50 free Richard Pryor trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Richard Pryor trivia quiz covers the stand-up comedian that Jerry Seinfeld called the Picasso of the profession. The easy questions are the ones any comedy fan knows: his Illinois hometown, his four films with Gene Wilder, the night he set himself on fire, and the disease that put him in a scooter. From there it moves into the career: the 1967 Las Vegas epiphany, the run of Grammy-winning albums, the Blazing Saddles writing credit he never got to act on, hosting Saturday Night Live in its first season, and the variety show cancelled after four episodes. The harder end is for people who own the box set: the record label he fought over That Nigger's Crazy, the singer who rocked him through stage fright at the Village Gate, the character Mudbone, the film he was replaced in by Gregory Hines, the $40 million Columbia deal, the children's show with Krofft puppets, the number of times he married, and the awards that came at the end, from the first Mark Twain Prize to the National Film Registry. It also touches on his difficult childhood and health honestly, without dwelling on it. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on Pryor, his albums and his films before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our stand-up comedy, Gene Wilder and Saturday Night Live quizzes next.
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Q 01In which Illinois city was Richard Pryor born and raised?
Peoria
A bronze statue of him now stands downtown near the neighbourhood where he grew up.
Q 02How many Grammy Awards did Pryor win during his career?
5
He also won a Primetime Emmy and, in 2006, a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Q 03Pryor was the first recipient of which humour honour in 1998?
The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize
The Kennedy Center said he, like Twain, was a trenchant social critic who spoke the truth however outrageous.
Q 04Which Mel Brooks western did Pryor co-write?
Blazing Saddles
He expected to play Sheriff Bart, but Cleavon Little got the role.
Q 05With which actor did Pryor make four films, starting with Silver Streak in 1976?
Gene Wilder
The others were Stir Crazy, See No Evil Hear No Evil and Another You.
Q 06What business did Pryor's grandmother run, in which he grew up?
A brothel
His mother lost custody of him in court when he was ten.
Q 07At what age was Pryor expelled from school?
14
He then met Juliette Whittaker, who ran the Carver Center's theatre programme.
Q 08Where did Pryor spend virtually his entire 1958-60 stint in the US Army?
In a military prison
He and other black soldiers had beaten a white soldier who laughed at Imitation of Life.
Q 09Which singer rocked a terrified young Pryor 'like a baby' before he opened for her?
Nina Simone
She said he shook like he had malaria, and she did it night after night.
Q 10Which comedian was Pryor's initial model before he found his own controversial voice?
Bill Cosby
He began as a middlebrow comic on Ed Sullivan and Merv Griffin.
Q 11At which Las Vegas hotel did Pryor walk off stage in 1967 with Dean Martin watching?
The Aladdin
He described it in his autobiography as an epiphany.
Q 12What was the title of the comedian's 1995 autobiography?
Pryor Convictions
Kiss Me Like a Stranger was his frequent co-star's memoir.
Q 13To which Californian city did Pryor move in 1969 to immerse himself in the counterculture?
Berkeley
He met Huey P. Newton and Ishmael Reed there.
Q 14For which comedian's 1973 TV special did Pryor share an Emmy as a writer?
Q 21On his short-lived variety show, Pryor played what historic figure?
The first Black President
He also spoofed the Star Wars cantina and lampooned racism aboard the Titanic.
Q 22After a 1979 trip to which country did Pryor swear off using a racial slur in his act?
Kenya
He was at the height of his success at the time.
Q 23Which 1980 film made Pryor the first Black actor paid a seven-figure fee for a single picture?
Stir Crazy
It grossed $101 million on a $10 million budget.
Lily Tomlin
He also wrote for Sanford and Son and The Flip Wilson Show.
Q 15Which label tried to block sales of Richard Pryor's That Nigger's Crazy in 1974?
Laff Records
In the settlement, the label was allowed to keep releasing old material, which it did until 1983.
Q 16Which Memphis soul label had Pryor signed with in 1973?
Stax
The label briefly closed during the legal battle and Pryor returned to Reprise/Warner Bros.
Q 17In which 1972 concert documentary about Watts did Pryor riff on race relations?
Wattstax
He was still relatively unknown at the time.
Q 18Pryor was the first Black host of which show, in its debut 1975 season?
Saturday Night Live
His word-association sketch that night became a highlight.
Q 19Which SNL cast member appeared with Pryor in the famous 'word association' sketch?
Chevy Chase
Pryor is one of only three SNL hosts ever put on a five-second delay.
Q 20How many episodes of The Richard Pryor Show aired on NBC in 1977 before cancellation?
Four
He said they offered ten but he had said all he wanted to in four.
Q 24Which actor-turned-director made the 1980 prison comedy starring Wilder and Pryor as framed friends?
Sidney Poitier
Wilder and Pryor play friends given 125-year sentences for a bank robbery they did not commit.
Q 25On what date did Pryor set himself on fire while freebasing cocaine?
June 9, 1980
He ran burning down Parthenia Street until police subdued him.
Q 26In his 1982 concert film, Pryor joked that the fire was caused by dunking a cookie into what?
A glass of low-fat milk
He then waved a lit match and said: What's that? Richard Pryor running down the street.
Q 27Who replaced Pryor at the last minute in Mel Brooks's History of the World, Part I after the fire?
Gregory Hines
He also had to pull out of a Muppet Show appearance, and writer Chris Langham stepped in.
Q 28How much was Pryor's five-year deal with Columbia Pictures, signed in 1983?
$40 million
He also started his own production company, Indigo Productions.
Q 29In which superhero sequel did Pryor play computer programmer Gus Gorman?
Superman III
Richard Lester directed it, and it grossed $80.2 million worldwide.
Q 30Which role, eventually played by a younger comedian, was Pryor originally considered for?
Billy Ray Valentine in Trading Places
Pryor's own softer 1980s films included Moving and See No Evil, Hear No Evil.