The Richard Pryor Show
The Richard Pryor Show was an American comedy variety show starring and created by Richard Pryor. It premiered on NBC on Tuesday, September 13, 1977 at 8 p.m. opposite ABC's Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. The show was produced by Rocco Urbisci for Burt Sugarman Productions, it was conceived out of a special that Pryor did for NBC in May 1977. Because the special was a major hit, both critically and commercially, Pryor was given a chance to host and star in his own television show. TV Guide included the series in their 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon"; the Richard Pryor Show lasted four episodes during the 1977 season. Industry observers questioned NBC's decision to put one of America's most controversial and profanity-laced artists in the middle of "family hour" on Tuesdays; the main cast consisted of Pryor as various characters. Some of the more popular characters were Pryor playing a money-seeking priest, a wino, a white-hating rock star; the rest of the cast consisted of comedians, some of whom went on to have popular careers in Hollywood.
Pryor taped only four episodes of the show. There were many controversial skits that aired, but the most controversial bit was the first episode's unaired title-card scene in which Pryor was shown nude but with his genitals removed like a Ken doll. A skit in which Pryor appeared as a machine gun-toting rocker who kills all of his white fans caused a stir; the third episode featured a controversial skit that showed a woman describing what her first lesbian experience was like in a park. One of the most shocking and revealing skits of the show came during the last episode; the skit featured a roast. The show's cast roasted Pryor, who sat with his head down laughing mildly while regulars on the show either had kind remarks or scornful ones. For instance, Sandra Bernhard said that Pryor was a good father who gave everything he had, that being "a flat nose and big lips.". A two-volume DVD set was released on March 23, 2004; the DVDs include the special that Pryor did, the inspiration for the series.
In February 2010, the African-American-themed cable network TV One aired a five-hour marathon of The Richard Pryor Show, which consisted of the original special, followed by all four episodes of the series. The broadcast marked one of only two times that the show had been aired on television since its original run on NBC. In the late 1990s,it was re-shown as a summer filler show after most of their other series had either been canceled or fulfilled their regular seasons. In February 2011, TV One re-aired the episodes again in honor of black history month; the network began showing the episodes again, in August 2012. On March 11, 2010, The Top 10 Greatest Sketches from The Richard Pryor Show was released by Alright, Dude Productions, featuring a mini-documentary format on Pryor's history, the conception of the show, moving into the actual countdown portion; the Richard Pryor Show on IMDb The Richard Pryor Show at TV.com
Celebrity culture
Celebrity culture is a high-volume perpetuation of celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands. Whereas a culture can be physically identified, its group characteristics observed, celebrity culture exists as a collection of individuals' desires for increased celebrity viewing. Celebrities themselves do not form a cohesive and identifiable group with which they identify themselves. Celebrities are found across a spectrum of activities and communities including acting, fashion and music; the "culture" is created when it is common knowledge within a society that people are interested in celebrities and are willing to alter their own lives to take part in celebrities' lives. The "culture" is first defined by factors outside of celebrities themselves, augmented by celebrities' involvement within that publicly constructed culture. Celebrity culture has become a part of everyday society and functions as a form of entertainment.
Today, everyday citizens play an important role in the perpetuation of celebrity culture by checking the whereabouts of celebrities, the trends within celebrity culture, the general lives of celebrity via media. Celebrity culture is now reflected in social norms and values because of the extreme citizen involvement. Today, as it is now used as entertainment, celebrity culture is viewed as a form of "escapism" from reality and a means of preoccupation for everyday people. There have been multiple phases in the popularity of celebrity culture; the earliest examples would include the broadcasting of television programs where human beings could reach wider audiences and individuals could be given rise to fame. As different technologies were released, the manipulation of audiences changed, the reaches of celebrity culture has expanded. Entrepreneurial individuals began to recognize the financial value in purposefully promoting certain individuals, thus a consumer approach to celebrities as brands emerged.
