In Memoriam : Paul Mooney (1941 – 2021)

Paul Mooney, a legend in the comedy world, has died. He was 79.

Paul Mooney dead at 79

Mooney’s representative confirmed he died at his home in Oakland, Calif., after suffering a heart attack.

Mooney’s Twitter account also shared the news on Wednesday morning, posting “Thank you all from the bottom of all of our hearts…To all in love with this great man.”

Legendary comedian and writer

In addition to performing his own material, Mooney was a prolific writer who lent his talents to sitcoms such as Sanford and Son and Good Times.

Mooney was the head writer for the first year of Fox’s In Living Color, and is said to have inspired Damon Wayans’ signature character Homey D. Clown.

But Mooney was famously a writer for the late comedian Richard Pryor.

Mooney worked with the late comic legend on the The Richard Pryor Show and co-wrote some of Pryor’s material on several of his comedy albums and his “Saturday Night Live” sketches.

A long time veteran, Mooney was introduced to a whole new generation of fans when he appeared multiple times on The Chappelle Show.

Mooney played the recurring character Negrodamus, a Black version of the philosopher Nostradamus who specialized in answering questions like “Why do white people love Wayne Brady so much?”

(Answer: “Because Wayne Brady makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X”).

As an actor, Mooney appeared in movies such as The Buddy Holly Story, where he played Sam Cooke; Bustin’ Loose; Hollywood Shuffle; Spike Lee’s Bamboozled; and most recently Meet the Blacks in 2016. In 2004, he starred in his own comedy series, Judge Mooney.

Paul Mooney was a comic genius whose social criticism brought a keen and thought-provoking humor to the subject of race relations.

In 2007, he published a memoir titled Black Is the New White, in which he discussed his relationship with Pryor and some of his most iconic and controversial comedy sets.

Rest in power.