Ask A Black Man

Richard Pryor didn’t come up with all of those wildly provocative punch lines by himself. A large amount of his scathing onstage material and Grammy-winning LPs are credited to _The Richard Pryor Show_ head writer Paul Mooney, a comedy circuit legend who has mentored dozens of up-and-coming entertainers over the years.

More recently, the 60-some-odd-year-old has garnered a second wave of notoriety for his racially charged straight talk on Comedy Central’s now-defunct _Chappelle’s Show_ and in Spike Lee’s 1999 satire _Bamboozled_, where Mooney brought back his infamous one liner, “I say ‘nigger’ a hundred times every morning—makes my teeth white.”

But ever since Michael Richards’ incident at The Laugh Factory late last year, Mooney has sworn off using the ethnic slur in his act. Though he already slipped up a few months back during a live performance, no one said that curbing the epithet cold turkey would be easy—even for this foul-mouthed master. For more Mooney, check out his comedy DVD, released in February, _Paul Mooney: Know Your History—Jesus Was Black and So Was Cleopatra_.

*Why did you use the N-word when you first started with Richard Pryor?*
Richard was the first. He and I used the word because we wanted to diffuse it, take it away and own it. We made money off of it and got laughs off it—we did own it. But it was different times then. Dick Gregory was down south with Martin Luther King Jr. trying to do the integration thing and the sheriff pulled over and said, ‘I will kill both you niggers if you cross this line, and I don’t give a damn what that niggerloving president of yours says.’ So Dick Gregory said he’s going to say that word until the day that he dies. But now everybody else wants to say it. I understand why the young kids want to. Richard’s old joke is, ‘Let me hold my dick to make sure he ain’t take that, too.’ But to me, it doesn’t matter whether you cook a goat, sauté it or barbeque it, it’s still a fucking goat. I’m not saying the word, I don’t care what nobody says.

*You went to go see Michael Richards after he flipped out on stage.*
I straightened him all out. I went there with tough love because I’m a comic, he’s one of my own. If I had not stood by Michael, they would have deported this motherfucker. They wanted to fucking kill him.

*You seem to have real compassion about what happened.*
It was more than just a racial thing. He had a complete breakdown. I’ve known him for over 20 fucking years. When I came into that room he grabbed ahold of me and he would not let me fucking go. He thought I was going to knock him out, or hit him or something. He couldn’t believe that I stood by him. He said that white people came up to him and said, ‘We agree with you.’ That scared the fuck out of him. He said, ‘I don’t want to be a Klan member. I’m so sorry.’ It was real but they didn’t want to hear it, they didn’t want to forgive. But I was cured of the word by hearing him say it.

*Jews in Hollywood… thoughts?*
The same thing happens to black people. They try to be white people. They get nose jobs, they assimilate. They are under the illusion of inclusion. They will kick those motherfuckers out again and take them straight to the concentration camp. Trust me. The Jews did not like _All In The Family_. It was too racial. But white folks run shit and what they want to come on comes on! _Hogan’s Heroes_ wouldn’t have been a hit if white folks didn’t run shit. A show at a concentration camp, doesn’t that sound fun?

*I heard you wear a Jewish star sometimes.*
I do it because I relate to it, because it’s a part of me. Most people in my life are Jewish. I’ve had my manager for over 20 years. Jews have always been in my life. It’s like an AIDS pin; I give support.

*Are you a hip hop fan?*
Of course. I love hip hop. Tupac and I were writing a movie.

Manager: Tupac only wanted Paul to write for him. I negotiated a huge deal with the lawyers on Friday and I was going to pick up the check on
Monday. That weekend he was killed.

Mooney: I was supposed to be in Vegas with him, but I had to be in New York.

Manager: All those guys—Snoop, Xzibit—when Mooney comes, they just go crazy!

Mooney: They refer to me as The General. Robin Williams calls me Maestro. Jesse Jackson kisses my hand. I’m like a hurricane. You can talk about it, you can prepare for it, but it’s coming.

*Do you think there is a culture war going on between Dave Chappelle and Bill Cosby?*
Nooo. Bill Cosby just got crazy in his old age and he got fat. That’s why he’s wearing a leisure suit. He never talked that talk when he was in and hot. Bill Cosby was the ambassador for white folks, he never mentioned
race on stage.

*Are there any other comedians today…*
Pushing it the way I do? No. Let me tell you the difference so you understand. The majority of black comedy performers talk to white people. I talk about them. I take no prisoners. They all have hostages.

*Advice for new comedians?*
Get a day job. If you have to ask me for advice you’ll never be a comedian.
A prostitute is not going to ask you, ‘How do I become a whore?’

What do you think?