"He was a gay and impudent and satirical and delightful young black man....... I believed he was the greatest orator in the United States and would some day be heard from" Mark Twain, in the essay _ Corn-Pone Opinions_, speaking of a slave named Jerry. Richard Pryor is a descendant of the tradition of great oratory impudence practiced by Jerry, the slave who so influenced young Sam Clemens. Hell, he may even be a blood relative. In any case, Pryor has been "heard from" and now he's been honored. Why? Because Richard did a good job of discerning from whence this society's "corn-pone" came. Here's to him. Barry Crimmins - who stopped putting muchstock in awards when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize