logo
YouTube/FyahRas TV
YouTube/FyahRas TV

Comic Paul Mooney Chose to Boycott the N-Word His Routine but It Didn't Work Out

Aby Rivas
May 21, 2019
02:45 A.M.

Paul Mooney, a famous comedian and writer, is better known for his work with Richard Pryor and their coining of the n-word as a comedic resource. However, there was a time Mooney pledged to stop using the word after he realized the power behind it.

Advertisement

Paul Mooney has been entertaining audiences for decades. He started as a writer for TV shows like “Sanford and Son,” “Good Times,” and “In Living Color,” and also appeared on some films like “Which Way Is Up?,” “Bustin' Loose,” and “Hollywood Shuffle.”

He’s remembered by many for his portrayal of Negrodamus, an African American version of Nostradamus on Comedy Central’s “Chappelle's Show.” However, it was his work with legendary comedian and actor Richard Pryor what really put Mooney on the map.

Advertisement

The pair made famous the use of the N-word on stand up comedy, seizing control of what was —and still is —one of America's ugliest racial epithets to use it as a comedic resource.

“I had a romance with the word. I worked with Richard Pryor using the word,” he once told the Associated Press. And continued:

“It was so destructive - it was created by whites to hurt and destroy - and we were trying to defuse it, trying to desensitize people to it. We did it every chance we got. We would drive people crazy. We were very funny at it.”

Advertisement

However, Mooney had a quick change of heart about the word in 2006, after “Seinfeld” actor Michael Richards went on a racist, angry tirade in one of his shows at the Laugh Factory.

Mooney, who had known Richards for years, explained in an interview with CNN back then that while watching the clip of what went down at the Laugh Factory, he had an “out of body experience.”

“That video put me into such state of shock about the word,” he explained. “There’s such evilness, and it was used as a weapon, and the weapon was powerful, it was like a nuclear blast. I don’t’ wanna be connected with that sort of evil.”

Advertisement

He later elaborated on his remarks as a guest of Farai Chideya on the NPR program “News & Notes,” where he referred to Richards as “his Dr. Phil,” stating that “he cured me with the word” and “I'm just a recovering N-word-aholic, been there, done that.”

Mooney promised he would perform his first n-word free show a few days later at the Lincoln Theater, following a set by Dick Gregory.

Paul managed to keep his promise throughout the first hour of the show, but then, as he was in the middle of a joke about O.J Simpson, he used the n-word.

Paul Mooney at a promotional event for Charlie Murphy to promote his book The Making of a Stand Up Guy in December 2009. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons Images

Paul Mooney at a promotional event for Charlie Murphy to promote his book The Making of a Stand Up Guy in December 2009. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons Images

Although Mooney tried to keep his comedy routines clean, he eventually gave up on not using the n-word, and in an interview, a few years down the line he admitted the epithet wasn’t going anywhere and black comedians and hip-hop artists will keep using it.

“Everybody uses it. That word isn't going anywhere,” he stated. “I can only make the decision for me. I can't make the decision for other people because I don't know their experience.”

At 77, Paul is still touring around the country and entertaining people with unique and witty sense of humor.

Advertisement
info
Please fill in your e-mail so we can share with you our top stories!
By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy
Advertisement
Related posts

Teacher Chides Boy for Being Late, Next Day Old Lady Comes to School and Asks to Meet Him – Story of the Day

February 09, 2024

Teacher Chides Boy for Being Late, Next Day Old Lady Comes to School and Asks to Meet Him – Story of the Day

January 16, 2024

Paul McCartney Found Love with Woman Called 'Not Good for Him' – One Evening Made Him Fall For Her

February 15, 2024

Denise Gordy Is Reportedly the Mother of Late Singer Marvin Gaye's First Son

December 05, 2023

My Husband Vanished Weeks after Our Wedding — 17 years Later I Meet Him at Church

March 14, 2024

Wife Wakes Up from Coma and Surprisingly Points Finger at Her Caring Husband: "It was him" – Story of the Day

December 07, 2023

Elderly Couple Divorces after 53 Years of Marriage, Later Man Sees Ex-wife Dating in Cafe — Story of the Day

February 04, 2024

Teenage Girl Vanishes, Reappears 10 Years Later on Family's Doorstep & Points Finger at Stepfather – Story of the Day

February 15, 2024

People Opened up about Their Canceled Weddings after Learning the Truth about Other Halves

February 22, 2024

Am I Wrong for Painting a Curse Word on the Wall of My Friend’s New House?

December 26, 2023

Rebecca Soteros Is the Mother of Paul Walker's Only Daughter

November 10, 2023

Girl Kisses an Old Man Over a Bet, and He Teaches Her a Lesson the Next Day – Story of the Day

February 01, 2024

'Emily's Been Keeping a Big Lie from You All This Time': Mother-in-Law Reveals a Secret Under Anesthesia

February 12, 2024

Paul McCartney’s Brother ‘Was Nearly in the Beatles’ Then Hid Being Related to the Legendary Singer

November 10, 2023