Depending on your age, your appreciation for Bill Cosby may vary. Everyone knows him from The Cosby Show, as well they should, but before that sitcom, he’d had a very other TV series (mostly failed), as well as a middling film career. But he was also a stand-up comedian during one of the best eras for stand-up comedians. Unlike Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphy, however, Bill Cosby didn’t swear (in fact, Eddie Murphy has an outstanding, hilarious bit on the time Bill Cosby chastised him for using too much profanity that will remind you how funny Eddie Murphy used to be).
Anyway, Cosby hasn’t released a stand-up special in the 30 years since Bill Cosby’s Himself, and that’s a damn shame. The man was brilliant back in the day, and if you listen to Louis C.K.’s bits on kids, you can hear Cosby’s influence all up and down. I used to listen to Himself ON A RECORD PLAYER at least once a week, and curse words or not, that sh*t was funny. On November 24th, Cosby will release Far From Finished on Comedy Central, which will be directed by another comedy legend, Robert Townshend.
To celebrate, let’s look back at my all-time favorite Bill Cosby bit: “Jeffery,” a bit about a kid on an airplane that still stands up 30 years later.
