Richard Pryor: Here and Now 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Richard Pryor: Here and Now 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

New Orleans sinner.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III February 18, 2026

Released to theaters a year after the enormously popular Live on the Sunset Strip, Richard Pryor: Here and Now is a like-minded 1983 stand-up comedy concert film that aims to showcase his talents to as wide an audience as possible. A literally more sobering experience than Sunset Strip, this 90-minute production features a somewhat more dialed-down Pryor who claims to have been off drugs and alcohol for the last seven months. (NOTE: He made a similar statement in the earlier film.) It's a dubious claim at best due to several tells during the show, but one thing's for sure: this isn't the comedian's finest hour, although several memorable stretches keep it above water for most of the duration.

Prefaced by moments from an earlier show, excited fans waiting outside the venue, and a few brief comments from Pryor backstage, Here and Now soon opens to its main locale: New Orleans' famed Saenger Theatre, decorated with a tourist-friendly backdrop and minimal lighting, with the crowd bathed in alternating hues. Rather than the bold blue suit Pryor wears on the front cover (which was apparently a bad last-minute dye job that becomes the butt of a joke during his actual performance), he's clad in a casual gray outfit with a coordinating red T-shirt and shoes. It's not the most decorative or visually appealing setup -- which isn't helped at all by the source material, but more on that later -- yet fittingly sets the proper tone for what will eventually be fairly middle-of-the-road material from the typically reliable Pryor. Punctuated by increasingly irritating crowd interruptions and heckling, topics include an extended impersonation of a drunk person (screenshot #4), his then-recent trip to Zimbabwe, meeting Ronald Reagan after a screening of Superman III at the White House, an up-close-and-personal meeting with a live crab (screenshot #5), a disturbingly drawn-out demonstration of shooting heroin, using the bathroom while famous, and other delights.

But while there are intermittent moments of interest during Here and Now, some of them arrive in shorter spurts and Pryor doesn't seem quite as cool or confident during many sections of it, falling back on several older bits of material and even struggling to find his footing on a few occasions. He seems right at home in other moments, but as a whole something just feels off about portions of this performance despite the crowd's overwhelmingly enthusiastic response. Don't get me wrong: I've enjoyed lots of Pryor's material from various stages of his career and, while this 90-minute show is far from his worst outing, it doesn't feel quite as essential or enduring as, well, something like Sunset Strip or especially the 1979 film Live in Concert, which last appeared on home video as a DVD edition in 2006.

Here and Now, on the other hand, follows Sunset Strip as another full-brown UHD edition from Sony -- again, no Blu-ray is included -- and even comes equipped with Dolby Vision, which is overkill since this drab-looking production was originally shot on videotape and converted to 35mm for its theatrical release. But while it's unavoidably not a demo disc, I'm quite simply floored that Here and Now is only being offered as a barebones 4K release that's probably priced higher than a ticket to the actual show back in 1983. Needless to say, this one's for die-hard fans only.

Richard Pryor: Here and Now 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the UHD disc but downscaled to 1080p/SDR and should not be considered an accurate representation of the 4K picture quality in terms of detail, color, and brightness levels.

It's always difficult to rate films shot on limited source material, but Here and Now might be the toughest to accurately judge in recent memory. As mentioned earlier, it was originally shot on videotape and converted to 35mm for theatrical release, and this can immediately be seen by the extremely limited amount of fine detail on everything but the opening titles (screenshot #1) and closing credits; in fact, only close-ups are anywhere close to "decently impressive" and then only barely so, as medium shots and anything captured from the cheap seats often render Pryor or audience members as barely more than multi-colored blobs (screenshots #9, 10, 12, 15). Textures are basically absent and native source material imperfections can be easily spotted as well, from color ringing to light tape artifacts, black crush, and ghosting during certain moments that feature quick movements (clapping, wild hand gestures, etc.).

Hues are mostly drab by default with only Pryor's coordinated red shirt and shoes standing out against a sea of grays, browns, and pale blues, although the varied audience lighting (screenshot #3, below) at least generates a bit of depth and interest. Grain is decently handled for the most part, usually even appearing pleasingly organic, but it often battles with chunky noise in darker areas and again tends to get overshadowed by source shortcomings.

If I were to to judge Here and Now purely on the limited strength of its source material (even compared to a theatrical print), I doubt it's ever looked much better than it does here. But I'd also argue that a well-authored Blu-ray could have more or less got the job done and perhaps even scored a little higher due to proportionately lower format expectations. Therefore, the studio's baffling decision to release this kind of film in 4K only -- which will also keep it out of the hands of plenty of fans -- steers me towards a pretty modest 2.5/5, and that's being awfully generous.

Richard Pryor: Here and Now 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio (mono) track is easier to assess, as it serves up a decently capable sonic experience that, while again limited by its source, is less demanding and mostly gets the job done just fine. While the overall dynamic range is unavoidably a bit flat and there's little more here than Pryor talking and laughter from the crowd, most everything is easily understood although the included subtitles may help to decipher some of the heckling from further back. The lone credited song, an instrumental version of The S.O.S. Band's eternally awesome track "Just Be Good to Me" (which opens Here and Now and also plays during the end credits), sounds excellent within the boundaries of its native format. Overall, it's a largely solid presentation with very few drawbacks.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the main feature.

Richard Pryor: Here and Now 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with a slipcover; a Digital Copy is included, but there are no extras.

Richard Pryor: Here and Now 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Richard Pryor: Here and Now, directed by the late, great comedian, is the last and possibly least in a run of stand-up concert films released during the 1970s and early 80s, which arguably peaked with 1979's Live in Concert and 1982's Live on the Sunset Strip. This 1983 films tends to struggle in direct comparison, scoring decent laughs during a number of (sometimes totally improvised) bits, yet other moments find Pryor struggling to connect with recycled material and an increasingly off-putting number of audience interruptions. This isn't his finest work by a long shot, though it's still worth (re)visiting for die-hard fans... but for whatever reason, Here and Now -- which was originally shot on videotape and converted to 35mm film -- is only offered on UHD by Sony, which sets high expectations that the film's extremely limited source material can't deliver on. With so many shortcomings leaning against its shockingly high price tag (and no extras!), this one's a tough sell so even fans are encouraged to wait for a substantial price drop.