Sykes, Pryor

One of the more interesting portions of the comedian presentations were their backgrounds. I had already known, from an interview she had on The Tonight Show, that Sykes had previously worked for the N.S.A.. It's surprising to hear that a woman as funny as her, had previously worked for a government agency. Employees who aren't immediately thought of as funny or humorous, but connotatively thought of as dull, boring, and work-orientated. That she used to work for the government and has become a successful comedian just goes to show that anyone, no matter what their profession can possess a great sense of humor and story-telling ability.
Sykes' routine on how woman think too much is a common joke in comedy. However, she made her routine unique by acting as the "average" woman who thinks 100 words per second only to find herself thinking about why she "thinks so much". Though our presenter, Alex, told us that Sykes' rarely uses racial humor in her routine, Sykes was also unique in that when she did use racism in her routine, she personified it through a racist dolphin. The joke here was enhanced with the idea of a racist dolphin, as opposed to a racist human, making it hilarious that a dolphin would shun a hug from Sykes.
Although I had known that Sykes had previously worked for the N.S.A., I had no idea that Richard Pryor's father was his mother's pimp, and that he had grown up in his grandmother's brothel. It's one thing to go into comedy after working for the government, but to become one of the most successful comedians of the 20th century with that kind of childhood is incredible. I'm sure that when Pryor was expelled from school at 14, no one excepted much from him.
Though I knew Pryor was a successful comedian, I had only seen him in movies never having watched his stand-up. He succeeds, as our presenter was saying, at making fun of himself. The best way to make -light out of a bad situation is to laugh about it. When Pryor lights a match and asks the audience" do you know what this is? It's Richard Pryor running down the street!" he is changing that audience's attitude toward the incident to make them think it wasn't so bad.