George Lopez, Bob Newhart, Mike Epps, Richard Pryor Jr. and others recount the culture-defining influence of one of America's most brilliant, iconic comic minds in Richard Pryor: OMIT THE LOGIC, the new Showtime documentary premiering on the network on Friday, May 31st at 9:00 pm ET/PT.
Directed by Emmy winning filmmaker Marina Zenovich (
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired) and executive produced by Roy Ackerman (Food Revolution) and Pryor's widow Jennifer Pryor, it was accepted into the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival where it will make its debut on Tuesday, April 23rd.
While much is known of his rise to fame from a hardscrabble, at times tortured, upbringing,
Richard Pryor: OMIT THE LOGIC uses never-before-seen concert footage, photos and talk show appearances to illustrate Pryor's complex career arc in a newly desegregated America. After a brief early stint honing a more mainstream, non-confrontational style, Pryor changed course and found his true, authentic voice. His brutal, uncanny observations (usually peppered with the 'n' word as punctuation) challenged polite notions on everything from politics to race relations and dared to take on topics some would prefer left alone. In his four-decade career, through meteoric highs and tragic lows, Pryor changed the direction of comedy and paved the road for future comic agitators such as
Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Epps and many others.
Marina Zenovich's most recent film,
Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, premiered at the 2012 Toronto and New York Film Festivals. Odd Man Out is a follow-up to Zenovich's 2008 film
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (TWC/HBO/BBC). Wanted and Desired premiered at the 2008
Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim and considerable media attention. It also won the award for Best Editing and then screened at the Cannes Film Festival as a Special Screening. Soon afterwards, Polanski's lawyers used Marina's film as evidence to re-open the 30-year-old case. The film, which was selected by the National Board of Review as one of the best documentaries of 2008, also won Emmys for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming (shared with Joe Bini & P.G. Morgan). Zenovich's past work includes: Who is Bernard Tapie? about the French former politician convicted criminal turned actor and her fascination with him; Independent's Day about the struggles of independent filmmakers set in Park City, Utah; and Estonia Dreams of Eurovision! about the wacky world of Tallin, Estonia as it prepares to host the Eurovision Song Contest.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of
CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME, THE MOVIE CHANNEL and FLIX, as well as the multiplex channels
Showtime 2,
Showtime SHOWCASE,
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Showtime HD, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD,
Showtime ON DEMAND, FLIX ON DEMAND and THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND, and the network's authentication service
Showtime ANYTIME. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a
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