Taxes and Death or Get Him to the Sunset Strip

Taxes and DeathGet Him to the Sunset Strip
Episode Number	Season 1, Episode 3
Production Code	101
Airdate	July 29, 2012
Written by	Brian Ash Carl Jones
Directed by	Carl Jones Justin Ridge
Previous	Bullhorn Nights or Murder She Throats
Previous	Bullhorn Nights or Murder She Throats
Next	The Dark Side of the Dark Side of the Moon or a Crisis for Christmas
Next	The Dark Side of the Dark Side of the Moon or a Crisis for Christmas

"Taxes and Death" or "Get Him to the Sunset Strip" is the third episode of Season 1 of Black Dynamite.

Plot Summary

Upon discovering he owes the IRS $60,000 in taxes, Black Dynamite decides to take on a job and he will soon regret: escorting a drug-addled and emotionally unstable Richard Pryor to the Sunset Strip for the biggest comedy performance of his career.

Plot Synopsis

In a false "Previously On Black Dynamite" episode recap, Donald the accountant is shown trying to talk to Black Dynamite numerous times about an accounting matter, but is rebuffed. While Black Dynamite is being chased by a car full of armed white men, Donald approaches him and is asked if the tax matter can wait until after the shootout. Donald explains that the shootout is because of the tax matter: Black Dynamite hasn't filed income taxes in eight years, and the armed goons are sent by the I.R.S. to collect $60,000 in back taxes. Donald is fatally wounded in the shootout, and with his dying breath, informs Black Dynamite to submit his tax paperwork by midnight on the 15th.

Back at the Whorephanage, Honey Bee, Bullhorn, and Cream Corn inform Black Dynamite that they've raised thousands of dollars to try and help with his financial troubles, but he refuses their charity and tears up the money. Bullhorn suggests doing some mercenary work for cash—Black Dynamite says it's a terrible idea, but it's the best they've got.

Black Dynamite meets a motion-picture producer and Richard Pryor at an airport, and is told to escort Richard to the Sunset Strip for a comedy show that night. He's given a suitcase full of "inspiration," but Pryor snorts all the cocaine inside before they even leave the tarmac. Black Dynamite brings Pryor to the Whorephanage, where his jokes are a major hit with the whores and orphans, but Black Dynamite doesn't find anything funny. Pryor strikes a nerve when he starts cracking jokes about the wisdom of housing whores and orphans together, and Bullhorn has to hold Black Dynamite back from attacking him. A package arrives from the IRS, but Black Dynamite kicks it out the front door before it explodes.

At Roscoe's, Pryor cracks a joke about how the I.R.S. and accountants are hacks, and wishes to see his $2 million net worth stacked in a Brinks truck with his own eyes. He starts to open up about how alienated he is, but a couple drunk patrons start accosting Black Dynamite, so he throws them through a window. While leaving, Pryor jokes about Black Dynamite teaching him kung fu, then grabs Black Dynamite's revolver and does some tricks with it. He accidentally shoots a passing police cruiser's tire out, and the two are promptly arrested and sent to the local jail.

Pryor's jokes quickly get all the other inmates laughing, but he explains he's trying to be serious, and that even when he's "pourin' [his] heart out," people just assume it's all joking and never take him seriously. He slumps down on the ground and starts crying, prompting Black Dynamite to beat up the inmates until they stop laughing. Richard tells Black Dynamite that he envies his ability to command respect and get people to listen to him. They make their $200,000 cash bail, because Richard wasn't joking when he said he requested a Brinks truck full of his money. He offers Black Dynamite to pay his back taxes and let them go their separate ways, but Black Dynamite is a man of his word and refuses. Richard claims the I.R.S. is attacking, and makes a getaway in the Brinks truck while Black Dynamite is distracted.

The next day, with the I.R.S.'s deadline fast approaching, Black Dynamite and his crew go to the home of Pryor's writer, comedian Paul Mooney. Mooney explains that Richard is worried that if he performs on the Sunset Strip, his reputation as a comedian will be cemented forever, and his revolutionary ideas will never be fulfilled. Mooney dresses in a feathered tribal garb and leads them through downtown Los Angeles, where they find the abandoned Brinks truck and a black man on fire. They put the man out, but it's actually Basehead, and Mooney has to leave to go file his taxes.