A culture began to take shape. This acceptance along with shrewd marketing perpetuates celebrity culture with its shifting customs and beliefs. Celebrity culture can be viewed as synonymous with celebrity industry, where celebrities are treated as products to be sold. Celebrity culture differs from consumer culture in that celebrity culture is a single aspect of consumer culture. Celebrity culture could not exist without consumer culture, as people are buying magazines, apps for celebrities, other celebrity-related merchandise. Consumers' choices are thus influenced by celebrities' choices. By following celebrities, consumers are invited to take part in the collective society created by the existence of celebrity culture, unknowingly perpetuated by the consumers themselves. Participants of the celebrity culture phenomenon include the celebrities themselves, being aware they can brand themselves and achieve financial gains through their own fame and status, apart from the foundation of their celebrity pre-branding.
"To people who have grown tired of self-government, the belief in kings and queens and fairy tales seems easier and more comfortable than the practice of politics," wrote Lewis Lapham in his book, The Wish For Kings. This notion is the basis for the occurring relationship between "regular" men and women, those on a pedestal; the famous religious books of the world's faiths are replete with examples of individuals who are well known by the general public. Some of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt set in motion devices to ensure their own fame for centuries to come. Celebrity culture, once restricted to royalty and biblical/mythical figures, has pervaded many sectors of society including business and academia. With every scientific advance names have become attached to discoveries. For large contributions to humanity, the contributor is regarded honourably. Mass media has increased the power of celebrity. A trend has developed that celebrity carries with it more social capital than in earlier times.
Each nation or cultural community has its own independent celebrity system, but this is becoming less the case due to globalization. According to Oliver Dreissens, celebrity’s social and cultural prominence can be traced back to the success of the mass media; the various forms of mass media branding of celebrities. With the inclusion of televisions in the average home, there became more of a familiarity with the people or celebrities now "in our homes". Media surrounding celebrities has influenced not only celebrity culture but the general social environment in our lives. Celebrities are known to not only influence what we buy but many other things such as body image, career aspirations and politics. Richard Dyer has stated that celebrity culture is bound up with the condition of global capitalism in which "individuals are seen to determine society". Newer technologies, such as cable television and 24/7 coverage, have made today’s celebrities manufactured for mass consumption, as opposed to the celebrities of the thirties and the fifties who were more self-made.
24/7 coverage pushed for people to fill the extra time. With this evolved more shows and celebrities who partook in the additional screen time. Reality television has been a large part of fostering a new celebrity culture, more interchangeable and recognizable. Cable television and social media media sites such as YouTube, have made “overnight” sensations which have perpetuated today's perception of celebri
Flint, Michigan
Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, United States. Located along the Flint River, 66 miles northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. According to the 2010 census, Flint has a population of 102,434, making it the seventh largest city in Michigan; the Flint metropolitan area is located within Genesee County. It is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Michigan with a population of 425,790 in 2010; the city was incorporated in 1855. Flint was founded as a village by fur trader Jacob Smith in 1819 and became a major lumbering area on the historic Saginaw Trail during the 19th century. From the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, the city was a leading manufacturer of carriages and automobiles, earning it the nickname "Vehicle City". General Motors was founded in Flint in 1908, the city grew into an automobile manufacturing powerhouse for GM's Buick and Chevrolet divisions after World War II up until the early 1980s recession. Flint was the home of the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936–37 that played a vital role in the formation of the United Automobile Workers.
Since the late 1960s, Flint has faced several crises. The city sank into a deep economic depression after GM downsized its workforce in the area from a 1978 high of 80,000 to under 8,000 by 2010. From 1960 to 2010, the population of the city nearly halved from 196,940 to 102,434. In the mid-2000s, Flint became known for its high crime rates and has been ranked among the most dangerous cities in the United States; the city was under a state of financial emergency from 2002–2004 and again from 2011–2015. Since 2014, the city has faced a major public health emergency due to lead contamination in the local water supply that has affected thousands of residents, as well as an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease due to tainted water; the Saginaw Valley the vicinity of Flint, is considered by some to be the oldest continually inhabited area of Michigan. Regardless of the validity of this claim, the region was home to several Ojibwa tribes at the start of the 19th century, with a significant community established near present-day Montrose.
