Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is a 1986 film starring Richard Pryor in his directorial debut. Though Pryor insisted the film was not autobiographical, 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 suici... more

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is a 1986 film starring Richard Pryor in his directorial debut. Though Pryor insisted the film was not autobiographical, 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. The earlier parts of the film were filmed in Pryor's hometown of Peoria, Illinois. less