Black Dynamite and the crew visit Donald's grave, and he regrets not taking the time to listen to his financial advice sooner. An I.R.S. agent shows up at the cemetery to taunt Black Dynamite, and he resigns himself to just dying in a shootout when the I.R.S. inevitably arrives to seize the Whorephanage. On the drive back home, Black Dynamite finds Pryor talking to a group of homeless winos, who reveal that they enjoy his jokes because he makes their miserable lives feel briefly better. Pryor tells Black Dynamite that he gambled away all the $2 million, and now owes $4 million to the Chinese triads.

Black Dynamite drags Pryor to the Sunset Strip, fighting through both triad gang members and crazed fans to get to the theater in time. Pryor waits on top of the marquee above the crowd, where the producer tries to lure him down with cocaine. Realizing that he's got no choice but to resume the industry that keeps him in a downward spiral, Pryor considers suicide, but a stray spark from the billboard's lights sets his clothes on fire, so he's forced to jump off, where he's caught by Black Dynamite. The producer orders Pryor to get on stage or he'll be blacklisted from Hollywood, but the malfunctioning billboard falls and crushes him.

Pryor and Black Dynamite have a heart-to-heart, and Black Dynamite tells him that he respects him. He cuts Black Dynamite a check for $60,000, which is immediately taken by the I.R.S. agents. Black Dynamite starts waxing poetic about how inspirational Pryor will be to coming generations—and stops when he sees Pryor immediately grab a suitcase full of cocaine when he steps in the theater.

Cast

• Michael Jai White as Black Dynamite
• Byron Minns as Bullhorn
• Kym Whitley as Honey Bee
• Tommy Davidson as Cream Corn
• Eddie Griffin as Richard Pryor and Paul Mooney
• Denzel Whitaker as Donald the Accountant
• Orlando Jones as Basehead
• Eric Bauza as the Chinatown gang member

Cultural References

• Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip:
  • The eponymous Sunset Strip performance references Richard Pryor's 1981 performance at the Hollywood Palladium theater, which was released as a film and album in 1982. It was the best-selling concert film of Pryor's career.
  • Basehead catching fire is an allusion to the time in 1980 when Pryor accidentally set himself on fire all over his body with 151-proof rum while freebasing cocaine, something he discusses in Live on the Sunset Strip.
  • The billboard above the theater's marquee, showing an image of a giant Pryor walking along Sunset Boulevard, is based on the film poster and album cover.
• The title "Taxes and Death" is a play on the phrase "death and taxes," an excerpt from a larger quote by Benjamin Franklin: "But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
  • Black Dynamite gives his own variation on this quote when he says "Ain't but two things certain in this world: we're gonna be taxed by the I.R.S., and we're gonna be killed by the I.R.S."
• Get Him to the Greek:
  • The title "Get Him to the Sunset Strip" is a reference to the film's title.
  • The episode's plot, about trying to haplessly escort a drug-addicted performer to an important show in Los Angeles that he's reluctant to attend, broadly mirrors the film's.
  • There are also more specific plot points, such as the star Aldous contemplating suicide by jumping, and Sergio the producer trying to bribe him with drugs into performing his concert, that are echoed in the episode's climax.
• Black Dynamite tells Donald "I don't care if you're Merv Griffin, creator and host of The Merv Griffin Show!"
• Donald's description of the IRS agents, "They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear! And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead, or broke, or in jail—or both!" is almost word-for-word how Kyle Reese describes the T-800 in The Terminator.
• Richard Pryor says "This ain't Gene Wilder, motherfucker!" Wilder was Pryor's frequent collaborator, co-writing the film Blazing Saddles and co-starring in films like Silver Streak.
• While in the jail cell, Richard Pryor starts strutting, saying, "That's right, we bad, we bad!" a reference to Pryor's 1980 film Stir Crazy.
• Richard Pryor being in "big trouble with the little Chinatown gang" is a reference to the 1986 film Big Trouble in Little China.
• The Sunset Strip theater where the show is taking place is named the Moxy Theater, clearly based on the Roxy Theatre. The actual show in Live on the Sunset Strip was filmed at the Hollywood Palladium.
• When the producer is crushed by the billboard, Black Dynamite exclaims "Burn, Hollywood, burn!" the name of a 1990 hip-hop song by Public Enemy.

Film Callbacks

• Black Dynamite says "Now shut the fuck up when grown folks is strugglin'!" references Black Dynamite telling the Sarcastic Militant "You need to shut the fuck up when grown folks is talkin'."

Quotes

• Black Dynamite: "Now shut the fuck up when grown folks is strugglin'! I'd take this money if I didn't need it, but now that I do need it, there ain't no way I'm gonna take it. Now get back out there on that block and get me that money I don't need!"

Gallery

Poster by LeSean Thomas