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank,” but this one may feel familiar to fans of classic comedies. The new release takes heavy inspiration from the plot of the Mel Brooks film “Blazing Saddles,” to the point that Brooks and Richard Pryor even have screenplay credits.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterVice TV is adding another “Dark Side” series to its growing fan-favorite franchise with spinoff “Dark Side of Comedy,” Variety has learned exclusively.The cabler describes the new show as “a fresh look at an art form that has long shined a light on significant cultural issues, and the artists who have managed to create light in times of darkness.”Joining a “Dark Side” lineup that currently includes “Dark Side of the Ring,” “Dark Side of Football” and “Dark Side of the ’90s,” “Dark Side of Comedy” is a series that “examines the internal battles, unexpected fame and societal pressures that are ever-present in the comedy world; as well as the lasting legacy of the women and men who allow us to see the world through their eyes.” The first season of the show, which is narrated by Dave Foley, will consist of 10 episodes focused on these comics: Andrew Dice Clay, Chris Farley, Freddie Prinze, Artie Lange, Roseanne Barr, Dustin Diamond, Greg Giraldo, Brett Butler, Richard Pryor and Maria Bamford.It features comics like Patton Oswalt, Godfrey, the late Gilbert Gottfried, Maria Bamford and more weighing in on these stories.Per Vice’s logline for “Dark Side of Comedy,” “Comedy has entered a new golden age. Podcasts, social media, and streaming services have all created new life and new laughs for comics living and dead — comics who were once relegated to smoky nightclubs and finite network TV time slots.

Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, at this point. Some have come out in defense of the star, while others have crticized him for striking the noted funnyman. Interestingly, a number of Rock’s fellow comedians, like Steve Harvey and Tiffany Haddish, have provided some particularly strong thoughts on the situation.

Comedian-host-director W. Kamau Bell claims a Black Carrot Top could never exist.

John Mulaney is clearing up a misconception he feels people have about the late Robin Williams and the source of his brilliant comedy.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentRight now, the name Chris Rock is synonymous with one thing: The Slap at the March 27 Oscars. However, Rock’s career is a lot more varied than that one incident, though there are several clues in his work leading up to that moment.May 20 marks the 35th anniversary of his movie debut as a parking valet in the 1987 “Beverly Hills Cop 2.”Variety’s review described it as “noisy, numbing, unimaginative” and didn’t mention Rock.

Robbie Praw, VP of Stand-up and Comedy Formats at Netflix, announced on Monday that the streamer will be showcasing highlights from the 11-day “Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival” stand-up comedy event held in Los Angeles, including Pete Davidson riffing on Kanye West’s bizarre social media onslaught, Amy Schumer telling a joke she wasn’t allowed to do at the Oscars, and David Letterman commenting on the recent attack on Dave Chappelle.The month-long comedy rollout begins with “The Hall: Honoring the Greats of Stand-Up,” on May 19, which has John Mulaney paying tribute to Robin Williams, Dave Chappelle on Richard Pryor, Chelsea Handler on Joan Rivers and Jon Stewart to George Carlin. The remaining programs are as follows:Also coming up is a Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias special filmed in front of Netflix’s largest-ever audience at a sold-out Dodger Stadium.“These shows represent some of the best work we’ve done at Netflix, with the best comedic talent on the planet. We’re so grateful to everyone who performed, helping to create the biggest comedy festival in U.S.

Netflix has announced a June 10 premiere date for A Tribute To Bob Saget, a celebration of the comedian and actor’s life in comedy with his friends and family. The date was unveiled as part of the Netflix Is A Joke festival.