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Rain Pryor Brings Life Growing Up As A Black Jewish Woman To NYC Stage In 'Fried Chicken And Latkes'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The daughter of Richard Pryor will soon be performing her autobiographical solo show "Fried Chicken and Latkes" in New York City.

Earlier this week, Rain Pryor spoke with 1010 WINS' Justin Schrager about the show and her father, who died in 2005.

Pryor said "Fried Chicken and Latkes" is all about what it was like growing up as a black Jewish girl in the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s.

"So it's also a mirror reflection on, racially, what's going on today as well," she said.

The 46-year-old, who lives in Baltimore, said the show is a mixed bag of entertainment.

"It's music, it's stand-up comedy, it's theater, and cabaret in one show," Pryor said. "It gives you a taste of all these different things that end up being more of a universal story than a Rain Pryor story."

As for growing up in Beverly Hills, Pryor said it was rare to find someone like her.

"Because I grew up in a different era. Nowadays, there's more of me. It's very popular, there are even camps dedicated to bi-racial, interracial Jewish kids," she said. "When I was growing up there wasn't 'me,' who looked like me with light skin and big hair but yet my dad's black and my mom's blonde hair and blue-eyed Jewish woman...it just didn't exist in Beverly Hills."

Pryor said over the years, she tried to blend in on both sides, but it was too exhausting.

"Until I got older and was like you know what, this is too exhausting; let me just be who I am," she said.

In the show, Pryor talks about her father and how his success has impacted her career.

"I think what helps sometimes is that people are interested because I'm related to him; so I think they're interested in what I'm doing," she said. "I think where it's a hindrance is that I'm not him. I'm not trying to be him."

Pryor said she did do stand-up for six to seven years and recorded a comedy album.

"I feel like I did it to the best of my ability, and then I was like, I don't want to do it anymore. And the reason I said that was only because I'm happy in my life," she said. "And I feel like to do stand-up you have to be truly somewhat miserable to be that kind of funny, and I'm not."

But Pryor said the racial and political views in her show bring the audience to an "irreverent" edge before she pulls it back in.

"Just as my dad would have done in his stand-up," she said. "So I definitely think there are similarities in the way I tell the story."

Pryor said that despite the obvious nature of the show based on its title, she actually wrote it before a lot of the racial tensions in the country began to recently peak.

"I wrote this show and then 'oh my God look what's happening in the world,'" she said. "I never wrote the show with the intention that we would still be going at it, we would still be having this discussion."

"Fried Chicken and Latkes" will be held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park. Pryor said the museum approached her about bringing her show there.

"They came to see my show when I performed the world premiere at the National Black Theater in Harlem last year, and they wanted to bring it," she said. "And of course, we picked February -- Black History Month -- because I think that speaks for itself."

The show will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.

"The show is entertaining, it's fun, it has all those ebbs and flows of what performing and theater is about," Pryor said. "And you walk away feeling something, which is the idea."

Tickets are $35 for the general public, $25 for members, and $15 for students. For more information or to buy your tickets online, click here.

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