TV REVIEWS : Alumni Celebrate Comedy Store’s 20th Birthday

Richard Pryor’s brief, much-publicized return to stand-up comedy marks the climax of “The Comedy Store’s 20th Birthday” (tonight at 10 on NBC, Channels 4, 36 and 39). His appearance is much like most of the rest of the hour: an intriguing, too-short, awkwardly edited tease.

When Pryor filmed his segment a few weeks ago, by all accounts, the comic’s discomfort at being back on stage was obvious, yet didn’t preclude his being funny and touching in his own endearingly rusty way. But the tight abridgement here doesn’t do Pryor any favors. A few tender reflections on being stricken in midlife by multiple sclerosis (“God said, ‘Take five’; you know, he can make you take five”) are abruptly followed by a few old-style Pryor gags about greedy ex-wives. Then suddenly we cut to a sentimental slo-mo exit, and the show’s over.

His routine isn’t the only one that’s had the pacing edited out of it for the sake of brevity, though it’s the most bothersome example. Also performing are Jim Carrey (the goofy-faced guy of “In Living Color” fame, who has the most entertaining moments here), Bob Saget, Jeff Altman, Louie Anderson, Tamayo Otsuki, Pauly Shore (son of Comedy Store proprietor Mitzi Shore) and Tim Thomerson.

Crude VHS clips of such Comedy Store stalwarts as David Letterman, Andy Kaufman, Sam Kinison and Sandra Bernhard in action in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s inevitably fascinate, but only flit across the screen for a few frustrating seconds at a time. Letterman, Arsenio Hall, Garry Shandling, Barry Levinson and other star alumni offer recollections in interview segments--again, all far too brief.