NEW YORK - JANUARY 30: Comedian Paul Mooney takes part in a discussion panel after the world premiere screening of "That's What I'm Talking About" at The Museum of Television & Radio January 30, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images for TV Land)
NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Mooney, a boundary-pushing comedian who was Richard Pryor’s longtime writing partner and whose sage, incisive musings on racism and American life made him a revered figure in stand-up, has died. He was 79.
Cassandra Williams, Mooney’s publicist, said he died Wednesday morning at his home in Oakland, California, from a heart attack.
Mooney’s friendship and collaboration with Pryor began in 1968 and lasted until Pryor’s death in 2005. Together, they confronted racism perhaps more directly than it ever had been before onstage. Mooney chronicled their partnership in his 2007 memoir “Black Is the New White.”
Mooney wasn’t as widely known as Pryor, but his influence on comedy was ubiquitous. As head writer on “In Living Color,” Mooney helped create and inspire the Homey D. Clown character. He played the future-foretelling Negrodamus on “Chappelle’s Show.”
Mooney was also an actor who played Sam Cooke in 1978’s “The Buddy Holly Story” and Junebug in Spike Lee’s 2000 film “Bamboozled.”
LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 26: Paul Mooney attends the Laugh Factory’s 31st annual free Thanksgiving Feast on November 26, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – JANUARY 30: (L-R) Comedian Paul Mooney and director Spike Lee take part in a discussion panel after the world premiere screening of “That’s What I’m Talking About” at The Museum of Television & Radio January 30, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images for TV Land)
PASADENA, CA – SEPTEMBER 28: Paul Mooney (L) and Stacie J. arrive to the “First-Ever” BET Comedy Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium September 28, 2004 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 11: Comedian Paul Mooney, actress Beverly Todd attend the 2nd annual H.E.L.P. Malawi fundraising event at BCBG Max Azria on November 11, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Joe Corrigan/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – APRIL 18: Comedian Paul Mooney makes an appearance at the BET Upfront presentation at the Manhattan Center on April 18, 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA – SEPTEMBER 25: Comedian Paul Mooney performs onstage at the 2005 BET Comedy Icon Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on September 25, 2005 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)
