A month ago, I was having dinner with my friend Mark, recounting how the night before, I was watching Sanford and Son. I told him how I was surprised to find out that Richard Pryor had a writing credit for the show. I watched for about 10 minutes. The show was about Fred's favorite cousin, his cousin's new wife, and her young adult, heavy, daughter. Fat jokes all some mild humor all around; it was OK. I could tell from the story and jokes it was written by Richard Pryor, or at least I pretended to know how to identify his stuff.
"I don't know if you know this, Mark," I said, "but Richard Pryor was instrumental in making that show a success."
"I didn't," he said.
"Yep. In fact, you know that catch phrase Fred Sanford used to say whenever he thought he was having a heart attack? He wrote that. Yeah, Richard Pryor came up with 'Elizabeth! I'm comin' to join ya!' but that was actually the version they used on TV; his was a little racier. The one Richard wrote into the script was 'Oh... _FUCK_!!!!!'"
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