Paul Mooney - Black Is The New White

Well, this isn't what I thought it would be. I was vaguely aware of Mooney and his Richard Pryor connection, but like must white people my age, he came on my radar through Chappelle's Show. I thought that this would be more of a personal memoir. Not that it isn't, but in a lot of ways it's more of a celebration of his relationship (non-sexual, for all you rumor mongers and/or Earthquake fans) with Pryor. Mooney was sort of the Yin to his comedy Yan, neither drinking nor smoking but sure as hell sharing some common comedic ground. Mooney wrote a lot of Pryor's standup, including the famous job interview with Chevy Chase bit and Exorcist satire. On top of that, he was a champion Soul Train dancer, the first black circus ringleader, and played Sam Cooke in the Buddy Holly Story. He also raised a lot of hell. And even dated Lori Petty for a long while. Quite a guy. It's not the longest book in the world, which will work out as you'll want to read it cover to cover. Pick it up here from Amazon.

R