The Flint River had several convenient fords which became points of contention among rival tribes, as attested by the presence of arrowheads and burial mounds near it. Some of the city resides atop ancient Ojibwa burial grounds. In 1819, Jacob Smith, a fur trader on cordial terms with both the local Ojibwas and the territorial government founded a trading post at the Grand Traverse of the Flint River. On several occasions, Smith negotiated land exchanges with the Ojibwas on behalf of the U. S. government, he was regarded on both sides. Smith apportioned many of his holdings to his children; as the ideal stopover on the overland route between Detroit and Saginaw, Flint grew into a small but prosperous village, incorporated in 1855. The 1860 U. S. census indicated that Genesee County had a population of 22,498 of Michigan's 750,000. In the latter half of the 19th century, Flint became a center of the Michigan lumber industry. Revenue from lumber funded the establishment of a local carriage-making industry.
As horse-drawn carriages gave way to the automobiles, Flint naturally grew into a major player in the nascent auto industry. Buick Motor Company, after a rudimentary start in Detroit, soon moved to Flint. AC Spark Plug originated in Flint; these were followed by several now-defunct automobile marques such as the Dort, Little and Mason brands. Chevrolet's first manufacturing facility was in Flint, although the Chevrolet headquarters were in Detroit. For a brief period, all Chevrolets and Buicks were built in Flint. In 1904, local entrepreneur William C. Durant was brought in to manage Buick, which became the largest manufacturer of automobiles by 1908. In 1908, Durant founded General Motors, filing incorporation papers in New Jersey, with headquarters in Flint. GM moved its headquarters to Detroit in the mid-1920s. Durant lost control of GM twice during his lifetime. On the first occasion, he befriended Louis Chevrolet and founded Chevrolet, a runaway success, he used the capital from this success to buy back share control.
He lost decisive control again, permanently. Durant experienced financial ruin in the stock market crash of 1929 and subsequently ran a bowling alley in Flint until the time of his death in 1947; the city's mayors were targeted for recall twice, Mayor David Cuthbertson in 1924 and Mayor William H. McKeighan in 1927. Recall supporters in both cases were jailed by the police. Cuthbertson had angered the KKK by the appointment of a Catholic police chief; the KKK supported Judson Transue, Cutbertson's elected successor. Transue however did not remove the police chief. McKeighan survived his recall only to face conspiracy charges in 1928. McKeighan was under investigation for a multitude of crimes which angered city leaders enough to push for changes in the city charter. In 1928, the city adopted a new city charter with a council-manager form of government. Subsequently, McKeighan ran the "Green Slate" of candidates who won in 1931 and 1932 and he was select as mayor in 1931. In 1935, the city residents approved a charter amendment establishing the Civil Service Commission.
For the last century, Flint's history has been dominated by both car culture. During the Sit-Down Strike of 1936–1937, the fledgling United Automobile Workers triumphed over General Motors, inaugurating the era of labor unions; the successful mediation of the strike by Governor Frank Murphy, culminating in a one-page agreement recognizing the Union, began an era of successful organizing by the UAW. The
Andy Cohen (TV personality)
Andrew Joseph Cohen is an American radio and television talk show host and writer. He is the host and executive producer of the Bravo's late night talk show, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. Cohen has a pop culture channel on SiriusXM Radio named Radio Andy, he hosts a two-hour live show with co-host John Hill twice a week. Cohen served as Bravo's Executive Vice President of Development and Talent until 2013, he was responsible for creating original content, developing innovative formats and identifying new talent. Cohen served as Executive Producer on Emmy and James Beard award–winning reality cooking competition television show, Top Chef, he continues to serve as an executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise, host of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo, host of Andy Cohen Live on SiriusXM channel 102, hosted the television dating show, Love Connection. Cohen was born in Missouri to Evelyn and Lou Cohen, he is Jewish. Cohen graduated from Clayton High School in 1986; as a child, he attended Camp Nebagamon for Boys in Wisconsin.
