I didn't go to university http://fuq.in.net/ m.fuq In the Seventies Pryor was one of America’s most famous comedians and certainly its most radical. It wasn’t only his act that was new, it was the laughter it provoked. Listen to the footage. Those people aren’t chuckling – they’re shrieking. An American audience, much of it white, is listening to a very funny black man say “nigger”, and talk about what it’s like to be black in a white world. He’s saying things they haven’t heard before, or aren’t supposed to hear or think about. And their reaction isn’t just mirth – it’s a whole cacophony of escaped emotions: shock, delight, anxiety, embarrassment, relief. That’s why it’s so shrill.