# Paul Mooney (comedian)
**Paul Mooney** (born Paul Gladney; 1941 – May 19, 2021) was an American comedian, writer, and actor best known as [Richard Pryor](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-pryor)'s longtime writing partner and for his own hard-biting stand-up on race and American culture[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html). He wrote for *Sanford and Son*, *Saturday Night Live*, *The Richard Pryor Show*, *In Living Color*, and *Chappelle's Show*, and played the all-seeing Negrodamus on the latter[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html). He died of a heart attack at his home in [Oakland, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/oakland-california), at age 79[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | Paul Gladney, 1941, Shreveport, Louisiana; May 19, 2021, Oakland, California, of a heart attack[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html) |
| Pryor partnership | Writing partner and friend from 1968 until Pryor's death in 2005; co-wrote albums including *Live on the Sunset Strip* and the film *Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling*[2](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/pioneering-comic-paul-mooney-a-writer-for-pryor-dies-at-79) |
| SNL landmark | Wrote the "Word Association" sketch for Pryor's December 13, 1975 hosting appearance, often cited among the greatest sketches in the show's history[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/05/20/snl-paul-mooney-richard-pryor/) |
| Signature characters | Wrote for Damon Wayans's Homey D. Clown on *In Living Color*; Negrodamus on *Chappelle's Show*[2](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/pioneering-comic-paul-mooney-a-writer-for-pryor-dies-at-79) • [12](https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/talent/?view=damon-wayans) |
| Albums | *Master Piece* and *Race* in the early 1990s; a Grammy nomination[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19) |
| Memoir | *Black Is the New White*, with a foreword by Dave Chappelle[5](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Paul-Mooney/47264166) |
## Early life
Mooney was born Paul Gladney in [Shreveport, Louisiana](https://www.edgepedia.org/shreveport-louisiana), and was raised largely by his grandmother in Oakland, California[6](https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-05-19/paul-mooney-pioneering-comic-writer-richard-pryor-dies). He competed in dance contests as a teenager and appeared on the television show *Dance Party*[6](https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-05-19/paul-mooney-pioneering-comic-writer-richard-pryor-dies). He took the stage name Mooney from the actor [Paul Muni](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-muni), whose stage name came from the original *Scarface*[6](https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-05-19/paul-mooney-pioneering-comic-writer-richard-pryor-dies).
Before comedy he worked as a circus ringmaster; Encyclopedia.com records that he joined the Charles Gody Circus after running away from home and became its first African-American ringmaster[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19). He was drawn to stand-up after seeing [Lenny Bruce](https://www.edgepedia.org/lenny-bruce) perform in the early 1960s, and he adopted a similarly profane style[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html).
## Partnership with Richard Pryor
Mooney and Pryor met in 1968, and their friendship and collaboration lasted until Pryor's death in 2005[2](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/pioneering-comic-paul-mooney-a-writer-for-pryor-dies-at-79). In the early 1970s, when few African American writers worked in television, they wrote episodes of *Sanford and Son* together, having been hired on star [Redd Foxx](https://www.edgepedia.org/redd-foxx)'s recommendation[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html). Mooney became one of Pryor's principal writers, contributing to his live routines, albums, and films[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19). He helped write Pryor's classic comedy albums, including *...Is It Something I Said?* (1975) and *Live on the Sunset Strip* (1982), and with Rocco Urbisci he co-wrote the script for Pryor's semi-autobiographical film *Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling*[6](https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-05-19/paul-mooney-pioneering-comic-writer-richard-pryor-dies).
**The Pryor Show.** Mooney was head writer for Pryor's NBC variety series in 1977, supplying material for Pryor and for up-and-coming comedians including [Robin Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/robin-williams), Marsha Warfield, Sandra Bernhard, Tim Reid, and [John Witherspoon](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-witherspoon); the series was canceled during its first season[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19).
## "Word Association" and Saturday Night Live
Pryor agreed to host *Saturday Night* (later *Saturday Night Live*) in 1975 on conditions that included Mooney serving as a guest writer[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html). Mooney wrote the episode's "Word Association" sketch, in which [Chevy Chase](https://www.edgepedia.org/chevy-chase), as a corporate interviewer, gives a job applicant played by Pryor a word-association test that escalates into an exchange of racial slurs[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/05/20/snl-paul-mooney-richard-pryor/). Mooney said the concept came from his own experience being grilled on his writing credentials by NBC executives before the episode[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/05/20/snl-paul-mooney-richard-pryor/). The sketch was the most talked-about moment of the show's debut season, and [Lorne Michaels](https://www.edgepedia.org/lorne-michaels) later said of the episode, "It defined us. It put us on the map"[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/05/20/snl-paul-mooney-richard-pryor/). Authorship of the sketch was later disputed, with both Chase and Mooney taking credit[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html).
## Later television and Chappelle's Show
Mooney wrote for *Good Times* and, as head writer on the first season of *In Living Color*, created characters including Homey the Clown, the greasepainted ex-con consumed with bitterness[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19). He also wrote material for [Eddie Murphy](https://www.edgepedia.org/eddie-murphy) during Murphy's *SNL* years[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19).
