Jerry Seinfeld, for example, who worked the same clubs as Pryor in the late 1970s and early 80s, said he distinctly recalled nights when Pryor would "walk the room," comedian lingo for driving patrons out into the streets.

Seinfeld was just one of the many comedians mourning yesterday for Pryor, who died of a heart attack on last Saturday after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 65.

Pryor was considered both a fearless performer and a trailblazer onstage -- an African-American man cracking wise about racism and other social ills in a supposedly integrated America. Sometimes, too, he was seen as an offstage cautionary tale, a man who included his rough times with a touch of humour in his stage acts.

"Richard Pryor was the Rosa Parks of comedy," said Chris Rock, in a statement. "He took risks and chances that made it possible for a whole generation of comics to exist."

Actor and comedian Bernie Mac was blunter: "Without Richard, there would be no me."

At the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan, crowds gave rousing ovations to Pryor's memory on last Saturday night. At the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, where Pryor cut his teeth in the early 1970s and performed until his failing health ended his stand-up career in the early 1990s, proprietors put a message -- "Rest in Peace, Richard" -- on the club's marquee.

Source: The New York Times