Richard Pryor changed comedy forever, he used his microphone as a tool for self-examination which in turn was the examination of America itself. The hypocrisy behind common attitudes on race and sexuality were the fuel that kept him burrowing deeper into himself and us. This diary is Richard Pryor's rough draft of his life story. Not edited for popular consumption or vetted by the arbiters of commercial possibility. This is the exposed nervous system of a man who made a career of ripping layers of flesh off the American body, always aiming for ITS nervous system. This is the unredacted account of the events that shaped him, written shortly after his near successful suicide attempt. It's a naked account of the choices that led to a lighter, an accelerant and a new beginning. His comedy was a built on a foundation of radical honesty, and in honor of that legacy here are his thoughts on his life presented without commercial constraints for the first time.