Why Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor is my favorite comedy duo of all time.

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mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
On their own these guys are already brilliant as it is. Together, you create pure magic.

Wilder's characters are often charming, yet immensely brave and confident at the same time. When he gets to know Hilly in Silver Streak, he's self-assured and very gentle at the same time. You can tell he has such great respect for her he doesn't want to say anything brash that will ruin the moment.
But when things come crashing down, he's not afraid to let loose and take charge. And that's where Pryor comes in.
Pryor sort of works as the straightman who gets embarrassed by his friend's crazy behavior, but can be pretty crazy on his own too. He steals from people without a second thought, and just like Wilder he's not afraid to take charge of a situation. The plans he come up with are nothing short of absurd, but that's what makes it so hilarious. The fact that he comes up with the idea of smearing Wilder's face with shoe polish to make him look black when he's as white as you can get is ingenious.

When you combine these two character personalities and make them play off each other, you have some of the finest comedy in history.

Even the commercial and critical bomb Another You has some great laughs in it, thanks to the timeless dynamic these guys have with each other. You call tell how much fun they have working together, feeding into each other's craziness.

And out of all the movies they've done together, how would you rank them? I know my number 1, but number 2 and 3 could almost be switched around. Both are so great.

Silver Streak

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Stir Crazy

Another You
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The trick is not minding
I remember when I was a wee lad living in Tallahassee, we rode our bikes to the movie theatre and watched See no Evil, Hear no Evil. It’s the only film with them together I’ve ever seen.
Side note: during the movie, somehow the projector started showing it upside down about halfway through, which caused us having to get a refund. I had to wait to see it on vhs and damn if I didn’t pause it during the towel drop scene over and over again with the luscious Joan Severence......wait, what was I talking about again?