Nope.
Cosby didn’t really have a problem with cursing, as I understand it. I’ve heard his early material was much more blue, but he cleaned it up as a way to differentiate himself from other comics.
I’d take out Delirious and add Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip. Never has drug-fueled self-immolation been so funny.
Ordinarily in threads like this, when someone offers a dissenting view, I just think to myself, “Eh, different strokes” and leave it at that. In this case, though, I have to say: Your opinion is completely and utterly wrong. I’m sure you’re a good person in real life, and your other opinions are worth their weight in gold, but this one … this one you should sell immediately before the price drops any lower, if that’s even possible.
I used to buy his albums as they came out during the 60s. It was clean humor, so was available to kids and adults alike. I’m pretty sure I memorized every routine he did on those records and I used to imitate his voice and phrasing while regurgitating them, to the delight of my friends. Himself was a tour de force, leaving no doubt in anybody’s mind that he could still be fresh, hilarious and relevant 20 years after his first album came out.
See, this I found funny.
I do wonder if it’s an age thing. I’m sure that other comedians have built on the guys work, so that it doesn’t seem as fresh to me. Is anyone else who thinks this is Cosby at his best under 30? And had not heard this stuff when you were a kid?
“I got me some iiiiice-cream, and you can’t have one, cause you on welfare.”
I dunno, we watched Raw recently and it has not aged well - it’s got a lot of dumb homophobia in it, and a good bit of out of date celebrity stuff, etc. Cringeworthy gender “comedy” too. The only part I actually laughed at at all was the whole “welfare burger” thing, which was genuinely funny (and we were not on welfare and my mother also made the “I can make you a burger just like McDonalds” big thick spherical burgers with the onions hanging out the side of them" and no, they were NOT anything LIKE McDonalds.)
I stood in line for 2.5 hours this past Monday to see Cosby do a stand-up show in the small Funny or Die comedy venue at SXSW in Austin.
Completely worth it. Most of the comedy arcs are predictable (almost all exclusively about being married and related gender roles), but the storytelling is immaculate and the payoffs always worth it. Really terrific stuff. He’s a legend, but one who still can deliver the goods.
I agree with your opinion on Raw. It has not aged well at all. Pryor’s stuff still works. Carlin’s stuff (at least the less ranty later stuff) still works. Murphy looks like a clown in a red leather suit doing juvenile comedy. I was the perfect age for it and loved it at the time. Now I can’t sit through it.
I’ve listened to a dozen of his albums and seen at least 3 TV specials and yeah, this is the best.
As a parent, I’ve come to realize that what he’s doing…isn’t really comedy.
I DON’T HEAR ANY WATER RUNNING!
Been a long time since I’ve seen it but I remember most of it as very good. The opening bit about vomiting wasn’t. But the cake for breakfast is sheer greatness
Let’s just say, I don’t know as many blacks as whites who go and on about its genius. I see the charm and humor in it. Never thought it was in the same stratosphere with Pryor or Murphy. And yes, I know if you ask Murphy, his stock answer will be that Himself was the funniest thing ever and a huge influence, blah blah.
Purple. Red was Delirious. Delirious was way funnier. Raw, even at the time, wasn’t nearly as funny, but it made me laugh. I was a kid, though.
I agree that Raw doesn’t deliver quite as many quick laughs as Delirious, but IMO it’s a much better written and conceived routine than Delirious. The structure and pacing of Raw is more deliberate, as the whole first 87 minutes is just a setup for the final punchline, much the same way that Himself is set up. Delirious is more madcap, but Raw is more refined.
“To Russel, My Brother Whom I Slept With.”
Look it up.
Learn something.
That’s his best single routine.