Dead Honkey!

Back in the summer, we noted that there was something oddly special about the day of July 28 because so many gifted comedians shared that same birthday. But July 28 has nothing on December 1. Today is the birthday of three legendary comedic performers, Richard Pryor, Bette Midler and Woody Allen.
.Richard Pryor was an incredibly gifted stand-up comedian who eventually became one of the most popular film actors of his generation. Pryor's trademark was the racy and raunchy nature of his act, which by today's standards seems tame, but in the 1970's, to say the things that Richard Pryor was saying onstage was shocking to many and geunuinely frightening to the entertainment establishment. Our favorite Richard Pryor moment was when he hosted "Saturday Night Live" in its first season, back when the show was actually funny, and Pryor performed the famous "word association" skit with Chevy Chase. That skit is still recognized as not only one of the most shocking moments in television but also the funniest. Pryor died in 2005; today would have been his 70th birthday.
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"The Divine Miss M" started out singing in the gay bathhouses of New York in the 1970's, and quickly became a musical powerhouse. But lurking just beneath the surface of Bette Midler's wonderous voice was also a true gift for comedy, as Midler has proved by starring in two decades of film comedies. As much as we love Bette Midler, though, we miss the younger Bette from the 1970's when she was much more raunchy and also, like Pryor, sometimes considered too "dangerous" for network t.v. Happy 65th to Bette today!
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.Woody Allen, who turns 75 today, is a true comedic triple threat, having achieved legendary status as a writer, performer and director. Younger generations only know him for his later, more serious films, but we'll always remember Woody Allen for his earlier, incredibly hilarious films like "Sleeper", "Take The Money and Run" and "Bananas". Allen deserves the most respect, though, for helping to invent modern comedy as we know it today by being a writer on such pioneering t.v. shows as "The Colgate Comedy Hour", "The Garry Moore Show" and "The Sid Caesar Show".