I saw Cosby some time in the mid-to-late 80s (at the Trenton War Memorial auditorium, if it matters). I dragged most of my friends along; they knew him, but hadn’t spent their entire youth memorizing his routines like I had (I’ll bet if you put a gun to my head I could still recite “Buck, Buck” with 90% accuracy). He came out on stage and sat down on a stool and started talking. After maybe 10 minutes there hadn’t been more than a chuckle and I thought, “Oh my God, my friends are going to kill me. This isn’t a comedy show, it’s a lecture.” And then the first “punch line” hit like a nuclear warhead, and we left an hour later with aching muscles from laughing so hard.
I can’t wait to see this special; I was a bit trepidatious, but hearing some positives cheers me greatly. I honestly think he should be remembered like Twain just for sheer story-telling ability.
It was rebroadcast this evening. I laughed often and occasionally had some belly laughs. It was 99% about wife and kids, which you would think he’s done to death, but this was some funny stuff.
I also had memorized most of his routines (and still have his LPs from the day), and could do them in his voice, much to the fascination of my friends.
Our favorite routine of his from the olden days was “chocolate cake for breakfast.” And some of his stuff on this new show equalled that. Laugh out loud funny!
I caught the last twenty minutes or so last night. I was mildly amused up to the point where he and his wife pulled out the swords and started fencing. Then I started belly-laughing.
I saw him on Jon Stewart doing a promo for the upcoming Comedy Channel premier. He lectured Jon about swearing during his act. All I could think about was Eddie Murphy during his Delirious (I think) concert and the bit about Eddie talking to Richard Prior about Bill Cosby admonishing him for swearing so much and Richard Prior responding, “Listen Eddie, just tell him - have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up, Bill!”
Tried to watch Bill’s show but got bored or distracted in the first 5 minutes. I’ll try it again based on the mostly favorable comments in this thread.
Bill Cosby can’t do an hour onstage without knowing what he’s going to do. It’d be agonizing to watch. He’s maybe the greatest comedian who ever lived but nobody can do that - and no comic does that.
I’ve heard that for a lot of people, the ability to squinch up one’s face and glare for several seconds declines with age. I’m glad to hear that’s not always the case.
(Kidding – I saw a few minutes of his special and laughed).
Pretty much what I’ve said when relating that bit to other people. It was the fact that I’d never heard him use profanity before, as well as the fact that it was exactly the right, appropriate way to use the word, that made it so funny.
I loved the bit at the beginning where he was talking about people finding out he was going to be on Comedy Central–no, really that CC-- and being all "OMG, Mr. Cosby’s gonna CUSS!!! :eek: "
We saw him live Saturday. We were a little worried he’d be old and it would be sad, but it was pretty great - not as hysterically funny as his old stuff, some of the long long LONG setups didn’t really pay off, but it was an honor to pay out the nose to see him and we really enjoyed it.
Yeah, probably true. I’m trying to think of who was talking about him. It may have been Seinfeld who was saying that he and other comedians agonize for months and end up with ten minutes of usable material. In the same amount of time Cosby comes up with an hour or more, seemingly effortlessly. Something along those lines.
See, I’ve never even heard that routine. I looked on YouTube with some basic search parameters, but didn’t find anything. Can someone find it and give a link?
