Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
Encyclopedia
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is a 1986
film starring Richard Pryor
. This was the first and only feature film he directed (although he is credited as such on the screen version of Richard Pryor: Here and Now
).
, Pryor plays Jo Jo Dancer, a popular stand-up comedian
who has severely burned himself in a drug incident. The film came out after Pryor had severely burned himself while freebasing cocaine
in 1980. Though he later claimed the incident was not an accident at all, but actually an attempted suicide.
As Dancer lies hospitalized in a coma
, his spiritual alter ego
revisits his life, from growing up in a brothel
as a child and struggling to beat the long odds to become a top-rated comedian. However, his success leads to extensive drug use
and womanizing that takes its toll on his life. Jo Jo's spirit watches and attempts to convince his past self to end the cycle of self destruction.
.
1986 in film
-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
film starring Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
. This was the first and only feature film he directed (although he is credited as such on the screen version of Richard Pryor: Here and Now
Richard Pryor: Here and Now
Richard Pryor: Here and Now is the final official album of stand up by Richard Pryor. Recorded at Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, Louisiana, it too was released with a film counterpart.-Track listing:#"Here and Now" - 3:19#"Southern Hospitality" - 1:38...
).
Plot
Though Pryor insisted the film was not autobiographicalAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, Pryor plays Jo Jo Dancer, a popular stand-up comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
who has severely burned himself in a drug incident. The film came out after Pryor had severely burned himself while freebasing cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
in 1980. Though he later claimed the incident was not an accident at all, but actually an attempted suicide.
As Dancer lies hospitalized in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
, his spiritual alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
revisits his life, from growing up in a brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
as a child and struggling to beat the long odds to become a top-rated comedian. However, his success leads to extensive drug use
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
and womanizing that takes its toll on his life. Jo Jo's spirit watches and attempts to convince his past self to end the cycle of self destruction.
Production
The earlier parts of the film were filmed in Pryor's hometown of Peoria, IllinoisPeoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
.