**Career resurgence.** In the early 2000s Mooney brought his comedy to *Chappelle's Show*, playing Negrodamus, a Black version of the purported seer [Nostradamus](https://www.edgepedia.org/nostradamus), and appearing in the recurring "Ask a Black Dude" and "Mooney at the Movies" segments[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html). Asked on the show why white people loved [Wayne Brady](https://www.edgepedia.org/wayne-brady), he replied that it was "because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X"[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html). The show introduced him to a new generation of viewers[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/05/20/snl-paul-mooney-richard-pryor/).
## Stand-up style and recordings
Mooney's routines centered on American politics and racism, mocking stereotypes about [Black people](https://www.edgepedia.org/black-people) and using the n-word in an effort, as he described it, to deprive the term of its power[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html). In the early 1990s he recorded the albums *Master Piece* and *Race*, earning a Grammy nomination; much of *Race*, recorded at the Punch Line in San Francisco, came from his one-man show that opened off-Broadway in 1993[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19). His specials included *Analyzing White America* (2002), in which he also played a talk therapist easing latent racism out of white patients, and *The Godfather of Comedy* (2012)[7](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/paul-mooney-comedys-maestro-of-white-america) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-05-19/paul-mooney-pioneering-comic-writer-richard-pryor-dies). Critics compared him both to Pryor and to Lenny Bruce, who defended repeating an epithet to diminish its power, a defense Mooney cited for himself[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19).
In 2006 he publicly renounced the n-word after comedian [Michael Richards](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-richards)'s racist outburst at the Laugh Factory, though he continued performing with his usual bluntness[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html).
## Acting and writing
Mooney's film roles included singer Sam Cooke in *The Buddy Holly Story* (1978), an NAACP chief in Robert Townsend's *Hollywood Shuffle* (1987), and Junebug in Spike Lee's *Bamboozled* (2000)[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html). He also wrote the screen story for *Call Me Claus* (2001), starring Whoopi Goldberg[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19). His memoir *Black Is the New White*, about his years writing with Pryor, Redd Foxx, and others, carries a foreword by Dave Chappelle[5](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Paul-Mooney/47264166); the Associated Press and PBS date it to 2007, while other accounts give 2009[2](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/pioneering-comic-paul-mooney-a-writer-for-pryor-dies-at-79) • [8](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send%3Faccession%3Dbgsu1550661597534988%26disposition%3Dinline).
## Influence and later controversy
Mooney was often called the Godfather of modern Black comedy[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19). Director Reginald Hudlin, describing work on *Boomerang*, said he watched Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, and David Alan Grier "all doing Paul Mooney shtick, and giving it up to Paul"[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1993/05/16/race-riot/f0c082b2-95bb-423b-bba5-3408b1c17a42/). The Atlantic placed him in the tradition of Black comedy that primarily serves Black audiences, alongside Dick Gregory and Patrice O'Neal[10](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/05/black-out-loud-comedy-review/686580/).
In 2019, Rashon Khan, a former bodyguard of Pryor's, alleged in a taped interview that Mooney had molested Pryor's son, Richard Pryor Jr., as a child; Mooney denied the allegation[7](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/paul-mooney-comedys-maestro-of-white-america). The next day Pryor Jr. confirmed that he had been a victim of rape as a teenager, though he did not name a perpetrator[7](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/paul-mooney-comedys-maestro-of-white-america). No follow-up investigation was reported[7](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/paul-mooney-comedys-maestro-of-white-america).
Mooney was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014 and continued to perform stand-up on tour[11](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/paul-mooney-dead-richard-pryor-b1850279.html). He died on May 19, 2021, at his home in Oakland[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html).
## References
1. [Paul Mooney, who wrote for Richard Pryor and appeared on 'Chappelle's Show,' dies at 79, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-mooney-dead/2021/05/19/2cb85220-b8bc-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html)
2. [Pioneering comic Paul Mooney, a writer for Pryor, dies at 79, PBS NewsHour](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/pioneering-comic-paul-mooney-a-writer-for-pryor-dies-at-79)
3. [How Paul Mooney's Richard Pryor/Chevy Chase sketch put SNL on the map, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/05/20/snl-paul-mooney-richard-pryor/)
4. [Mooney, Paul, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mooney-paul-19)
5. [Paul Mooney, Official Publisher Page, Simon & Schuster](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Paul-Mooney/47264166)
6. [Paul Mooney, pioneering comic and writer for Richard Pryor, dies at 79, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-05-19/paul-mooney-pioneering-comic-writer-richard-pryor-dies)
7. [Paul Mooney, Comedy's Maestro of White America, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/paul-mooney-comedys-maestro-of-white-america)
8. [A King of Time and Motion: Richard Pryor and the Evolution of Modern Stand-Up Comedy, OhioLINK ETD](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send%3Faccession%3Dbgsu1550661597534988%26disposition%3Dinline)
9. ['Race' Riot, The Washington Post (1993)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1993/05/16/race-riot/f0c082b2-95bb-423b-bba5-3408b1c17a42/)
10. [Who Is Black Comedy For?, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/05/black-out-loud-comedy-review/686580/)
11. [Paul Mooney death: Actor and comedy writing partner of Richard Pryor dies, aged 79, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/paul-mooney-dead-richard-pryor-b1850279.html)
12. [paramountpressexpress.com](https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/talent/?view=damon-wayans)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Theater and dance › Stand-up comedy and comedians › American stand-up comedians, contemporary › Stand-up comedians born 1940–1959*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license