The Straight Man - Roger L Simon - Plot & Excerpts
SIMON I had two inspirations in writing The Straight Man: my personal experiences in psychotherapy (I wouldn't bore you with them), and my adventures working with Richard Pryor on a movie called Bustin' Loose 9anything but boring). After writing the script of The Big Fix, I had a temporary—everything in Hollywood is temporary—reputation for being a good comedy writer. I was asked if I wanted to write a screenplay for Richard Pryor. Pryor, easily the greatest standup comic of our time and an idol of mine, was close to the hottest thing in the business in those years (1980) and I said yes instantly. So I was taken out to Pryor's house by a couple of Universal executives who shall be nameless because they might be in a position to hire me again (highly unlikely, they've been fired too may times themselves since, but still . . .), and we sat in Pryor's office waiting for the great man. After about a half an hour, he staggered in with a glass of bourbon in his hand. He took one look at the junior of the two execs and declared quite instinctively: "You don't like me, do you?" The exec flushed and stammered something like, "Oh, no, Richard.
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