Dave Chappelle tells a story somewhere about his all-time favorite comedy being an old tape of Richard Pryor bombing terribly, early in his career. Apparently Pryor goes on for 30-40 minutes, doing a bunch of different bizarre routines, none of them working at all. Then Chappelle's punch line is that when you watch this tape knowing Pryor's later material, you can see how every bit is the raw initial form of what would eventually become his best, most famous routines.