He is a graduate of Boston University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast journalism. Cohen wrote for The Daily Free Press, he interned at CBS News alongside Julie Chen, working as an intern. Cohen began his career in television as an intern at CBS News, he spent 10 years at the network serving as senior producer of The Early Show, a producer for 48 Hours and CBS This Morning, He joined the television network Trio in 2000 becoming vice president of original programming at Bravo in 2004 when the network purchased Trio. Cohen was a regular on Today and Morning Joe and has co-hosted Live! with Kelly, The View. He has made various guest appearances on other talk shows, he has made several guest appearances on television shows playing himself, such as The Comeback and Saturday Night Live. In summer 2009, Cohen began hosting Watch What Happens Live; the show was expanded into a weeknight series. Cohen is in contract with Bravo to host Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen until 2020.
Cohen's autobiographical memoir Most Talkative, released in May 2012, became a New York Times Best Seller in the hardcover and combined nonfiction categories. On August 15, 2013, he declined to co-host the Miss Universe pageant in Russia, due to the country’s recent adoption of anti-gay laws. Before that, he hosted Miss USA 2011, Miss USA 2012, Miss USA 2013, Miss Universe 2011, Miss Universe 2012. On March 22, 2014, he portrayed Zeus in Lady Gaga's music video for "G. U. Y.". In November 2014, Cohen published his second memoir, The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year, inspired by the titled The Andy Warhol Diaries; the book spans a year long of journal entries beginning in September 2013. The Andy Cohen Diaries became a Times Best Seller in the Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction category. On September 14, 2015, SiriusXM launched a new radio channel curated by Cohen, known as Radio Andy on channel 102; the channel features. Cohen hosts a series of special broadcasts for his station known as Town Halls in front of a live studio audience.
The channel features shows hosted by. The channel has produced specials including. Cohen and Anderson Cooper announced that they would be going on a national tour to perform their conversational stage show AC2 beginning in March 2015; the tour opened in Boston, followed by Miami Beach and Atlanta. The idea for the show came about after Cooper interviewed Cohen about his then-latest book, The Andy Cohen Diaries, at an event at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Since the two-man show has continued to tour reaching over 50 cities as of October 2018. On December 31, 2015, Cohen hosted a one-off live edition of Hollywood Game Night, co-hosted New Year's Eve with Carson Daly, for NBC. In 2016, the publisher Henry Holt and Company announced it was launching the imprint Andy Cohen Books. Cohen's third memoir Superficial: More Adventures From the Andy Cohen Diaries was published in November 2016. A sequel to The Andy Cohen Diaries, the book covers diary entries for the subsequent two years. Superficial became a Times Best Seller among books written by celebrities.
In January 2017, Fox ordered. The hour-long game show premiered on May 25; the same month, Cohen played himself on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. In August 2017, Fox announced; that year, Cohen succeeded Kathy Griffin as co-host of CNN's New Year's Eve coverage alongside Cooper. In 2018, Cohen played himself on the show Riverdale as a friend of the Lodge family, he made a March 2018 appearance as a guest judge in an episode of the VH1 reality-television series RuPaul's Drag Race. In December 2018, he again co-hosted. Cohen is the first gay host of an American late-night talk show. In December 2018, he announced he would become a father in 2019 with the help of a s
Without You I'm Nothing (film)
Without You I'm Nothing is a 1990 American musical comedy film starring and written by comedian and singer Sandra Bernhard, based on material from her award-winning one-woman show of the same name, produced by Terry Danuser. The film was shot on location in August 1989 at The Coconut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Karole Armitage was the choreographer. Directed by John Boskovich, the film recreates moments from the stage show with Bernhard dressed in zany costumes reminiscent of the character she is embodying without "becoming" that character. Interspersed are faux-interview bits with actress Lu Leonard as Bernhard's manager and actor Steve Antin, with whom she would co-star in the film Inside Monkey Zetterland; the film is notorious for a finale in which Bernhard wears nothing but pasties and an skimpy G-string and proceeds to go-go dance to the song "Little Red Corvette" by Prince. It was not a commercial success, but it was praised by critics for its caustic commentary on American values and celebrity culture.
