Eddie Murphy (Columbia, 1982) by Eddie Murphy

This is a great debut.  The first track is incredibly politically incorrect, as well as track 6.  However, there are certain things in here that are quite funny.  The routines about the Christmas gifts and the one about being hit by a car are great.  Murphy's storytelling skills would be sharpened on Comedian, but this album showed great promise and he obviously fulfilled that and then some in his amazing career.

Live on the Sunset Strip (Warner Bros., 1982) by Richard Pryor

A phrase that I believe is very overused in entertainment is "keeping it real."  To some, that means holding nothing back when describing one's emotions or series of events.  To me, however, the phrase means being honest to a fault. And no one did that better than Richard Pryor.  And Live on the Sunset Strip is the best example of an artist totally exposed.  Keeping in mind that this was Pryor's return to stand-up after the fire, he had me from the moment he walked on stage and asked if anyone had a light.  And it does not get any realer than that.