RichardPryor.com Forums

He was a madman and Richard loved him! Some one called us today to contribute to a doc they are doing on the man-he's the weirdest legend!! Richard talked about him ALL THE TIME-he was right before Lenny!

I wish I knew more about Lord Buckley! He sounds totally rad. All that I've gleaned is from this great website about him--
http://www.lordbuckley.com/
I heard a story about him having to follow Sinatra at a Mafioso type club and getting the crowd's attention by sticking a knife in his arm! Does anybody know more about that story?

NickFlanagan,
Why don't you ask the guys at his website cause they would love to talk about him,what a great story!He sounds more like a performance artist from what i can gather-Richard always said he was like a 24 hour party!

Lord Buckley bridged the gap between the nightclub era of comedy (say Danny Thomas) and the brick wall era of comedy (Mort Sahl, and clubs Like the Hungry i and the Biter End). He was considered to be too hip for most rooms, and had to work in Jazz Clubs. (He did that before Lenny, who was still haunting Burlesque houses at the time.)

The Key to Buckley's genious is language. He used the full bredth of the language, and when the lexicon didn't have enough choices for him, he simply made stuff up.

I've always considered him one of the 3 big innovators in stand-up because he proved that the audience is as much a slave to story telling and performance rhythms as it is to material and observations.

Check out His Royal Hipness, and listen to a track called "The Naz."

Jim Mendrinos,
Thank you for filling the gaps!!! We all need to know more about this man!!!

Jennifer,
My husband bought me a book called the "The Last Laugh" which is a history on stand up and all the greats involved. Richrd is on the front cover and that author talks about Lord Buckley quite exstensivly. He sounded like a mad man but someone who just didn't give a shit about what other people thought and was going to live his life the way he wanted. At the end of it everyone who knew him loved him. He sounded like a real one in a million kind of guy who shows you that you don't have to become rich to be a successful comic you just have to love what you do.
xoxo
Daria