SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our Q&A Series, Friday, October 14, 2022
LOCATION: The Million Dollar Theater, 307 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013
7:30pm RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP (1982, dir. Joe Layton, Sony, USA, 82mns, 35mm*)
*Though we reserve the right to screen on DCP if the 35mm print is too beat up or brittle. Tonight the spotlight has to be on Mr. Pryor.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Jennifer Lee Pryor, Mr. Pryor’s wife, will be doing a special introduction ahead of the movie at 7:30pm. Following the screening, several noted stand up comedians (we’ll announce, update the list here as we get confirmations) will join us onstage for a round table Q&A on Mr. Pryor and his legacy to comedy. We’ll go the audience for questions. This is a special night not be missed.
Tonight, we’re proud and honored to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Richard Pryor’s seminal stand up comedy film Live on the Sunset Strip with an introduction by Mr. Pryor’s wife, Jennifer Lee Pryor, and a post-screening round table/Q&A with a number of noted comedians about Mr. Pryor’s legacy in the world of comedy.
For anybody not fully familiar with Richard Pryor, it’s fairly simple. He was and is the GOAT of stand up comedy. Though he started out performing fairly tame mainstream comedy acts in Las Vegas and elsewhere, he discovered his true voice in the late 1960’s. A voice filled with expletives, hilarious characters, incisive comedy on race relations, drugs, sex, the United States.
Richard Pryor became the voice of the country. Or at least the voice we all wish we had. And he fearlessly weaved in autobiography so that his comedy sets were also live wire acts of honesty and revelation.
Live on the Sunset Strip finds Mr. Pryor in 1982 at the height of his success and fame. One of the first African-American actors ever to receive a multi-million dollar paycheck, Mr. Pryor was somehow able to scale the heights of movie stardom while making sure to stay true to his roots with a series of stand up comedy movies.
Here Mr. Pryor riffs on everything from his infamous cocaine “free-basing” incident to his early days trying to get money from the gangsters who ran the clubs he performed in as a young man. He also opens up about suddenly being a big star with a lot of money after years of struggle.
The set is a time capsule of America in the early 1980’s but also shows that success did not diminish Pryor’s edge. Like John Ford in American Cinema, Richard Pryor is the Rosetta Stone of comedy. He is the comic’s comic.
But what makes him the GOAT is that he was also the audience’s comic as well.
Come join us for an amazing night of Mr. Pryor, stories, discussion, conversation.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL MILLION DOLLAR THEATER MOVIE PALACE PARKING TIPS:
If you are attending any or all movies on any given day, you can go to ADD ONS and pre-order an all day $6 Grand Central Parking Lot Pass (while SUPPLIES last). The Grand Central Parking Lot is at the corner of 3rd Street and Hill Street just 1 block from the Million Dollar Theater entrance on 3rd & Broadway.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.