Mo'Nique Reveals the 4-Word Piece of Advice Richard Pryor Gave Her

By Ashley Turner

Mo'Nique offers some inspirational words from a comedy hero. Before her April 4 return to the comedy stage with her Netflix special, My Name Is Mo'Nique, the Oscar-winning comedian retweeted a clip from before the show, recounting a meeting with her source of inspiration. "The greatest comedian to ever do it," Mo'Nique begins. "His name is Richard Pryor, and I can remember being at the Kings of Comedy film Premiere, and someone came over to me and said, 'Mo'Nique — Richard Pryor wants to talk to you.' And I was floored. I was floored that out of all of those people there, someone came and got me and said, 'Richard Pryor wants to speak to you.'"

She continues, "And this is when the MS (multiple sclerosis) had really had him. He was in a wheelchair, really couldn't speak. And I go over to him, and I go to shake his hand. And when his hand and my hand met, instead of him shaking it, he pulled me. "And I leaned down, and I said, 'Sir?' And he said, 'Don't you ever change.' And from that moment to this one, I say this humbly, but when it comes to comedy, I got it from the greatest to ever do it. And when the greatest tells you, don't you ever change, you think I am? Mo'Nique asks. "So thank you, Richard Pryor, and I'm holding you close to me tonight, baby." She retweeted the video, writing, "WHAT AN HONOR IT WAS TO MEET THE GREATEST TO EVER DO IT!!!!"

The Queens of Comedy star also recalled the moment with Essence in 2020 and added, "Well, when it's coming from him, ain't nothing you can say to me." Since then, Mo'Nique has soldiered on to reach this comedy milestone and told Refinery29 Unbothered how her husband (and manager) Sidney Hicks helped her find her way. "I remember some years ago, my husband said to me, 'Mama, you're funny, but you haven't touched it yet,'" she told Unbothered. "He said, 'We know the greats. You know why we loved Richard Pryor? Because we knew him, and we felt like he belonged to us. That's a family member. To introduce the audience to you, let them know who you are.' So this special is me saying, 'My name is Monique, and this is who I am.'"

The Precious actor began a crucial conversation about pay disparity in 2018 when she shared that Netflix had lowballed her after a negotiation went awry. The streamer offered her $500,000 as a signing fee for a comedy special, a figure that was considerably lower than the millions Netflix had previously paid Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Amy Schumer for performances (Schumer received $11 million after pointing out Netflix had offered her less than other comics). Her compensation proposal called for far more than what she was offered, but she was blocked by what she called "color and gender bias." In response, she called on followers and fans to boycott Netflix until the situation was rectified. In June 2022, Mo'Nique and Netflix settled a lawsuit she filed against the company in 2019, claiming racial and gender bias.

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