In Bernhard's 2006 Off-Broadway show Everything Bad & Beautiful, she concludes by showing the final footage from this film: Cynthia Bailey writing "Fuck Sandra Bernhard" on a tablecloth in lipstick. Without You I'm Nothing was released on VHS video cassette on December 19, 1990 and became a cult classic, prompting it to be re-released in 2000 as part of the "MGM Avant-Garde Cinema" collection, it was released on DVD on August 23, 2005. Without You I'm Nothing on IMDb
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations starring unknown individuals rather than professional actors. Reality television came to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the global successes of the series Survivor and Big Brother, all of which became global franchises. Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen. Competition-based reality shows feature gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges or by the viewership of the show. Documentaries, television news, sports television, talk shows, traditional game shows are not classified as reality television; some genres of television programming that predate the reality television boom are retroactively labeled reality television, including hidden camera shows, talent-search shows, documentary series about ordinary people, high-concept game shows, home improvement shows, court shows featuring real-life cases.
Reality television has faced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. Critics argue reality television shows do not reflect reality, in ways both implicit, deceptive; some have been accused of underdog to win. Other criticisms of reality television shows include that they are intended to humiliate or exploit participants. Television formats portraying ordinary people in unscripted situations are as old as the television medium itself. Producer-host Allen Funt's Candid Camera, in which unsuspecting people were confronted with funny, unusual situations and filmed with hidden cameras, first aired in 1948, is seen as a prototype of reality television programming. Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the late 1940s. Queen for a Day was an early example of reality-based television; the 1946 television game show Carry sometimes featured contestants performing stunts. Debuting in 1948, Allen Funt's hidden camera show Candid Camera broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks.
In 1948, talent search shows Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts featured amateur competitors and audience voting. In the 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock and Truth or Consequences involved contestants in wacky competitions and practical jokes. Confession was a crime/police show which aired from June 1958 to January 1959, with interviewer Jack Wyatt questioning criminals from assorted backgrounds; the radio series Nightwatch tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California police officers. The series You Asked for It incorporated audience involvement by basing episodes around requests sent in by postcard from viewers. "You're Another", a science fiction short story by American writer Damon Knight, first appeared in the June 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and contains the earliest fictional depiction of what is now called reality television. First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television documentary Seven Up!, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary 7-year-olds from a broad cross-section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life.
Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the intervening period, titled the Up Series, episodes include "7 Plus Seven", "21 Up", etc.. The program was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot. However, it did have the then-new effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities; the first reality show in the modern sense may have been the series The American Sportsman, which ran from 1965 to 1986 on ABC in the United States. A typical episode featured one or more celebrities, sometimes their family members, being accompanied by a camera crew on an outdoor adventure, such as hunting, hiking, scuba diving, rock climbing, wildlife photography, horseback riding, race car driving, the like, with most of the resulting action and dialogue being unscripted, except for the narration. In the 1966 Direct Cinema film Chelsea Girls, Andy Warhol filmed various acquaintances with no direction given; the 12-part 1973 PBS series An American Family showed a nuclear family going through a divorce.
