The Wino and the Junkie

From "Live in Concert"—widely considered the greatest stand-up special ever recorded—Richard Pryor performs a scene between a wino and a heroin junkie that demonstrates why he was in a category of one.

The setup is simple: two men, both addicted to different substances, meet on a street corner. Pryor becomes both of them simultaneously. He shifts between the two characters so fluidly that the audience tracks the conversation without confusion, despite watching a single man talk to himself on a bare stage.

The bit is a two-man play performed by one person, and every moment is observed from life. Pryor grew up around addiction. He knew these men. He didn't have to imagine them.

What separates this from mere impression work is the humanity. Neither character is a punchline. Both men are destroyed, and both men are still, somehow, recognizably human.