Pioneering Comedian Paul Mooney Dies in Oakland at 79

Paul Mooney, a boundary-pushing comedian who was Richard Pryor’s longtime writing partner and whose sage, incisive musings on racism and American life made him a revered figure in stand-up, has died. He was 79.

Cassandra Williams, Mooney’s publicist, said he died Wednesday morning at his home in Oakland, California, from a heart attack.

Mooney’s friendship and collaboration with Pryor began in 1968 and lasted until Pryor’s death in 2005. Together, working behind the scenes on shows like Sanford and Son, they confronted racism perhaps more directly than it ever had been before onstage. Mooney chronicled their partnership in his 2007 memoir Black Is the New White.

Often referred to as the “godfather of modern Black comedy,” Mooney wasn’t as widely known as Pryor, but his influence on comedy was ubiquitous. As head writer on In Living Color, Mooney helped create and inspire the Homey D. Clown character. He played the future-foretelling Negrodamus on Chappelle’s Show.

Mooney was also an actor who played Sam Cooke in 1978′s The Buddy Holly Story and Junebug in Spike Lee’s 2000 film Bamboozled. In recent years, he performed frequently on Bay Area stages, such as the Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre.

Mooney was born in Louisiana. In 2009, he told NPR he got his sense of humor from his grandmother. “My grandmother was very funny… She used to sleep with a hammer, you know. So she was a funny person,” he said.

In 2006, Mooney talked to NPR about his decision to stop using the “n” word in his stand-up. It happened after his friend, Seinfeld star Michael Richards, unleashed the word on a crowd of hecklers during a show. Mooney told NPR, “When I saw the video, I mean, I’m not easily shocked—I went into shock.” He went on to say, “I was outside of myself looking at me and looking at the word and it was such a weapon. It was such a nuclear – like it was a weapon. It was just – I don’t ever want anybody to have that power again.”

Mooney might not have been as famous as his friends and peers like Eddie Murphy and Dave Chappelle, but his influence on comedy runs deep.

Filmmaker Ava Duvernay called Mooney “a comedy giant.”

“I recall listening to his RACE album in college and how formative it was. Yeah, the jokes. But more so, the freedom. He spoke freely and fearlessly about feelings and experiences others found difficult to express. May he be truly free now. Rest, sir.”

Reporting by Jake Coyle, Associated Press; Elizabeth Blair, NPR; and Gabe Meline, KQED.