# Is my memory faulty? A Bill Cosby question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057 "2009-10-25T16:03:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/21 "2009-10-30T17:15:06Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > the one about being instructed not to touch yourself on the field when his college game was being televised are from the same routine. It is entitled “Hofstra”. That is indeed [Hofstra](http://www.imeem.com/megafanatic187/music/hcb3FNda/bill-cosby-hofstra/) but there’s no mention of jock itch. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/22 "2009-10-30T17:38:14Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > _Wonderfulness_ is my all-time favorite. > > **Ice cream!** We’re gonna eat ice cream! And we will eat it every day! In the middle of the night, man, we’re singing… > > Okay…you can bite it…just a little bit. But don’t put none o’ your juice in it! > > _Twelve degrees._ _Just give it a little snaky lick_ (from the track Chicken Heart) \*We’re going to the zoo today… \* (from Special Class) Wonderfullness is my all time favorite too. Jock itch isn’t on this album. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/23 "2009-10-30T18:03:54Z")
BILL: Well, see, Dad, this man came in the window and started jumping on the bed… BILL’S DAD: There Is no window in this room. BILL: He brought it with him, Dad… ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/24 "2009-10-30T20:44:04Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > _200 M.P.H._ has always been my favorite. > > “Dumbguy. Dumbguy. Dumbguy.” I think of that almost every time I turn on the windshield wipers. And whenever driving in San Francisco, it’s “come around, idiot, come around!” ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/25 "2009-10-30T20:54:05Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I think of that almost every time I turn on the windshield wipers. And whenever driving in San Francisco, it’s “come around, idiot, come around!” Great thread. Bill Cosby is possibly the only celebrity I’ve ever wanted to meet in person. I know he’s far from perfect, but I have an enormous amount of respect for him & have enjoyed his work my entire life. His older stand-up was about 20 years old when I first started listening to it, and comedy with that kind of staying power is very, very rare. Even the very best comedians seem dated after that length of time, but not Cosby. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/26 "2009-10-30T23:01:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I listened to all of Cosby’s stuff when he first came out. None of the things that gor recorded got any “bluer” than the OP – which i wouldn’t call blue, myself. Do you know of anything more risque that you heard yourself, or do you have any cite for this? Because, unlike, say, Redd Foxx or Nipsey Russell (both of whom recorded plenty of blue stuff), I can’t picture Cosby doing this. Well, I was a big Cosby fan when his albums came out in the 60’s. So much so that I got a copy of his bio at the time, “Cool Cos: The Story of Bill Cosby”, by Joel H. Cohen, published by Scholastic books in 1969 I believe that’s where I read that when he started performing his comedy routines he did what a lot of other black comedians did at the time, serve up a lot of adult and racial humor. But the book went on to state he found he had more success and more fun by telling stories about growing up in the streets of Philly, and he went in that direction instead. I seriously doubt any recordings of his early performances still exist, if they ever did. And I lost my copy years ago, and can’t find the text online. So I’m going by recollection only. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/27 "2009-11-01T18:59:37Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > _Just give it a little snaky lick_ (from the track Chicken Heart) > > \*We’re going to the zoo today… \* (from Special Class) > > Wonderfullness is my all time favorite too. > Jock itch isn’t on this album. _No kid ever asked for that! No kid ever said, “I want something that goes around and around in a circle and then you puke!”_ ---
**Author:** ![jwolfyesj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@jwolfyesj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jwolfyesj)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/28 "2013-09-27T07:04:44Z")
We wander, so I will bring it back. The album name “Sports”, track one “Football” begins with the jock rash bit. I had forgotten also the album, but recall my Father had it with hilarious sports related bits, a live performance. I found it with a jock rash search, ha! This album shows how well Cosby can take subject matter mostly interesting to the insider, in this case sports participants and fans, and make it funny to all. But for me, having started in life with Cosby in his TV show “I Spy”, waaay back, this album is his funniest. But for those who have actually participated at the USA high school level in sports, it’s absolutely a crack up! I know nothing about his pre album and TV standup routines, but during his rise to fame, his material was always clean, like comedy of that era. It was in the late 70’s early 80’s that sexual jokes and harder language entered into his performances, when his venues were large do to his celebrity, and the changes that George Carlin and Richard Prior brought to comedy content. At that time, my parents went to see him, and my Father, very conservative nearly walked out, saying he would never see him again. I saw him live much later at the large San Francisco Symphony hall, and his material waxed back nostalgically to his original routines and “mild” delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/29 "2013-09-27T07:32:58Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I can’t disagree that Cosby worked blue early in his career (possibly not recorded), but I do remember being shocked when he used the word “asshole” in the _Himself_ film. It was the bluest I’d ever heard him go, and it was truly unexpected. And it was funny as all hell _because_ it was so unexpected. > [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > _Wonderfulness_ is my all-time favorite. > > **Ice cream!** We’re gonna eat ice cream! And we will eat it every day! In the middle of the night, man, we’re singing… > > Okay…you can bite it…just a little bit. But don’t put none o’ your juice in it! > > _Twelve degrees._ My parents had _Wonderfulness_ and _Revenge_, and I listened to them over and over and over … “When I get my first bowl of chocolate ice cream, I’m not even gonna eat it. I’m gonna smear it … _all over my body_! And I’m gonna put a green cherry in my navel, and I’ll be the MOST beautiful chocolate sundae YOU ever saw in your LIFE!” “Buck-Buck number one, coming up!” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/30 "2013-09-27T08:41:44Z")
