Strange Fruit

This week we spoke with David Henry, co-author of Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him, about Pryor's work, and why it was so groundbreaking. "He had this sort of vulnerability about himself that just made him irresistible," David says. "He didn't pull any punches." Throughout their research for the book, David and his co-author (and brother) Joe Henry, learned about how Richard honed his craft, sometimes working the same comedy club every night for a week, each night with an improved version of the previous night's material. We talked about Pryor's surprising comments on his sexual experiences with other men, his openness about his drug use, and why audiences of all races found him so relatable. "When he was on stage by himself with just a microphone, he seemed to understand everything about being a human being," David said. "He seemed to have such a clear-eyed view of life, and seemed to understand how people work—in ways that he couldn't really apply to