Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor somehow managed to bring comedy to new highs and lows simultaneously. Like Lenny Bruce, he spoke of important social topics with a potty mouth. Like Redd Foxx, he didn't shy away from the more ribald aspects of African-American life. But unlike so many post-Eddie Murphy hacks, Pryor's work was passionate, political, personal, and painful. He owned comedy in the 1970s with a series of movies and extremely influential Stand-Up records, but serious drug problems had him literally bursting into flames by 1980. Pryor survived, but he became more of a nuanced storyteller than comic after that. The early 1980s saw him become more mainstream than ever, but Pryor was unable to enjoy his popular peak (circa The Toy) for long. Advanced multiple sclerosis made this uncontainable genius lose control of his motor functions and speech. As painful as it's been to see Pryor's health decline, his old routines still sparkle with brilliance. Revisit them and find how American injustice can still be fought with laughter. 

Eddie Murphy  

Back in the 1980s, several popular movie and TV stars released solo albums. Some of those LPs were mildly successful (Don Johnson's), while others swiftly made their way into dollar bins and car wash cassette piles (Phillip Michael Thomas'). In 1985, long before the transsexual prostitute flap and string of box-office stinkers, Eddie Murphy was riding high in Hollywood, thanks to blockbuster action comedies like 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop. He also scored a huge hit with his debut single "Party All The Time" (written and produced by super-freaky funk icon Rick James), off Murphy's first musical LP, How Could It Be. The comedian's stint as a pop/R&B singer was thankfully brief, but his comedy albums are another issue entirely. After blowing up on Saturday Night Live, he released several excellent standup collections which brought his hilariously raw, politically incorrect humor to home stereos around the world. Nowadays, Murphy's known mostly for his PG-rated films, but these comedy albums recall his glory days as an uproariously raunchy comedian with a knack for putting into words what many people think but would never say. His first two recordings, Eddie Murphy and Comedian, are comedy classics.  

Bill Cosby 

Few people have had the kind of unparalleled success that Bill Cosby has enjoyed over his forty-something years in show business. The fact that Cosby is an African-American and had his first success in the early 1960s underscores the comedian's ability to connect with people regardless of their ethnic, religious or social background. The childhood recollections and anecdotes on Cosby's 1963 debut, Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow...Right! struck a chord with the public and garnered him his first of many Grammy nominations. Although Cosby never told racial jokes in his stand up routines, he was instrumental in breaking network television's color barrier when, in 1964, he became the first African-American to star in a television show. Although many Southern affiliates threatened not to air I Spy, the show was a hit with the public and Cosby won an Emmy for his portrayal of Agent Alexander Scott. Film roles followed, as did a couple of music albums, but Cosby found his most devoted audience through the Saturday morning cartoon, Fat Albert. A number of failed prime time series attempts throughout the late-'70s and early-'80s followed, until 1984's The Cosby Show. The success of The Cosby Show helped NBC dominate the ratings game for most of the '80s, and introduced Cosby to a new generation of fans. He also authored three books that spent several weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. Clearly, whether he's performing stand-up comedy, acting, or doing commercials for Jell-O, Cosby has the sort of easygoing sense of humor that resonates with the masses.

Chris Rock 

Influenced by other comic geniuses including Richard Pryor and Redd Fox, Chris Rock is one of the funniest celebrities in the country. After paying dues as a stand-up comedian, he began appearing on the much-loved skit showcase In Living Color and working in film. With a show-stealing cameo in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka! (where he dropped the timeless line "how much for a rib?") and his spot-on portrayal of Pookie the crackhead in New Jack City, Rock's star was on the rise. He became a regular on Saturday Night Live, and in '94 co-wrote and starred in CB4, an excellent (though under-rated) Spinal Tap-style parody of a fictional Gangsta Rap band. He's since starred in over a dozen movies and released three comedy albums, not to mention various cable specials and his own show on HBO -- with Grandmaster Flash as his DJ. Always down with the hip-hop, Chris Rock has appeared on LPs by Prince Paul and the one and only ODB.

Redd Foxx  

Anyone who's experienced the joys of basic cable is well-acquainted with Redd Foxx via the ever-present reruns of Sanford & Son on TBS; not everyone is familiar with the infamous stand-up routines that established his name prior to the show's 1970s heyday. It might be fitting to describe what he was doing back in the '50s and '60s -- documented on numerous hard-to-find LPs from the era -- as "avant-garde comedy," as his hair-curling blue routines predated just about everyone who would one day make a living out of cursing profusely on record. But there was more to his stage act than mere vulgarity: his candid, sharp-edged comments on race, poverty, sex and other taboo subjects were delivered with great comic timing, an unmistakably ornery presence, and just enough wit to get by. He's been superceded by much filthier comics in recent years, but his gravel-throated, perpetually grouchy diatribes remain surprisingly current.