Richard Pryor

From blackface, minstrel shows, Mom's Mabley, Flip Wilson, Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Martin, Kevin Hart, the Kings of Comedy, Dave Chappelle, and beyond, Black people have always found a way to laugh at our pain. How many times have we heard the expression, "we laugh to keep from crying?"I would say too many times to count just as we can't count the many stories of tragedy that we turned into triumph by hitting that stage and using that moment to offer therapeutic healing through our comedic gifts. [...]