Jack.paar show no blacks on couch

GREGORY: And so, I didn't hear profanity, so I never had to use it on the stage emulating somebody. And then what saved my life, as a comic, was Billy Eckstine.

BOND: Really?

GREGORY: Some days, I just had to go and sit and get me a bottle of [water] and go to his grave. And I ain't been to my momma's grave. Just go to his grave and say, "Thank you, Billy. ‘Cause if it had not been for you there wouldn't have been a Dick Gregory." I used to look at Jack Paar. Jack Paar is the inventor of The Tonight Show as we know it. And nobody in the history of television was as powerful as this man. It couldn't happen today, but back then -- and I worked -- I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Jack Paar was on five nights a week but he did reruns on Friday. So for five years a night never passed that I didn't look at Jack Paar. And when he come off, get off, I'd be in the mirror ‘til five o'clock saying, "What I'm going to do when I get on the Jack Paar show." And one day me and Billy Eckst

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Groundbreaking comedian Dick Gregory bringing his ståuppkomedi act to The Comedy Zone

Dick Gregory began making headlines more than 50 years ago, as a groundbreaking black comedian who fearlessly faced white audiences and told jokes about bigotry.

He's 83 now, and still at it.

When he brings his standup act to The Comedy Zone on onsdag på engelska for one show, you can expect him to share his particular brand of betydelsefull and thought-provoking humor.

Here's an example: "I look at white folks now. … If these cops were killing vit folks' dogs, they'd have burned the police stations down in all the cities."

Gregory tossed out the line during a phone interview from Dallas, where he was scheduled for two stand-up shows before heading to Louisville, Ky., for the funeral of longtime friend Muhammad Ali.

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Though standup brought Gregory fame, it isn't the only thing that's kept him going over the years.

An early participant in the civil r

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the comedian dick gregory -- 1/28/15

Today's selection -- from Furious Cool by David Henry. Dick Gregory was a brilliant, pioneering black comedian who was among the first to break the color barrier in nightclubs:

"Dick Gregory, along with Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, and Godfrey Cambridge, belonged to a new generation of black comedians unencumbered by the deferential buffoonery of vaudeville or minstrelsy. Gregory, especially, did not flinch from skewering white audiences on issues of race: 'Wouldn't it be a hell of a thing if this was burnt cork and you people were being tolerant for nothing?' and 'Everyone I meet says, "Some of my best friends are colored; even though you know there ain't that many of us to go around."

"Perched on a stool in a three-button Brooks Brothers suit, Dick Gregory possessed an unflappable cool, taking long, contemplative drags on his cigarette and exhaling well-timed streams of smoke into the spotlight before delivering his punch lines. Not even t