In 1974 a counterpart program, The Family, was made in the UK, following the working class Wilkins family of Reading. Other forerunners of modern reality television were the 1970s productions of Chuck Barris: The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, The Gong Show, all of which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in a televised competition; the 1976-1980 BBC series The Big Time showed, in each of its 15 episodes, a different amateur in some field trying to succeed professionally in that field, with help from notable experts. The series is credited with starting the career of Sheena Easton, selected to appear in the episode showing an aspiring pop singer trying to enter the music business. In 1978, Living in the Past recreated life in an
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience speaking directly to them. The performer is known as a comic, stand-up comic, comedienne, stand-up comedian, or a stand-up. In stand-up comedy, the comedian gives the illusion that they are dialoguing, but in actuality, they are monologuing a grouping of humorous stories and one-liners called a shtick, routine, or set; some stand-up comedians use props, magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is stated to be the "freest form of comedy writing", regarded as an "extension of" the person performing; the improvisation of stand-up is compared to jazz music. A comedian's process of writing is likened to the process of song writing. A comedian's ability to tighten their material has been likened to crafting a samurai sword; some of the main types of humor in stand-up comedy include observational comedy, blue comedy, dark comedy, clean comedy, cringe comedy. Alternative stand-up comedy deviates from the traditional, mainstream comedy by breaking either joke structure, performing in an untraditional scene, or breaking an audience's expectations.
Stand-up comedy is performed in corporate events, comedy clubs and pubs, neo-burlesques and theatres. Outside live performance, stand-up is distributed commercially via television, DVD, CD and the internet, it can take an amateur comedian about 10 years to perfect the technique needed to be a professional comedian. As the name implies, "stand-up" comedians perform their material while standing, though this is not mandatory. Similar acts performed while seated can be referred to as "sit-down comedy". "Comedians are more to exhibit psychotic traits" than the average person. In stand-up comedy, from the time the audience enters the building, their feedback is instant and crucial for the comedian's act. Audiences expect a stand-up comedian to provide four to six laughs per minute, a performer is always under pressure to deliver the first two minutes. A stand-up comedy show may be one comedian. A traditional format features an opening act known as a host, compère, master of ceremonies, or "opener" who, for 10-12 minutes warms up the crowd, interacts with audience members, makes announcements, introduces the other performers.
The second definition of an opener is applied when the opening act of a traveling comedian may perform a 25-minute set. The "showcase" format consists of several acts who perform for equal lengths of time, typical in smaller clubs such as the Comedy Cellar, or Jongleurs, or at large events where the billing of several names allows for a larger venue than the individual comedians could draw. A showcase format may still feature an MC. Many smaller venues hold open mic events, where anyone can take the stage and perform for the audience; this offers an opportunity for amateur performers to hone their craft and to break into the profession, or for established professionals to work on their material. Industry scouts will sometimes go to watch open mics. Breaking into the business requires "10 minute" of "A" material. Roadhouses start booking people for "20 minutes of'A' material". "A" material means getting a big laugh at least "75% of the time". "Bringer shows" are open mics that require amateur performers to bring a specified number of paying guests to receive stage time.
Some view this as exploitation. The guests have to pay a cover charge and there is a minimum number of drinks that must be ordered; these shows have a "showcase" format. Different comedy clubs have different requirements for their bringer shows. Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, for example has ten-person bringers, while Broadway Comedy Club in New York City has six-person bringers. In the'90s, the New York Comedy Club had pre-shows. In metropolitan areas, bringer shows may give comedians better exposure than open mics, because there is better audience turnout; this is an unpaid, five-to-ten-minute time slot, an audition to get booked for paid gigs. In stand-up comedy, a "canned" joke is made of a "premise...point of view" and "twist" ending. A joke contains the least amount of information necessary to be conveyed and laughed at. Most of stand-up comedy's jokes are the juxtaposition of two incongruous things. According to the founding editor of The Onion, there are eleven types of jokes. Stand-up comedians will deliver their jokes in the form of a typical joke structure, using comedic timing to deliver the setup and the punch line.
Stand-ups will frame their stories as having happened "recently." The comedian's delivery of a joke—the pause, inflection, "ener," and look—is "everything". Comedians include taglines (dependent punchlines that