I played the three tracks of _Noah and the Ark_ for my Sunday School class. I was the cool teacher. _Listen, do this, you’ll save water. Let it rain for forty days and forty nights, and wait for the sewers to back up!_ _how long can you tread water?_ _I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna let all these animals out, I"m gonna burn down this Ark, and then I’m going to Florida or something because you ain’t done nuthin, and…it’s raining. All right Lord, me and you, cause I knew all along…_ ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/31 "2013-09-27T11:49:40Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Cosby worked blue early in his career. I don’t know how much of that stuff got recorded, however. Later he found his niche by getting away from racial and sexual comedy and being more family-oriented, but he never completely left those aspects behind. I know this is about 4 years old, but I’m not sure that’s true. I heard an interview with him just last week, and he described his first big show back in Philadelphia, and performing in front of his mother for the first time. He struggled over whether or not to go with “what the hell is an ark?” from “Noah and the Ark”, since his mother had never heard him even say “hell” before. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/32 "2013-09-27T12:05:54Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I can’t disagree that Cosby worked blue early in his career (possibly not recorded), but I do remember being shocked when he used the word “asshole” in the _Himself_ film. It was the bluest I’d ever heard him go, and it was truly unexpected. > [@](#): > > I said to a guy, “Tell me, what is it about cocaine that makes it so wonderful,” and he said, “Because it intensifies your personality.” I said, “Yes, but what if you’re an asshole?” I was pretty young but I got to see Cosby shortly before his show came on. Probably the best comedy show I ever saw. Much of the first season of the show came from that routine. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/33 "2013-09-27T12:38:19Z")
I had a couple of those albums as a kid and listened to them endlessly. “Riiiiiiight. What’s a cubit?” ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/34 "2013-09-27T13:01:56Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I know this is about 4 years old, but I’m not sure that’s true. I heard an interview with him just last week, and he described his first big show back in Philadelphia, and performing in front of his mother for the first time. He struggled over whether or not to go with “what the hell is an ark?” from “Noah and the Ark”, since his mother had never heard him even say “hell” before. I would assume he’d been doing routines for several years before he did his first “big” show in Philly. If he was doing “Noah”, then I’d assume he was well into his stand-up career by that point. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/35 "2013-09-27T13:22:38Z")
We had “It’s True, It’s True!” which also had some great routines on it. “So I figure there’s gotta be some guy, a million years old, LOOKS thirteen, going around the world 'Hey you guys know about [spanish fly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAorIG6MZnc)?” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/36 "2013-09-27T13:38:05Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I would assume he’d been doing routines for several years before he did his first “big” show in Philly. If he was doing “Noah”, then I’d assume he was well into his stand-up career by that point. Yeah, I thought that might be the case. I can see the possibility that his mother might not have gone out to a club to see any of his early shows, but still a little unlikely. Anyone have a copy of Cosby’s “For Adults Only” LP. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/37 "2013-09-27T14:17:17Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I think of that almost every time I turn on the windshield wipers. And whenever driving in San Francisco, it’s “come around, idiot, come around!” I recently visited Pittsburgh in my manual transmission car, and found myself wondering if the same rules applied in heaven to people who drifted backwards into the Monongahela in a Mazda as to people who drifted backwards into the SF Bay in a VW… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/38 "2013-09-27T14:53:52Z")
“And grapefruit juice! And five children sat at breakfast, and the morning music was playing … and they were eating chocolate cake, and singing songs to me: _‘Dad Is Great! Gives Us The Chocolate Cake!’_ And we had a _ **ball!** _ Until…” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/39 "2013-09-27T20:55:13Z")
“Tonto?” “Yes, Kemo Sabe?” “You go to town.” “You go to hell, Kemo Sabe!” ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057/40 "2013-09-28T08:20:00Z")
“Look, I told you I’m Superman. Can’t you see this red ‘S’ on my chest?” “Right–and I’m gonna give you a red ‘S’ and a black ‘I’ if you don’t come out of that phone booth!” * * * _[Teacher, taking comic book]_ “You’ll get this back at the end of the semester.” _[Kid]_ “Why, does it take you that long to read ilt?” 😃 * * * “Old Weird Harold shot past me, gotta catch up with him…reached into my pocket, pulled out my trusty can of 3-in-One Oil! \*[makes squeezing sounds] \*Zoomed ahead!” * * * _[Coach giving rousing pep talk to Temple football team]_ “‘Go out and get em!’ The door was locked!” * * * “A mother’s greatest weapon is her voice. _[piercing shriek]_ **DIDN’T I TELL YOU NOT TO–** If that voice is within 30 feet of you it will de-calcify your whole spinal column, and you will drop to your knees! ‘Oh, please, Mother, I’d rather you hit me than scream like that!’” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-memory-faulty-a-bill-cosby-question/515057.md?page=3)