for years.

Got it.

Woke me up from a Saturday afternoon nap.

My mom called me to tell me that Richard Pryor is dead.

My heart is in my guts.

Part of me can't believe it, and part of me can't believe it's taken this long.

Richard Pryor is, quite possibly, my biggest hero. I love the man. I really do.

He's the only person I can think of that the thought of meeting them actually brings tears to my eyes.

And now that can never happen. I can never tell him how much he's changed my life. What an impact he's made on me and on the world.

I wanted to make a movie about him

I wanted to make that movie and then personally present it to him and say "thank you" and pray that did him justice.

Now that can never happen.

God, I'm sick. I'm physically sick.

I'm not one to get bent out of shape about a celebrity dying. But this... this isn't just a celebrity. This is someone who changed the world. This is someone who changed how people think and how people perceive each other.

At least for me.

Richard Pryor was one of the last truly great artists left. Johnny Cash is gone. Richard Pryor is gone.

What makes me sadder is that when people talk about him now, they're going to talk about his movies.

His movies weren't what made him great. His movies were essentially a paycheck, and he'd have been the first to say it. The only one of his movies that I personally would consider truly great was the one he was muscled out of, "Blazing Saddles," but his influence is still there, in Mel Brookes' best film.

Richard Pryor took some of the most intense pain imaginable, and he turned it into art. He turned it into humor. He forced you to laugh at things you didn't want to laugh at. He forced you to look at your own life and ask yourself questions.

Not many people can really do that. Not really. Plenty of people can make you nod your head in agreement, but there are only a very select few that can make you actually rethink your own perception of the world and of the person sitting next to you. Honestly, I can't think of anyone who's done that in the way Richard Pryor has.

The only solace I can take in this is that he's been hurting for many years. Many many years, and he can finally rest. He's always embraced his MS as a life lesson; as a means to show him the pain that he's caused other people with his chaotic life. Even in the grips of a terrible, painful, crippling disease, he found truth in it.

I just hope he found peace with that truth.

I have to think he did, for my own faith in the world and life.

There's a lot of death in the air. A very good friend of mind lost his father only a few days ago, unexpectedly. I can't imagine what that's like. I can't even fathom it.

All I can do is try and be a good friend the best I know how. I don't have a lot of experience in it (I'm not prone to having good friends).  It's not something I can relate to, but I'm sure it's not easy. All I can do is care... and I do.